Trial By Jury

I have just finished a week in court listening to examinations, cross examination, depositions, the judge and the law, objections, etc. The case involves the two headed cow trick. The person would take an unsuspecting friend and would drive out on a country road near a coral and a canal. A road would come off the canal road down to the edge of the canal and then come back up to the canal road. It would be similar to leaving a freeway and then coming back on the freeway. The bottom of the off road was about fifteen feet below the top of the canal road. The driver would approach the exit to the left and then say, "See the two headed cow." The passengers would look in the corals for the two headed cow. Of course they could not see it, but as they were looking the driver would exit the canal road down into the dip and come back up on the canal road. The passengers would get the feel of a dip in a roller coaster, without seeing or expecting a dip. This has been happening in the Delta, Utah area for 30 to 40 years. This time however, the drive lost control of the car has he came back on to the canal road. The car slid around on the road and ended up in the canal upside down facing the opposite direction. The driver was sixteen years old and had three passengers that were younger than him. Three of the kids got out, but the fourteen year old cousin did not get out for over twenty minutes. She was rushed to the hospital and then life flighted to the primary children's hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. She had sever brain trauma which left her spending her time in bed or in a wheel chair that would lay out flat. She could not do anything for herself. She had to be fed through a g-tube. She cannot talk. She can move her thumb just a little. Before the accident she was a talent dancer, after the accident she was completely dependent on others. One of the mother's of the children was suing her sister who was the mother of the sixteen year old driver. Jury selections started Monday morning. The trial started Monday afternoon. The jury began to deliberate Friday afternoon. A decision was reached by 4:30 pm. The plaintiff did not get near what they had asked for. For the most part it was really boring. Most of the witnesses were asked the same questions. Each of them described that accident. It has been a terrible thing to happen in a family. Sister against sister.

No one in the jury pool wanted to be in the jury. I was one of the ten selected out of fifty prospective jurors, The should be people in that jury pool waiting in line to serve our country in that way.

The Modren Pirates

There has been a lot in the news the last couple of years about the modern pirates. The seize a ship and then hold it for ransom. At time they get millions of dollars. A ship was boarded a couple of days ago. The crew regained control of the ship, but the captain went with the pirates as a hostage to save the crew. To prevent this the ships should carry some big guns and have instrumentation that would detect an approaching boat. The just sink it without any questions. It would be rare that anyone that far away from the coast in a small boat would be seeking help. If they needed help, they could signal that they need help and then they could approach the ship with guns trained on them.