Arizona Justice: The Case of the Unloaded Air Gun
RelationshipMarch 8 and 9, 2004
The Case: Plaintiff sues Defendant for negligence in that her 11-year-old son shot neighbor Plaintiff’s 10-year-old daughter with a BB gun. The BB lodged in the girl’s neck. This happened three years ago and the decision was made not to take the BB out of it, that leaving it there would be harmless.
The Jury: 8 people; three men five women.
Men:
Me-72 years old, former school teacher, Liberal Democrat.
Laughing firefighter, about 25 years old, makes jokes about everything, always laughing.
Ex-military man, reading a Christian bestseller for his church group, 70 years old, pompous and smiling, self-righteous, wants to bring corporal punishment back.
Women:
Artist, in her 20s, brilliant, gender unclear, tattoos burned on her arms. Conservative, punitive.
Foreman by assumption, said she was 22, future math teacher very overweight, takes charge, pushes others around, acts shy, talks incessantly.
Wealthy, married, in her 70s, very conservative, intelligent.
Physical education coach and nurse: in her 60s, tough, rough, conservative
Married woman, sensitive, affectionate, about 50 years old, conservative.
The lawsuit alleged negligence. I felt that was not true. The mother had taught her son to be careful; her gun was kept in her room until she felt that she could trust him, that she shouldn’t use it without her being present. The gun was picked up by another of the house, an older boy, and the son picked it up, called the girl who was playing on the fence between the patios and told her that she was going to shoot thinking that she was empty. The girl turned, the boy fired, the BB hit.
Doctors agree that it is not necessary to remove BB and that future problems should not arise.
The other 7 members of the jury were willing to listen to my argument, then they ignored it, they did not argue, they did not reflect. They had decided that she was negligent, although each of them had told a story or two about her own indiscretions when they were young, and neither was willing to say that her mothers had been negligent; It’s the kind of thing that can happen to children.
The group felt that there was no reason to award a large amount. We (had been sidelined because I wasn’t a signatory, but was able to participate) calculated the medical bills and added $10,000 for pain and suffering and possible future surgery; even though three doctors said it would never be necessary.
We all thought the plaintiff’s attorneys were obnoxious, ill-prepared, and sarcastic. The judge looked uncomfortable.
When the clerk read the verdict, she had to ask the judge to verify for her that the figure was correct, she seemed to find it incredibly low.
No emotion was registered by anyone at court, not a smile, not a frown.
Only one of the jurors who signed the verdict was willing to stay and answer questions. She was the caring married woman and she gave the attorneys and litigants a good rundown. I also stayed and told my point of view.
This was the second jury I served on. The first was a case of armed robbery. The verdict was guilty and I agreed, but the process was rushed and sloppy. I had to have the evidence reviewed again so we could have a reasonable discussion. Some members of the jury expressed their appreciation that we spent more time on it.
It’s not fair or reasonable for me to draw a grand conclusion from these two experiences, but it certainly makes me wonder about the jury system.
Post Script: The day after I prepared this article for eZineArticles, I received notice that I was called up for jury duty, again.