_www.FantasyLibrary.com [Visit Who Is Joseph Teller?] Synthesis & Synchronicity 033

Synthesis & Synchronicity #33

End Of Jury Duty : Well, I've been released from the Jury Duty pool that's been hanging over my head for oh so many weeks. They decided the 12 jurors and 6 alternatives for this Federal Death Penalty Case (probably the biggest one in the state). The case was one not of wether someone was guilty or not, but whether they would receive the Federal Death Penalty or Life Imprisonment. They screened some 1500 people for the pool, that I am aware of, and put us thru probably the longest selection process this state has seen this decade.

I'm glad that they removed me, as I definitely have a personal opposition to a government controlled death penalty (especially under the Judicial system of John Ashcroft). Too many people have been falsley accused, tried and sentenced for far too many crimes over the years, and too many lives destroyed or lost to this barbaric system. It would have been a long, tenous and painful period in my life, forcing me to judge the life value of someone else (a life which the families of the victims of his crimes have evidently opposed the ending of for the crimes involved). Heck, I might have even hung the jury and made it drag out longer, considering my personal ethics (and since they can evidently keep a jury in deliberation legally for as much as a year before accepting them as being 'hung' this could have been a Very long trial).

I can't say a whole lot more about the case, except that I don't agree with the law involved that took this from a state crime (which would have had only a Life Imprisonment without Parole sentence) to a Federal crime (with the Death Penalty) . There is no reason for it to be Federal, except Republican over zealousness at using the death penalty as a solution to everything (and a dislike for states like ours that follows the Internation Standard of the Civilized Industrial World that the Death Penalty is cruel and unusual punishment).

At least I know I have 3 years of being free of being summoned by the Federal or the State courts to jury duty again.

(I did notice that there was a short blurb about the case in todays Metro, mentioning that the jury enpanelment had been completed.)

Gaming : Well the first session (and adventure) for the Bureau 13 : Team Smorgasbord rpg went thru this past Sunday, with the players succeeding far beyond my expectations in regards to the time needed to find and solve the situation, with a minimal combat time (a mere 30 minutes) using Hero 5 mechanics. I'm now working on my preparations for the second adventure storyline.

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