Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Still out there, still lost

I'm still out there, and still lost in this crazy changing world or ours.
These days I'm working as a contractor for a company that is planning on shutting down the local location. They were supposed to shut down in January, then extended it until April, then July, and now October.
Wheeee! I get to ride a virtual roller coaster!
Actually it's a great job and a great place to work. No complaints about them or the job.

Sometimes you make decisions that affect others in ways unexpected.
A few years back I was on jury duty for two and a half weeks for a murder trial. The kid was found guilty, and our only choices in his sentence were life in prison, or the death penalty. To be honest, I think his defense could have done a better job. There whole strategy seemed to be keeping him from getting the death penalty rather than proving his innocence.
We were all leaning towards life because of what he had been through as a child (drug addict and abusive parents, little education or supervision, etc.) when the decision was taken away from us because of a provision that made life without parole mandatory.
Given the circumstances of the crime (home invasion gone wrong instead of out and out murder) perhaps a lesser sentence would have been appropriate. Perhaps not.
In any case, I received an e-mail about crimes committed years ago on a bridge I used for a jigsaw puzzle I had recently published.
The conversation had me replying about my jury duty experiences, and looking up information about the case.
I learned that this young man had died in prison at age 24.
Some will say he got what he deserved. I see it more as a life wasted.
Had he had better parents, better upbringing, he could have been a productive member of society instead of a criminal. In this case, I believe he was a victim of nurture instead of nature. Seems he tried to take care of his druggie mother when she couldn't take care of herself while he was still a small kid, and actually saved a small child from drowning while still a kid himself.
This was a sad, sad waste of a life.
While I didn't have any choice in the decision to find him guilty, I still wonder if there wasn't something more I could have done.
Here are a couple of links about him and his case, if you are interested:
State record

Information about his appeal.

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