Text by Bob Shell, Copyright 2022
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The Jeffersonian Court
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All of us have watched the workings of courtrooms in dramas from ‘Perry Mason’ to ‘Law and Order,’ so we’re familiar with courtroom layout and procedures, at least in a general way. The judge sits on his elevated ‘throne,’ with prosecution and defense tables in front of him, the witness stand between them, and with the jury off to the side. That’s how courtrooms are always set up on TV and in the movies.
That is, they’re set up that way everywhere but parts of Virginia. Those parts of Virginia use the Jeffersonian courtroom, designed by Thomas Jefferson.
In the Jeffersonian Court, the judge sits up higher than in more common courtrooms. The jury sits in two rows of raised chairs directly in front of the judge, facing the defense and prosecution tables and the witness stand. The obvious shortcoming of this arrangement is that jurors cannot see the judge unless they pull a ‘Linda Blair’ and rotate their heads 180 degrees. They completely miss his facial expressions and body language, but they see every nuance of the accused, lawyers, and witnesses. Whether this all is an advantage or disadvantage to the accused, I don’t know. I know I was able to lock eyes with jurors throughout my two-week trial.
At least one juror was sympathetic to me, I know, because we almost had a hung jury, and they had to work late into the night on Friday to reach a verdict and avoid being sequestered during a three day Labor Day holiday weekend. I sat in a little windowless room for hours waiting for them to decide.
A hung jury would have meant the prosecution would have to start the process all over again, and might’ve decided to cut their losses and drop the case.
We almost didn’t have a jury at all. We went through the entire local jury pool without finding fourteen people, twelve jurors and two alternates, not contaminated by the extensive media coverage of my case, which reached all the way to England and Germany. We’d asked for a change of venue to an area outside the local media coverage, but the judge flatly denied the request.
When we couldn’t seat a jury from the jury pool, the sheriff and his deputies went out at night, going door to door to find people willing to be jurors. I was not convinced at the time, and am not convinced today, that this was legal.
But, there’s so much wrong with my case and trial that’s it’s practically impossible to sort the proper from the improper. The whole thing was a sham and travesty!
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About The Author: Bob Shell is a professional photographer, author, former editor in chief of Shutterbug Magazine and veteran contributor to this blog. He is currently serving a 35 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for the death of Marion Franklin, one of his former models. He is serving the 13th year of his sentence at Pocahontas State Correctional Facility, Virginia. To read additional articles by Bob Shell, click here:
Editor’s Note: If you like Bob Shell’s blog posts, you’re sure to like his new book, COSMIC DANCE by Bob Shell (ISBN: 9781799224747, $ 12.95 book, $ 5.99 eBook) available now on Amazon.com . The book, his 26th, is a collection of essays written over the last twelve years in prison, none published anywhere before. It is subtitled, “A biologist’s reflections on space, time, reality, evolution, and the nature of consciousness,” which describes it pretty well. You can read a sample section and reviews on Amazon.com. Here’s the link: https://tonyward.com/thealien-autopsy-film/
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