Arvada School Shooting, Affluenza and Jury Duty

I was called for jury duty today.  The jury pool of some 200 souls was a predictable buffet of humanity.  We got through security, checked in and were shown a video on the joys, responsibilities and misconceptions of jury duty.  Then we waited.

A brief questioning thinned the herd.  One by one they went through a list of disqualifications and people got up to leave.

 “Under eighteen?”  Excused. 

 “Over 70?”  Excused.

“¿Se puede leer y escribir en Ingles?” Can you read and write in English?  No?”  Excused.

 “If you have been convicted of a felony or are currently under indictment for a felony or misdemeanor you are excused.”  I figured that might cause some hesitance or chagrin.  Nope!  There were a handful of the loud, proud and in the crowd who left with a smile on their face.    

 “Those of mental instability or moral turpitude…” were asked to excuse themselves.  That one had no takers.  I guess if you know you are weird or depraved you keep it to yourself.  

Eventually I joined a jury pool that went to a district court to hear a criminal matter.  At the doors of the court room we waited for over an hour.  It was time well spent because in the courtroom the unseen defendant and lawyers worked out a last minute plea.  Ultimately, we were all dismissed, with the thanks of the court. 

Through all this waiting I had my personal flotation device with me—a good book.  But it was impossible not to see the parade of sadness that moved back and forth through the halls of justice.  I saw young men, very young men, shuffling along in orange jump suits, their hands and feet shackled while a guard guided their steps.  These tattooed men must have been big and bad on the street, but in that court they were just a sad and sorry lot.  And they were facing justice. 

Unfortunately, here in Texas and in my home town of Denver, Colorado, the world saw two young men who missed the justice that they deserved.  Karl Pierson, a self-styled socialist who was too stupid to know that John Maynard Keynes, his favorite economist, is NOT a socialist, shot a fellow student and then escaped justice by taking his own miserable life.  Everyone talks about how smart he was, but I’m not buying it.  From what I’ve read he was one of those fairly intelligent kids whose parents make a point of telling him he is gifted.  They think it goes well with their bank account.  I know the area Karl comes from, privilege and money flow as substitutes for genuine talent.  He wasn’t smart, he was indulged.

Ethan Couch is the Texas teen-ager who killed four people in a drug and booze fueled, 70 mph car crash.  He escaped justice when a judge allowed the, “affluenza” defense.  Ethan’s attorney thinks the little brat was never taught right and wrong by his affluent parents.  I have news for all concerned; you don’t have to be taught right from wrong.  If you are treating others in a way you would not want to be treated, you know it is wrong.  Instead of richly deserved prison time, Ethan was given 10 years of probation.

Both of these miscarriages of justice involve young men who had more reason for success than failure.  All they needed was someone who loved them enough to draw a direct line from cause to effect.  You can’t substitute money for love, or make up for neglect with a good lawyer. 

I will do my duty as a juror.  Do yours as a parent, and keep the faith.