Whoops

Forgot to say what the case was about!

It was a civil case--this guy, who had been arrested while out on parole, was suing a police officer from his town. The plaintiff was claiming that the arrest was done maliciously and it caused him to be improperly imprisoned for an additional year (he'd gone back to jail only FOUR MONTHS after being out after 8 yrs). He was claiming that his civil rights were violated, etc. First off, the cop didn't even arrest this guy. All he did was call the man's parole officer, letting him know he'd violated the conditions of parole.

Had I been able to deliberate, I would have sided with the cop. The cop had taken a complaint by the man's ex-wife, who saw the guy walking down her street, when the guy was told, BY HIS PAROLE OFFICER, NOT TO GO DOWN HIS WIFE'S STREET OR ANYWHERE NEAR HER. Those were some of the conditions of his parole. She saw him go by like 6-8 times, and he did call her once (another violation)--she was willing to let all of this go, not a big deal...but around Christmas time that year (this was a few yrs ago) she got this cryptic Christmas card and went to the cops. She thought it was from her ex-husband and had enough of his antics.

Her going to the police led the officer to call the PO, who then decided to arrest the man. NOT the cop. The cop did later charge the man with some offenses, but the real reason he went back to prison was because he violated his parole. He did NOT follow instructions. He was really cocky on the stand too. The defendant's attorney said that he was a control freak and that he didn't like being told not to do XYZ and he thought he'd get away with it. There was definitely a jilted lover vibe--the plaintiff, years ago, had shot the man with whom his wife was having an affair. Right in front of her as the two lovers were leaving work. The guy was hurt pretty badly too.

I'm not sure from where the Christmas originated, but come on, if you are terrified of your ex and he's recently out of jail, then you see him walking by, he calls, and then you get a creepy card...you can pretty much assume that it's from him, and you're scared that you might be hurt next...so you go to the cops. The cop was doing his job, to protect the public...and there was some documentation about a protective order against the victims. So he did what he thought, at the time, was the right thing and called the PO. The cop might have been a bit mixed up--some of the information we heard in court was contradictory--was it a court order protective order? Was it NOT court ordered? Was that the correct name of the person? etc.

So yeah, that's what went down. I'm so curious as to how my fellow jurors decided!!!!