CrimLaw

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Today was a fizzle rather than a bang. After coming to court at 9:00 a.m. and handling a couple of cases I spent the remainder of the morning putting the final touches on preparations for a 1 p.m. jury trial (client charged with threatening to bomb a business; class 5 felony; up to 10 years). I got a look at the prosecutor's proffered instructions at noon and realized that they were missing a necessary instruction so I skipped lunch, went back to the law library, and created the instruction.

1 p.m. rolled around and client showed up (a concern since there had been no contact for a while). Unfortunately, the jury didn't. Only 18 potential jurors showed up on time and at the very least (assuming no strikes for reason) 20 must be present in order to get 12 jurors. We sat around for at least half a hour waiting and suddenly client decided to take the deal which had been worked out with the prosecutor prior to court date. So everyone was all prepped up, had their adrenaline pumping, and suddenly it was over without the jury.

Still, client only got 8 days in jail, no fine, and no probation so while I was a little dissappointed at having put all the work in prepping and then not going thru the jury trial I can't say his acceptance of the deal was a wrong choice on his part.
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