Foreman of Murder Trial
For a week in the early part of November of 1988, I got the honor of being a foreman of a jury. The case was about a 26 year old security guard, at Southwest Memorial hospital, who killed a 35 year old nurse. The two had an affair which lasted about a year and half. The security guard was single but the nurse was a married woman with two children.
The trial lasted for three and half days with a day and half of deliberation / sentencing. The defendant never took the stand in his own defense. His attorney claimed he killed her accidentally during a lover's quarrel, trying to rekindle their relationship. The first on the crime season was a paramedic who testified she had been dead for at least 4 hours as the blood had already dried and coagulated. The defendant comments to the paramedic were, "Damn it! I killed this bitch and have ruined my life!" Paramedics apparently keep a journal when they are the first to arrive at a crime scene.
A friend of the deceased said she saw the defendant holding the victim at gun point on the coach through a window. The victim had called the friend and had stated that she was there trying to end the relationship. The friend testified that the victim also asked her to come by the defendant's apartment to help her leave with out making a scene.
Our jury was made up 8 women and 3 men. Everyone was white except for one African American lady and Hispanic lady. The defendant was African American and the deceased was Asian. I never thought race would come into play in a court case but it turned into an ugly matter. The African American lady and Hispanic lady argued over 1st vs. 2nd degree murder which was to say the murder was premeditated or not. Everyone went against the African American and thought this was a security guard who was trained with weapons. The African American lady tried to get a hung jury note to the Judge. I stopped the matter stating that no matter what happens we will agree unanimously. We ended up with 2nd degree murder to appease the one.
On the sentencing phase, the bitter racial truth came out which caused all the white people to withdraw from any comments as we watched the African American and Hispanic bitterly disagree. I became a referee and managed to have them settle down. The Hispanic lady wanted the maximum punishment and the African American lady wanted 1 year in jail, stating that there was already to many young black men in jail. She also stated that he was probably a victim of his up bringing. I personally was very embarrassed and shocked on these comments. The two ladies ended up bartering on 10 years in jail and $10,000 fine.
At the end, the Judge brought us into his chambers for a de-briefing session. From what I could tell, all the women cried or had tears in their eyes from the emotional release. I myself felt a great sense of relief that the trial was over. Sitting behind the juror's box and to not have the ability to ask questions is a very frustrating experience. The judge told us that he probably would have found the defendant guilty of 2nd degree murder in light of the emotional love factor but he would of most likely have given a 25 year sentence. To our amazement he said that the defendant had spent 6 months in jail already awaiting bail. He then spent a year and half in San Antonio working waiting for the trial. The Judge then said he would probably only have to spend a year and half in jail on the sentence. Each year is commuted down to one month for good behavior until it reaches some minimal duration because of over crowding at the period in Texas Prisons.
