Approximately 3 years ago I served on a jury in a child pornography case. It was my first jury summons and I didn't have a lot going on, so I slapped on some fancy clothes and proceeded to perform my civic duty.
After the voyardier phase I was selected as the foreman. This proved to be somewhat of a challenge. I had a lot of diversity in the jury room. There were some very logical people that would listen to reason and the facts and weigh them accordingly. Then there were others that were more concerned with the amount of inconvenience that this process was to their lives and just wanted a fast verdict so they could get home and watch Oprah, regardless of the outcome. Within 15 minutes of deliberation one of the jurors wanted me to tell the judge that we could not reach a verdict so that she could go home. Of course I didn't do that, but I did examine all of the facts and try my best to "do the right thing". It took us 2 days but we finally reached a verdict and we found the defendant guilty on most of the counts charged against him. Let me explain in a little greater detail.
The GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) released several videos on the internet with "tracer" programs imbedded in them. These videos were related to child pornography and revealed to the GBI who downloaded them and who watched them. The defendant in our case had downloaded (in our estimation) 8 of these videos. Please bear in mind that I do believe he was guilty of possessing these videos, but he did not film them, distribute them, sell them, share them or do anything at all except watch them. Now that in and of itself is BAD. I agree!! But????? We found him guilty on 7 of the 8 counts and he got 140 years!!! Thats right 140 years! Please don't get me wrong, I think the guy was guilty as sin, but I do not think that he deserved 140 years! He has a wife and 2 kids and he deserves a chance at rehabilitation, Right?? If he was filming or selling or meeting with some minors this would be a different story, but to just have a perverted mind and then die in prison? Surely, we have failed this guy and his family.
I feel horrible about this event in my life. I know that I did the "right" thing. I did my civic duty! I know that justice was served. However, I do not feel that the sentence fit the crime! I feel that I have eaten into the fabric of our society. I did what was expected of me, but I am not sure that was/is enough. I believe that there is a time when men of good conscience can not blindly follow the convention of present day thought, nor can he follow the normalcy of the un-silent majority. Right and wrong should not have a grey area. There should only be black and white and this one I would consider grey.
