Thanksgiving 2013

This year we broke tradition. The Petersons celebrated at Cristas house and the Mustells at Mikes. The split falls mostly along which side of the Puget Sound you live, with myself being the exception.

I was disappointed at first, but as important as Tradition is to me, spending Thanksgiving with my Mother is more important.

I wanted to go to the storage unit so I decided to leave my house, drive around through Tacoma, load up at the Storage unit, then pick up the girls around 1.

I left at 9:45. Traffic was very light despite heavy fog in most areas. I made record time, so I dropped by and visited Mark M before getting the girls.

Met the girls before 1 and we were off to Cristas. I brought the Christmas cards and pens out and asked the girls to sign them.  What?  Today? was their reply.  Considering I won't see Jessica again till probably Christmas, it's our only chance.  She agreed and the kids got the cards signed.  We talked about adding a family letter this year as well.

We arrived at Cristas and brought with us Konners birthday present. The girls gave it to him right away. It is a Spiderman Dart board with a launcher that shoots plastic balls with velcro.   Big hit.  It's just spring loaded so it is not dangerous.

Maddie introduced us to her new bf Mitch.  Everyone was there from this side of the water.  Mathew got everyone drinks. I had too much soda.

Dinner was good. Jay made the Turkey.  Maddie and Mitch  brought green bean casserole and cornbread pudding. The second dish was Mitchs recipe.  I don't think anyone of us had ever tried it. He explained that it was made of canned corn, cream of corn, sour cream, butter and corn bread mix.   Bronwen said she has seen it baked before. Id like to try that.  Bronwen was at work today.

Mashed potatoes, green beans corn bread pudding, dinner roll and Waldorf Salad which was a tasty surprise dish! 

We were stuffed. We did not even stay for pie. It was past 4, and the kids had another dinner to get to! We said our goodbyes and hit the road.  It was a nice Holiday.

National Adoption Day - Welcome Konstantine to the family officially! November 22, 2013

Crista and Jay offered to adopt Konstantine last year.   After a year of paperwork, the adoption was ready to be official. They participated in National Adoption Day.

The event was at the Kitsap County Court House.  Bronwen and I went to witness the adoption.

The room was packed. We were in the very last row.  The Judge came in, the courtroom rose and the Judge instructed us to sit.  He then explained that since this was not an actual court case,  he was going to ignore court room protocol, because this is a celebration.

The Judge explained what was to happen, that each family would step forward when called and any family or friends can approach also. He talked about the history of adoption and what it means to these kids, he started to choke up.  He then talked about the assignation of Kennedy, as it was the 50th anniversary. He also slipped in a lot of jokes! 

We watched as new famiies were created. It was very moving. Many of the children being adopted were special needs kids. I cannot express how amazing these selfless parents are to take on a life time of care and support. I am so unworthy.  These parents are saints.  After each adoption was final, the Judge gave each kid a stuffed animal and the Boys and Girls club put together gift bags for each child!

The entire event was just fantastic. I had no idea going in what to expect.  Crista and Jay were the last family called,  out of 5 families I believe.  I moved up behind the bench to get pictures and video.

After the event, we all went downstairs for cake and juice.

It was so great to be in a courtroom with tears of joy instead of the despair I witnessed on jury duty. I only wish I was in a position to adopt a child myself.  However, I suspect that the parents who adopted today did not consider themselves when making this choice.

The Family approaches the bench

Mathew sat with us

After the ceremony, Families and children were encouraged to come up for pictures with the Judge.

Jury trial day 6

We are all back in the room at 9 am sharp.  Everyone is tired, no one slept well last night.  We decide to see where we all stand this am.  I stated that the last thing I want to do is send this man to jail, but if I take my personal prejudices out, emotion out and follow the juror instructions, I have no choice but to find him guilt.  Everyone agrees that no one wants to send this man to jail, but we have a job to do. We are now down to two who are on the fence.  

We ask them to tell us why.  Both cannot discuss without heavy tears. One person is very quiet, hardly ever talks, but we let her talk. She takes many breaks to get her composure.

One juror uses his work skills to create a chart to describe the cause and effect.  He writes up the diagram of every action and the reasons behind each action.  One undecided is decided now. We are down to one.

