The Long Wait
I hope everyone out there is doing well. The last few months have been busy in the office, and I’ve also managed to spend a little time outside of the office with my family. While I still attend to necessary calls or crises as they arise when I am away, a few quiet moments on the beach with my family does wonders to renew my spirit.
As District Attorney, one of the most difficult adjustments has been watching others try a case. Before taking on a more “managerial role,” I rarely had time to go and observe someone else put together and try a case. Instead, I was the one picking the jury, putting on evidence, and making my arguments. Now I can observe and guide an excellent team of trial lawyers.
Even though I am not in the pressure cooker of presenting the case itself, there is one part of the trial where I feel their pain: waiting on a jury to render the verdict. I have said it before and will say it again, there is nothing worse than waiting around for 12 people to pass judgment on the case you have presented. If you win, you can embrace a victim or their family and know that the long road to peace can begin. If you lose, the weight of justice being denied is a heavy burden.
The verdict represents years of work by law enforcement, investigators, and attorneys. And that process often begins when an Assistant District Attorney is called out in the middle of the night to a crime scene to assist law enforcement in conducting an investigation that will hold up in the bright lights of a courtroom years down the road. To have the outcome of your blood, sweat, and tears distilled into a single moment is brutal. And it is even more brutal to have to wait minutes, days, and hours to hear the words “guilty” or “not guilty.”
A few weeks ago, Kate Lenhard, a prosecutor in my office who specializes in crimes against women and children, had to wait several days for a jury to return its verdict. The case involved child molestation, so I will not go into the details. But I will say that these cases most often rest on the credibility of a child who faces their accuser in a room full of strangers. Child victims of sexual abuse, rarely, if ever, act in ways we might expect. Some may be understandably hysterical, some may have a flat effect, and some may be so matter of fact as to sound flippant. The various ways that people cope with trauma, particularly children, is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Jurors, however, often seem to struggle with this issue, and it can lead to long deliberations. It takes a special prosecutor to effectively present these cases and that is why I am so thankful to have Mrs. Lenhard’s assistance.
As the jury in that case deliberated, they initially reported to the court that they were split. Some believed the defendant was guilty and some did not. At that moment, the terror sets in that the jury might hang and the case will need to be tried again. We waited even longer. Hours go by. The Judge continues to encourage the jurors to reach a unanimous verdict. Finally, these conscientious jurors carefully examined the evidence and ultimately found the defendant guilty. While it was nerve-wracking waiting for the jury to reach its result, they payoff—justice served---makes it all worth the while.
As everyone prepares for the end of summer and for school to start back (which is hard to believe), please be kind and take care of each other.
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