Well, interesting reaction to yesterday’s post, and my sincere appreciation to those who insisted that being en banc was just the proper place for me. I did try my level best to promise to be fair and unbiased throughout the process, that being what duty required, but was nevertheless the recipient of either a challenge for cause or peremptory challenge, from, I presume, the defense.
It turns out that during a rather extended deployment aboard USS Last Ship I had served together with one of the NCIS agents who serviced the case, which fact was revealed during a mass Q&A session, and expanded upon during a solo appearance in front of the rest of the court. Also excused were a female lieutenant and a female Information Technologist, second class for reasons upon which I do not presume to conjecture.
The presiding judge was himself a captain, and it would have almost been amusing, our cool exchanges of formality: “Captain,” “Captain” except that of course the case in question was anything but a place for amusement, the crime alleged – but, it must be noted, not yet proven – being both monstrous and unnatural.
I hope you will not consider it less of me, but I accepted my excusal with something very near to relief, for their were to be graphic photos of the alleged crime entered into evidence, and there are some things which, once seen, cannot be un-seen.
So. Back to work.
Ah, yes, at times the fickle finger of Fate works occasionally in one’s favor. Congrats, as you will no longer have the need of a brain scrubber device post-courts martial.
Hmmm….. sounds like an Article of War, #28:
“If any person in the fleet shall commit the unnatural and detestable sin of buggery and sodomy with man or beast, he shall be punished with death by the sentence of a court martial.”
etc,
JA
Of course you are relieved. Cuz as you put it yesterday:
“I?
Of course you are relieved. Cuz as you put it yesterday:
“I’m knackered just thinking about it, and the day job’s not going anywhere, is it? No. It is not.”
Must have been that phraseology about your “…superannuated rump…”
I’ve been chuckling about that since yesterday… Had to look up superannuated, but now I’m waiting, not patiently, for the opportunity to use it myself.
Good one Cap’n. Enjoy your weekend, giving thanx to be spared the worst of the macabre details.
I am actually a little bit sad… whoever the defendants were, they could not have done better than to have you judge them.
Huh – you got knocked out because you and one of the NCIS guys happened to be 2 of the 3000-odd (some very odd) people on USS Last Ship during a particular cruise?
Or did you have reason to be more closely aquainted with this particular NCIS individual than just grunting at each other in the companionways?
Oh, no Sgt Jeff we worked pretty closely together. I was a department head, and he was a DH equivalent, so we went to all of the same meetings. Also, I was the ship’s operations officer, responsbible for ship’s defense, and his role on the ship was more to do with AT/FP than criminality (although he also did that). So the interface between our work was pretty close.
Used to have the same workout hours at the gym, too.
Be happy that a challenge was used to dismiss you from the member pool. My wife was a defense counsel for a couple of cases, similar to what you’ve alluded to. The evidence presented in those cases is something that nobody should ever have to look at. There are still small things in the course of a day that remind her of some of the photographs…..it still has a pretty significant effect on her, much less what the victims have to live with for the rest of their lives.
I don’t think I’d ever be able to be fair and impartial in cases like that. Unfortunately, keelhauling and flogging at the mainmast are no longer permissible punishments.
A friend of mine recently had to do jury duty for a case involving one perverted male individual and little girls. Pass the brain bleach.
[...] (Side note: That court martial I wrote about last month? The one in which I was excused from jury duty? In which a “monstrous and unnatural crime” had been?Ǭ
[...] (Side note: That court martial I wrote about last month? The one in which I was excused from jury duty? In which a “monstrous and unnatural crime” had been averred? Innocent. I wonder how I would have found, had I remained on the jury. At the time, I admit to having had my suspicions.) [...]