When all the witnesses were questioned and the lawyers had completed their show, the judge contributed her part to the trial. She handed out the charge. This document explained the details of both of the counts on which the defendant was charged. It was 46 pages long – a small term paper by my standards.
Each of the counts was explained in both legal language and more day-to-day parlance. She read the charge to us and then we were sent to deliberate. We selected out foreperson and then decided to reconvene the next morning.
The charge in itself was super confusing. What was stated in the legal language seemed to be the opposite of what was explained in straightforward language. I actually read the charge 5 times from the moment we got it until we reached a verdict. Seriously, I felt like I was reading some of the philosophical texts in my college days - reading and re-reading in order to come to an understanding. Needless to say, it was one of the reasons why it took us so long to come to a verdict.
1 comment:
This whole series of trial posts is gripping!!
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