Lary Bloom
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Tuesday, February 28, 2006
A Jury Of His Peers
The defendant, dressed in a sports jacket and conservative shirt and with his hair close-cropped -- unlike his FBI Most Wanted photo, with unruly dreadlocks -- whispered to his lawyer, and looked out over the room.He seemed to survey all of us, the 100 or so potential jurors for the case of Connecticut v. Julian J. Lockhart, only one of whom had the same skin color as he. Meanwhile, the judge, prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, defendant, and security guard offered an orientation that might have been for all its decorum and courteousness and occasional attempts at humor mistaken for a business seminar.
It was clearly not that. The charges were read by the judge in the driest and most legalistic sense. He said "Mr. Lockhart is accused of murder, felony murder, and robbery." He did not divulge particulars, such as, "Julian Lockhart, or J.J., as he is known by his associates,
answered an ad for a used car for sale, went to Killingworth, asked the owner of the car, Robert Glidden, a 25-year-old Navy veteran, if the two could go for a test drive in the Honda, and then, according to police and prosecutors, during the course of the next hour or so beat Glidden to death, dumped his body in the woods, and drove off with the car."
Trials are like that. They begin in formality, and are careful to not tread on the rights of the accused. We had all been shown the usual video, which pointed out that every person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until the state proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, otherwise.
Yet, I can imagine what went on in the head of Julian J. Lockhart as he surveyed us. He knew that when the trial begins, scheduled for May 10 and estimated to run for about three weeks, it may come out that he became a fugitive, and was captured in Atlanta. He knew that, when the final selection of jurors from the 100 or so eligible was made, it would likely include only white faces.
Mine was among those white faces excused from the jury pool, because the trial dates conflict with a family wedding in Ohio. But I pointed this out when my turn came with the judge with some regret. If I am to serve on a jury -- for the first time -- there could hardly be one in which more is at stake.
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 9:03 AM
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