85 years...

[Daniel Meyer]

NOT a good week...
http://lifeisaroad.com/blog/2010/01/22/wheres-the-damn-erase-button/

[buffalobill]

Daniel,
 You did your civil duty, and you probably did it as good as anyone could have. I, as a citizen of this great country, appreciate your service. We can only control what we can control. You can not bring back the innocent victim, but you did participate in our justice system. I will be praying for you.
 buffalobill

[Willow]

Rough ride, Danny.  

We can't erase.  We can only work harder on adding more good memories to offset the sludge.  

[Valker]

So sorry, Daniel. Sometimes you just have to write over something enough times that the original can barely be seen or recognized. Like when we were kids and wrote something in pen that we wanted to erase but couldn't, we took the pen and drew circles and scribbles over it.

[Big Rig]

Daniel,

Thank you for your service and saving many lives...I know the images that you listened to in court. In time they will pass, keep your mind of those that you have saved by putting this slime ball behind bars.

I will pray that you heal fast and your memories will fade.

Ride brother ride.

[mhallock]

Daniel,

We all have the ability to forget......only God has the ability to forgive.....thank you for your service.

Mark

[Serk]

I know the feeling Daniel... I sat on a capital murder jury 11 years ago now... And yeah... 11 years later I still think about it...

[X Ring]

Several years ago, I served on a Grand Jury for 3 months.  One day the D.A. brought us a case of a mother who beat her 5 year old son to death because he messed up saying his ABCs.  It was a unaminous indictment.  Then there were all the child molester cases we heard.  If you really want to know the seedy side of your community, serving on a Grand Jury will show it to you.

Marty 

[Karen]

First, thanks for your service, it is not easy. Second, what X Ring said is true, had GJD this past October (DA pulled me off after 5 weeks, took my company that long to decide that they weren't going to pay my salary for more than 10 days, and took my last 2 days of PTO to boot, but a subpoena from the judge got me paid for the additional 164 hours.) Horrific things. People at their worst, and my fellow jurors were people at their best. There is no button, just reality, and we live what we focus on. Having my Valk really helps.

[Daniel Meyer]

Thanks folks! 

I'm not fragile...or naive...but I am not normally easily shaken either.

What a week! Feeling better already.

[BamaDrifter64]

Try BEING an attorney and having to deal with those types of cases...if it weren't for my faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, I would surely be an alcoholic or drug addict....

Dave

[Robert]

When things dont make sense and the burden is to great you have to remember who is in charge

Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Psa 23:2  He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
Psa 23:3  He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Psa 23:4  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psa 23:5  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
Psa 23:6  Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Psa 1:1  How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psa 1:3  He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Psa 1:4  The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Psa 1:5  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
Psa 1:6  For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.

Psa 58:1  For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David. Do you indeed speak righteousness, O gods? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?
Psa 58:2  No, in heart you work unrighteousness; On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.
Psa 58:3  The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.
Psa 58:4  They have venom like the venom of a serpent; Like a deaf cobra that stops up its ear,
Psa 58:5  So that it does not hear the voice of charmers, Or a skillful caster of spells.
Psa 58:6  O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD.
Psa 58:7  Let them flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts.
Psa 58:8  Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along, Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.
Psa 58:9  Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
Psa 58:10  The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Psa 58:11  And men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely there is a God who judges on earth!"

[Disco]

Thanks for your service, Daniel.  Too bad you couldn't have just dragged the POS out back, handed him a shovel with which to dig his own grave, and shot him.  Faster, cheaper, better.

Back in '95, I too had the privilege of serving on a Grand Jury.  The weird thing on mine was that the weekend between being sworn in and hearing our first cases, one of our jurors had a heart attack and died forcing us to go the 3 months with only 11 on the panel.  There was no provision in TX to allow a new 12th juror yet we still needed 9 to true-bill.  We were able to do some good things but I still wonder whatever happened to the little girl whose mother was no-billed after beating her so severely with an electrical cord that chunks of flesh were torn from her legs by the plug end.  This was no spanking.  No-billed on racial lines.  I'll never forget the hypocrite lay pastor / pillar of his community with the wife and kids and mistress and kids.   

[czuch]

Thanks for doing a difficult task.
The right thing isnt allways the easiest, But its allways right.
I've wondered how people deal with this on a daily basis stay sane. I think either you get numb to it or absolve your self to two lives. Me, I'd probably end up "wearing a cape" on the weekends.
God hold you.

[GreenLantern57]

Glad you are feeling better. You cannot undo, so you must reset. Go for that long ride! True bike riders know why we ride.

[Chili Pepper]

Ugh. I guess we should forgive criminal lawyers and cops for the edge some of them have. One of the reasons I dismissed criminal justice as a line of work was the things it has got to do to one's head; having to see that all the time; having to be suspicious and constantly looking for the worst in everyone. I can't imagine how a person could compartmentalize that and not have it affect one's personal life.  Heck, I know people who think like that anyway and they're not really nice people.

Pity the victims. Step back and feel pity for the predator because, even though his true character showed and he hurt people when things weren't going as he wanted (an understatement here, I know), at some point in his life he could have chosen a different path and become a human. Or maybe I'm just being fanciful..thinking that sociopaths have a choice. I don't think I really want to know. <<wry half-smile>> I just think the only way to get by pain and trauma is to stare it down, let it hurt, forgive, hand it over to the man, and then get busy with life (yehhh...a ride  ).

[ArmyValker]

The only way I've found to process some of the truly horrific things I(we) encounter from time to time is to embrace the perspective they bring, and reaffirm (verbally or physically) the love of family and friends that make my blessed life possible.

Sometimes, that empty feeling in the bottom of my gut is just a sign that I'm still a decent, conscientious  person despite what's happened.

[Daniel Meyer]

No work for me this weekend. Resting. Processing. Recuperating. Recharging.

Normalcy. <--clicky

[X Ring]

We were able to do some good things but I still wonder whatever happened to the little girl whose mother was no-billed after beating her so severely with an electrical cord that chunks of flesh were torn from her legs by the plug end.  This was no spanking.  No-billed on racial lines.     

Dave, the only good thing out of that is the DA can present the case to a subsequent Grand Jury and it wouldn't be double jeopardy.

Marty

[Daniel Meyer]

The jury I served on...
(second article)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/DN-regionalrdp_27met.ART.State.Edition1.4c0000e.html

SO much cleaner in the news article!