We go over the legal definitions over and over again. We decide to take a break. The mood is quite somber.    We are getting nowhere it seems. We take a break.

One thing the defense said in the closing arguments, can you look your friends and family in the eye and tell them this is your decision?  How will you feel about this next week? Next year?

The last hold out goes the bathroom. She comes back and is very quiet. Crying quietly.   We agree its time to get back to it. We go around the room.  The last juror is convinced that the man is guilty. She cries, nearly everyone cries. I am teary, but not weeping. We call to the bailiff for more tissues.

The presiding juror signs the form. We call the Bailiff again and hand her the form. We now have to wait an estimated 30 minutes to get everyone in the courtroom. No one says a word. Silence for nearly 30 minutes.

We are called into the courtroom. The presiding juror hands the statement to the Judge. She reads the verdict. I can hear his wife crying. I don't want to look. I don't look toward the back, I don't look at the defendant. I look at the Prosecutor. She is crying.

The Judge starts with Juror one. Is this decision your decision. Yes. Is this decision the decision of the jury. Yes. She asks each of us this question.

We are now excused back to deliberations. Again silence. We get our electronics back and are told the Judge is  going to address us.  We begin to open up about things amongst ourselves. The things we couldn't really discuss before. I brought up the fact that neither the Prosecutor or the Defense attorney knew how to use the video play back. It was very clunky.   We wondered out loud what his sentence would be. Who was in the room.

The Judge comes in and thanks us and gives us all a certificate.  She tells us that due to the nature of this trial, we are eligible for counseling sessions provided by the county. She tells us the sentencing date is Dec 13 and we are welcome to attend. At this point, I have no intention of being there, but I am very interested in the sentence. I believe the Judge will take leniency, but,  she told us it has to do with his prior record.  That was never entered into testimony, so we have no idea if he has a record or not.
We are told that the attorneys are outside if we wish to meet with them. I chose not to. Several others did stop to talk. I could do it next week, but not today

Ms. Temple. Today your received your justice.   We found the defendant guilty of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.

jury trial day 5

We finaly get back into court after four days off.

The Defense calls the first witness. A mechanic. He testified that the defendent brought the car in 8 months before the crash. The mechanic was not able to diagnose the car, recommened taking the car to a dealership
Next up was the wife. She said she was scared to drive the car and described one time when it pulled to the left.
Final witness for the defense. A friend of the defendant that says he drove the car a few times and  had issues with it.

The defense rests.

After lunch we get into the final closing arguments. Nothing new of course, just a rehash. Both sides delivered a good closing argument.

Now it was time to send the alternate jurors home.  The Judge calls out the numbers. I am #9 remember.  First she calls 5, then 7. Ok, I get the pattern. Odd numbers. I am ready to go home. #10. I am going to have to do this.

The judge sends us back to the room, but not to deliberate yet. We come back out a little later and take our seats. The bailiff hands us each a big document. These are the Judges rules for the Jury. It describes our role and the legal definitions of the charges.  She reads them to us one by one. It takes a while.

We finally get back into the deliberation room. The bailiff takes all our electronics. We now have to elect a presiding juror.  Everyone is looking at each other, no one steps up, so I do. I nominate Martha.   She was floored, but accepted. Martha strikes me as an organizer. She also talks a lot and loudly.

We decide to take a quick poll to see where we all are at.  I state that I am ready to vote guilty.  Most do. 4 jurors are not ready to call it guilty. We go over the evidence again, and ask to see and hear some video and audio recordings. These must take place in the court room. We ring the buzzer for the bailiff. She comes in and gives us a Questions form. Martha fills out what we want to see. We asked to see four things. 20 minutes later the bailiff is back. They have agreed to let us hear one thing only. The taped interview at Harborview with the Defendant.   The Defendants family are the only ones in the pews.  As we listen, the Defendant is crying in the court room.

After this is over, we go back in to the deliberation room. It is getting close to 4. We are not going to get to a decision today it appears. The bailiff knocks to come in and then tells us the Judge is going to give us till 4:15 today.  Great, all that does is makes me miss my bus.  We agree to sleep on it, come back fresh tomorrow

Jury trial day 4

After a day off, we came in. The weather was nasty so I came in an hour early and got some work done
The Bailiff informed us that the Judge was still sick, but was going to see if we could get through the day. We asked the Bailiff if we were on schedule and if we finish the trial the next Thursday, would we have to come in Friday for deliberations?  yes and yes.

