I testified in court (update)

[u/gh0stlygal_]

Dinner-chips, salsa, bean dip and a Mexican martini 🍸

https://www.reddit.com/r/GirlDinnerDiaries/s/VBaeEfptVi -link to my original post. I got a lot of support here and would love to give an update.
A few weeks ago, I was asked to testify in court against my childhood abuser from 26 years ago. After only getting probation for his disgusting crimes against me, he was left free in this world to reoffend and hurt other children. There were 6 victims that got up to testify. 6 known victims. Both boys and girls. I am proud to say we got a guilty verdict. The jury used less than one minute for deliberations and came back with a unanimous guilty verdict. Life + 20. He will be eligible for parole in 30 years, but I can guarantee you we will fight to keep him in his box. He will no longer be hurting children. The justice system failed me as a little girl. Failed all of his victims by letting him walk free and reoffend. Not today though. Small town Texas stuck it to him and I couldn’t be more grateful. Here’s to hoping he gets everything he’s given while he is in Texas prison.

[u/Adjectivenounnumb]

The jury used less than one minute for deliberations and came back with a unanimous guilty verdict.

This makes me a bit nervous and seems like something they will go after on appeal. (Sorry, true crime follower, I've heard of deliberations of less than one hour, but never less than one minute, which barely sounds like enough time for them to establish a foreperson and go through the voting. I do expect to get downvoted for this, but yeah, seems odd. If you do choose to downvote me, please know I'm referring only to the possibility of appeal, hoping the conviction is not in danger.)

[u/gh0stlygal_ → u/Adjectivenounnumb]

It’s within his legal rights to appeal. But trust me, there’s a whole pack of wolves after this man. We will fight until the end to make sure this POS stays in his box far away from children. If I have to make the trip back down to TX in 30 days to fight his appeal, that’s what I’ll do. If he makes it to his 30 years and becomes eligible for parole, I’ll be fighting that too.

[u/flywearingabluecoat → u/gh0stlygal_]

🖤🖤🖤 one million billion love to you

[u/gh0stlygal_ → u/Adjectivenounnumb]

They took a 30 minute break, the chosen foreperson told everyone to write their vote down on a piece of paper and they flipped it over at the same time. All guilty. They then spent a little while longer discussing the case before rejoining the court. The defense didn’t do their best on the jury selection. There was a CPS worker, a child advocacy worker, and a female school teacher of 15 years on the panel. There were 6 previous victims that got up to testify and a written confession that the defendant wrote while he was in classes. The evidence was all there

[u/madame-maitre-d → u/[deleted]]

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[u/PatioGardener → u/Adjectivenounnumb]

Appellate courts tend to err on the side of trusting the wisdom of the jury. And unlike what pop culture would have you believe, appealing a conviction isn’t really a viable path to regaining freedom. It’s a path, at most, to a retrial. And it’s an incredibly high bar that must be met to get to even that outcome.

Like, let’s say this guy had a horrible defense attorney. One where “ineffective assistance of counsel” could reasonably be argued. The lawyer failed to get objections on the record, failed to file motions in a timely manner, etc. And let’s say that the appellate justices agree that yeah, that was a shit defense attorney who did a subpar job. And so they find in favor of the defendant’s appeal. You know what happens next? The defendant gets retried. And until then, a judge might decide to set bond, or the judge might decide that the defendant must remain in custody until the new trial. But in no circumstance will such an appeal result in the defendant just walking out scot-free.

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[u/RunJumpSleep → u/Adjectivenounnumb]

Yeah, if there are multiple charges, there is no way they deliberated in less than a minute. Not even if there is one charge.They also have to fill out verdict forms as they take each vote for each charge as to each victim. They have to go through the elements on the verdict form for each charge. It’s nothing like what we see on TV. No way it takes less than a minute.

[u/mschanandlerbong___ → u/RunJumpSleep]

Yeah I’m sure they were being hyperbolic..