Justice?

     If you've talked to my sister Jill anytime in the past 2-3 months, chances are you have heard her mention how hard she's been working lately.  This is because she has devoted the majority of her time picking through the details of one of the highest profile murder cases Spokane County has seen in a long time.  For those who don't already know she is a public defender, now I know when you hear that you either think one of two things about her.  Either you can't believe she helps the scum of the earth, or you admire the fact that she is willing to take on the cases no one else wants for half the pay of a private attorney.  I fall into the second category and have been more impressed every year with the level of BS she has to deal with on a daily basis, all while honestly loving her job!  I know this sounds cliche, but if you give yourself 10 minutes with her on the subject you will realize she truly DOES love we job!

     Most of her time is spent in a futile effort to prevent the guy who just received DUI number 7 from spending years behind bars, not exactly a glamorous job, but every now and then she gets a case that grabs everyone's attention.  This murder case was one of those.  

     I'm not going to go into details for many obvious reasons, Im simply going to say that the jury came back with a verdict today of guilty.  This came as an absolute shock to me!  I know I wasn't in the court room for all of the trial, I was only there for half of a day, but being as my little sister is one of the defenders on the case I can say I've followed this case enough to know that the evidence simply was not there to support a guilty verdict!  I have been trying to figure out how they came up with this, even mentally going through various hypotheticals that could lead to a guilty verdict and I simply cannot.  In my tiny little pea brain this can only mean that the jury must have just pegged him as a guilty man from day one and nothing  was going to change their mind.  In the defense of the jury however the judge would not allow a boat load of evidence and testimony that I believe was crucial for the defendant, leaving them with only half of the story.  

     So I wonder this as I sit here waiting for a flight, all good thoughts seem to happen while waiting for a plane:), how can we deem our judicial system fair?  I understand that we sit in front of a jury of our peers when in trial, but if that jury is being dictated on what they get to see and hear aren't we really sitting in front of one of our peers?!  And since every one of us humans has a different opinion on nearly everything how can one single person, who's not going to have a room full of fellow judges to discuss his opinion, have so much say in a persons life?  I know he has to mediate the trial as best as he can, knowing what some of the stuff he deemed in admissible is though, I just don't see how that is always fair!  

     But, it is what it is and no matter how much I gripe about it or try to understand it, at the end of the day I have to move on and hope that I never have to watch someone I love put their life in the hands of our system!  I admire my sister for what she does on a daily basis, it cannot be easy to take blow after blow like this and just keep getting back in the ring with just as much determination for the next client as she has for this one!  

Remember, some days it's harder than others, but we simply have to cinch up our boot straps and put on a smile tomorrow morning!:)