The Traffic Collision Chief continued his testimony. We finally got the see the video footage. However it was not very easy to see. The cameras are private property owners and not really intended to watch the street.  I felt this was the strongest the Defense had been in trying to make the videos not credible. But fact is fact. We can see one car in a different lane than the witness testified being in. Several members of the jury gasped.


Frankly I learned this back in day two. It is clear that people in shock are just not going to be able to describe accurately what they have been in. Every single witness had different accounts of the same wreck. Only a few things were described by all witnesses.  People are fallible, we need facts.

 Early in the case, it was learned that the defendant admitted to the police at the scene that he uses Medical marijuana. He takes it orally and has not taken it in a week. There was no toxicology report, no officer statement that he was on drugs.

When they rolled the car over, a prescription bottle of pot fell out. It was 1.11 grams. There was no method of consuming the pot found in the vehicle. What is the Prosecutor trying to do? No evidence that he was under the influence at all.

The last Prosecutor witness took the stand before lunch. The Judge let us know that this would be it for the day, so we will not break for lunch.  The witness was a car expert, who deals with car crash investigations. Another man with decades of experience. He convincingly shot down the Defenses main argument that the car unexpectedly lurched into the other lane.

Jury Trial day three

Today was by far the hardest day.  We started out the day by interviewing the last witness to get hit in the accident. She had a pretty good view of the whole thing. She couldn't even get her name out without breaking down in tears.  Then she said something she wasn't supposed to and the Defense lawyer jumped up and shouted Objection and the Judge ordered the jury out of the room.

We came back in 20 minutes later. The witness was still on the stand. I was sure they had kicked her out, but there she was. She tried again, but had a real hard time on the stand. The Judge has been very friendly and seems very genuine and nice. This witness was trying her patience.

We were addressed by the Judge when we returned and told to not consider the blurted testimony we had heard when making our ruling. Ok. so just unhear stuff.

Later we had the crime pathologist come on and describe the victims injuries in graphic detail.  I heard a muffled sound, I looked over at the Defendant and he was openly weeping. I realized this is probably the first time he has seen this report.  It really affected him.

We ended the day by hearing from the chief of the Traffic Collision Investigation team. This man has so much experience in car crashes. He discussed the way cars collect data. From the air bags to the brakes, you can see what the car was doing before the crash. Wow, like a planes black box.  Thank god, lets get to the FACTS. I can't take much more witness testimony.

At the end of the day, the Judge informed us she is sick and was not sure if she would be in the next day. We were instructed to call in at 6 am the following morning. 

Jury Trial day one - two

The Jury selection process went 2.5 days. I was picked as juror #9 and that never changed.  We finished up the selection and went into to Witness testimony. The Prosecutor called a witness who was in the car crash.

After the testimony, the Prosecutor has no more witnesses for the day. We got out at 2 pm! We were off Thursday and Friday.

Day Two
Monday am we were to meeting in the 9th floor East hall. The court room is on the West end of floor 9. They don't want us mingling with anyone from the trial, so they keep us on the other side of the floo and when it's time, the Bailiff takes us and escorts us into the Jury room.  On the way in, there was a young black male who was talking  He got animated when he realized we were the jury, as I walked in, I heard him say  "please have sympathy, don't take him away".  yikes. So now, we meet on the 8th floor and sneak up the stairs. We still have to  walk close by the door where witnesses gather, but no issues with witnesses or friends since.

Day two was more of the same. Witness testimony from the crash. A few police officers testified. and the Traffic collision unit testified about how they use the survey tools to determine what happened. Since this wreck had so many cars there are a lot of witnesses.

A lot of heavy emotion. This crash affected so many people. Many witnesses break down on the stand trying to recount the event. Even a seasoned police officer testified and it really affected him. That surprised me. He has seen this a million times.

I can't help but notice that many witnesses after testifying, stay in the court room.  They want to see how this turns out.