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{"id":8249,"date":"2023-02-16T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T03:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/?p=8249"},"modified":"2023-02-27T08:53:08","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T16:53:08","slug":"a-rule-violated-today-avoid-lawyers-and-doctors-as-much-as-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rjgeib.com\/a-rule-violated-today-avoid-lawyers-and-doctors-as-much-as-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"A Rule Violated Today: \u201cAvoid Lawyers and Doctors, As Much As Possible”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
One of my mantras is the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018\u201cIt is a good year when you don\u2019t have to see either a doctor or a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yesterday I dealt with both lawyers and doctors. Why did I break my rule? And in the same day? Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, I served my day of jury duty. I had been called up to perform my \u201ccivic responsibility\u201d in the justice system last fall, but as I was coaching high school tennis in the afternoon I postponed it as far into the future as possible. That meant I had to go to court yesterday, Valentine\u2019s Day. The court would give me no further extensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am fortunate in that I am a government employee and so I still get paid during jury duty. The court definitely noticed, and they seemed to be licking their chops for me to be eligible to serve on a complicated court case which \u201cwould last approximately four weeks.\u201d The charges against the defendant were heinous \u2013 multiple counts of sexual assault with a child \u2013 and my heart sort of sunk when the judge announced them. I stared at the defendant and his lawyer, and I wondered. The defendant had the shitty short hair cut of prison, and he was tall, thin, and looked to be about 60-years old. He had cheap formal clothes on for the trial, probably bought by the court, and the public defender for indigent defendants. I knew that child sexual predators did not change: a dog that bites is a dog that bites. His life almost for sure had been a hard and miserable one: lots of prison time, where child molesters did not do well. Jeez. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I did not want to spend four weeks learning about the sordid story of this man\u2019s \u201calleged\u201d crimes. It was going to be among the uglies of crimes and an ugly story over many ugly years. Did I want to spend four weeks learning the sordid details of it? Nope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge dutifully reminded us that these charges were only allegations, and that the defendant was innocent until proven guilty. I filled out the fifteen page questionnaire about my personal history, exposure to the justice system, and feelings about sexual assault crimes. I\u2019m pretty sure the defense lawyer would strike me from the jury pool for about four good reasons, and I will be thrilled to avoid listening to testimony about child molestation from sex crimes detectives and the alleged victims themselves. They read the names of all these possible witnesses, and it sounds complicated. It was a family affair, with alcoholism involved. There was no evidence other than victim testimony (\u201che said she said\u201d) of a child who was the niece, I think, of the defendant. The crimes took place a long time ago. I will be happy not to have to sit in judgment on this strange looking man who, if the charges are true, is a monster. We are talking about California PC 288(a) \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201ca person who willfully and lewdly commits any lewd or lascivious act, upon or with the body, or any part or member thereof, of a child who is under the age of 14 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yuck. A child molester, allegedly. A sexual predator on the most vulnerable. Wow. Count me out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The courtroom I was in yesterday \u2013 with the armed bailiffs, the prosecuting attorney, defense attorney and defendant, court reporter and clerk, 70 possible jurors, and a presiding judge \u2013 was about as dramatic and imposing as it looks in the movies. It is the drama of a criminal trial in front of a jury and judge. I found what I saw to be a weird mixing of the highly lurid and fantastical (serial child molestation, chronic alcoholism, family dysfunction), mixed in with boring and tedious courtroom bureaucracy and waiting. If thorough and scrupulous, the law is neither quick nor efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there is the fact of being in the law courts. The last time I was there was to witness the sentencing of the woman who ran over and killed my friend while \u201cimpaired.\u201d You walk around and you see the cops talking with their buddies while getting ready to testify outside the courtroom, the hard-looking criminal-types one would expect to see in court also hanging about \u2013 and the lawyers who wear expensive suits like a uniform (or a mask), not much different than a police uniform or judge\u2019s robes. The government building gives a shabby feeling to the whole surroundings. Look at this bathroom door on the first floor of the courtroom building, for example \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n