Have you ever served on a jury? I have once and experienced voir dire twice

[herding cats]

44. I have.

A felony jail escape case.

I was the juror who felt excessive force was used on a kid (they tossed him in prickly pear cactus and then held him down in a fire ant hill) and held out to get him probation to run concurrent with his previous sentence.

They left the yard gate open and he walked out, he never ran and stopped walking when they caught up to him 2 blocks later. He was 17 at the time. It was dumb, but not the level of crime it was alleged to be by the prosecution. He was facing 10 years in prison for walking out an open gate for 2 blocks. Then stopping when he was caught. Again, it was dumb, but still a crime. The way they dealt with him was excessive and sent him to the hospital.

The DA and his assistant were waiting to speak to me at my vehicle when the trial was over. They asked me what they could have done differently to sway my opinion. I told them they lost me when they called the young man a "dog in a cage" and their dehumanizing him, after the way he was treated, was how I managed to flip the holdouts who had wanted to sentence him to 10 years.

It was one of my better moments as a human being, looking back on it.