Well after a great 2.5 hour conversion amongst the other 11 jurors, we found the defendent Guilty of possessing a sawed off shotgun. I even got to HOLD IT! Seriously, how many people can actually say that they have done this in their lifetimes? And I am one of them! That sucker was heavy and was very Gangsta in appearance.
It was sawed off both on the barrel as well as the stock. Then a pistol hand grip was taped on covering the entire front part with black electrical tape.
In order to find the defendent guilty, we had to conclude that this person was guilty on the following 4 counts:
1. Did he have possession? There are 4 forms of possession but we logically concluded that he knew it was in his car.
2. Did it operate as designed? Yes. It was even loaded. The police also test fired the weapon.
3. If the weapon is less than 24" in total length and the barrel is less than 16" in length, it must be registered with National Firearms. I don't remember the whole title or acronym.
4. Was the weapon registered? No. It did not have a serial number either. We had a gentleman with this National Firearms Dept. fly from West Virginia to testify to this.
I absolutely loved being on a Jury - especially a Federal Case. I think those can bring big sentences. We have a member of our church that is a Federal employee. They get these cases assigned to them once the jury convicts them and he is going to let me know what happens to this case.
I will serve on the jury any day! I want to be another jury member. How I love this civic duty!
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2 comments:
Sounds like you had a good experience.
We have been here for 35+ years and I have been called for jury duty two times and picked once!
It was a learning experience, and should be taken very seriously. I would serve again, if I got called.
No "Runaway Jury" with Sandy there!
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