Oh they'll express regret in the other direction, but not for acquitting a guilty person.
I am not getting into great detail now, but a long time ago, I was on patrol with my partner when we saw a large crowd around an alley in the hood. We knew something was going on and tried to get there quickly, it the assholes in the street wouldn’t move out of the way. They did this on purpose-and I took note of as many as I could and I remembered later on when I dealt with them-which I always was.
So we had to drive up half a block and cut down another alley. When we got on scene, a pimp was stand in over his pregnant gf/hooker holding a bike above his head. She was laying on the ground and was bleeding from both knees and from her lip. She also had black tire marks on her legs.
We went to detain him-really tall black guy named-I shit you not, Elvis-street name, “elbow.” I had arrested him a bunch at this point-typical crackhead/notorious pimp. I went to pay him down and he started resisting and tried to pull away, so I did an inside foot sweep and slammed him on the hood of the cruiser. Regardless of what she said at this point, he was under arrest for obstructing at this point.
To my surprise, she told us that he hat hit her, threw her down, then hit her with his bike a few times. Keep in mind, she is about six months pregnant. So we arrest him for domestic battery-which it turns out he had 2-3 previous convictions tor making this a felony. Also, with his history, this put him in the “habitual offender” category which meant he could do some real time for this one especially her being pregnant.
At the trial, it was just me. My partner had to have surgery or his dad died-can’t remember which it was. So during the voir dire-where they question the potential jury members, I thought it very odd they don’t scratch this woman, Roberta. She was mega rich and her dad owned the biggest car dealership in the area. She was also married to a former cop, who at this point was an assist prosecutor (he is now a fucking federal judge which blows my mind because he is fucking lazy as shit and has always been a lackadaisical goof-but I guess it is good to be married to a mega rich bitch with political connections). They asked her if she could be impartial and she said she could absolutely be impartial-so she was chosen. I am 100% sure she really wanted on that jury just for the entertainment value of it and because of who she was and who her dad was, they let her do it.
Anyway, I testify to what I saw, what she told me, I testified to the pictures I took of all her injuries, his bike that was logged into evidence, and an er report of her injuries because I insisted she get checked out to make sure her baby was ok-it would never be ok, she was a crack whore that smoked crack and cigarettes while pregnant and also drank like a fish. But I really focused on how he was holding his bike over her head and how she claimed that he brought the bike down on her legs multiple times and that the black marks on her legs were most likely made by the bike tires if the bike he had over his head.
So now it’s her turn to testify. She tells the same story she told us and told us that he regularly beats her and she was sick of it.
Then, this is where things start to royally piss me off. The defense attorney brings up that she has a conviction for perjury/lying under oath. He grills her pretty hard suggesting she was lying under oath yet again.
The defense puts elbow on the stand. He tells the jury that they were arguing because she wouldn’t stop smoking crack while she was pregnant with their beloved child “you gotta understand-I hadn’t met dis baby yet, but I already knew I loved it.” This multiple time felon, crack dealer, pimp and with three prior domestic battery convictions-WHICH WE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO MENTION BECAUSE “OT WOULD UNDULY PREJUDICE THE JURY.” He as it turns out, also had perjury convictions which we were allowed to bring up to refute his testimony shit like they were doing with her testimony.
Trial ends and it goes to the jury. They are in chambers for about an hour and come back with a verdict. They found this mother fucker not guilty.
I was so fucking pissed. It was the first case I can remember losing and it hurt. I spent over six hours in that courtroom that day for the trial, sitting in an uncomfortable ass wooden chair that I don’t quite fit in because I had on a gun belt and it was very narrow. I am not a particularly small man either-not fat at all, but my legs are thicc and my back is pretty damn wide and with a gun belt and uniform on, I am even bulkier. My point is that I specifically remember being very uncomfortable in that chair for over six hours. But I remember looking at the jury in complete disbelief and saw Roberta and two other jurors smiling and giggling as the verdict was read.
So again, I am super pissed and I go back to hq and I am fuming and telling anyone that would listen that Roberta was a fucking cunt-she was the only one I knew on the jury. A few days later, my other partner-whom I hated because he was a shady ass gambler that ran his mouth behind my back a good bit-to the point where an older officer told me I needed to beat his ass out back because it was so constant and that was how shit was handled on the pd back then. I didn’t beat his ass-it would have been no issue at all-I outweighed him by sixty pounds, was 20 years younger, and he was a pussy when it came to fighting. However, he would have shot me I am sure of it-he had killed before in the Middle East and he was the only officer that shot and killed a man during my career-it was a good shoot-in fact, a miraculous shot from 89 years away with a handgun against an active shooter. He was an asshole and a pussy when it came to fighting, but he knew how to shoot and was our sniper.
Anyway, he pulls me aside and want to talk to me about Roberta. She “heard I was upset” about the case and wanted to talk to me. Well, I didn’t want to talk to her. So two days later, a gift basket arrives at work-it’s this giant fucking fruit basket with all kinds of chocolate, wine, and other shit. My shift as well as detectives and administrators gobbled that whole thing in five mins. There was a card with my name on it and inside was a “friends and family” discount card for her dealership-my parter told me that she would probably knock 5k off a car for me. I didn’t fucking care-I would never shop at her dealership-I kept thinking about her smiling and giggling during verdict as she “walked on the wild side and rubbed elbows with the plebs.”
So that day on patrol, Dave-my partner, tells me that Roberta was really upset about the trial as well. She claims that she and the other women wanted to convict him but there were at least two men that were holdouts and were very vocal and determined in the matter. She claimed the one man said “fuck that crackwhore-serves her right for dating a drug dealing pimp and making her own baby retarded.” She claims that this man was aggressive and yelled at anyone that didn’t agree with him and one by one, they gave up and changed their vote. She also said that “they didn’t believe her because she lied on the stand before and probably was again.”
Hearing this made me so mad because so fucking what if she had a perjury conviction-so did he-and I FUCKING SAW IT HAPPEN. I was pissed that the rules of trial meant that we couldn’t say that he had 3 prior domestic battery convictions and I still don’t understand how it is not relevant information for a trial. I also blame the half assed prosecutor who was also known for being lazy and having the energy level of a lichen. He should have entered in the Triple I (criminal background check with conviction dates) into evidence so he could have asked me to read and verify the information on there so we could have brought up the priors.
Anyway, I know I said I wasn’t going into detail, but I had to. This Portland case reminds me of how I felt that day because the jury was swayed by one asshole with negative feelings towards the victim here just like this Portland jury imo made their decision on the fact that the victim was a chomo and that he said the bad word towards a black guy, which is a capital offense in Oregon.
