Aaron Thorup: Jury duty and a few photos

WARNING: The following contains some talk of sexual activities. Parents probably shouldn't let kids read this unless they feel they can handle it.

NOTE: The following is my opinion of the events that took place during a civil case of D. C. vs. Jennifer Hasratian and El Matador March 5-13, 2018. Take if for what its worth

Common area just outside the court room

Common area just outside the court room. None of the people in this Photo were selected

Common area just outside the court room

Exterior of courthouse in Salt Lake City Ut

On March 5-13, 2018 I served on a Jury of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. This turned out to be a unique journey full of grueling testimonies, antics from the defense and Plaintiff lawyers, tons of evidence, and serving with amazing jurors.

On March 5 we entered the antiseptic halls of the new District court house on 351 South West Temple at 7:30 am. Security is similar to the airport, minus the full body scanners. Found out I had to remove my belt. Ended up not wearing a belt the remainder of my days in attendance at the courthouse.

The Selection

Pathway on East side of courthouse in SLC

Once in we went to a room full of chairs with a projector and screen. After all 44 of us arrived we watched a video which appeared to be at least 15 years old, based on the type of computers shown. This was essentially a propaganda video on how we were all performing our civic duty and upholding the freedoms of our country by adhering to the order to show up. I am happy to report that after serving, I found the video to be essentially true. After serving, I have definitely come away with a deeper sense of how our system works, and what a privilege it is to live in a country that affords its citizens a trial to prove innocence or guilt, and to settle disputes. Boy, let me tell you, did we have a dispute to settle last week.

Selection took the better half of a day. We were questioned as a group. There were many with legitimate excuses. Other s not so much. After this they pulled us in one by one to question us. It wasnt until the 3rd day of my service I realized why they asked me what they asked. Based on my answers I realized why I was chosen; I cant go into detail due to the sensitive nature of some of my answers. Suffice to say, part of the reason I may have been chosen was because they saw I might empathize with the defendant and Plaintiff on some level.

So I was #8, and had to wait through the remaining potential jurors questioning. We were afforded some breaks during this time, so I ate lunch and walked around a bit. They told us if they selected someone with a higher number than what we were, we could go home. They selected one person lower than myself, then called #9. Yes!, going home. Nope. "Wait #8, we made a mistake. You've been chosen." Honestly I was curious as to what it would be like to serve on a jury, so I wasn't terribly disappointed.

After selections were made we were given new numbers. I ended up being Juror #2. this was also the order we sat in two rows in the courtroom.

What we had to accomplish

Once all other potentials were dismissed the Judge laid out what had already been proven in the criminal case. This was to be a civil case, in which we were were to determine compensation for damages, if any, based on what had been proven in the criminal case and additional evidence presented to us.

This is what happened: In May 2013 a 16 year old teen (D.C.) was hired by one of the owners (Jen) of El Matador in Ogden. Shortly after being hired they began having sex. This continued until July of the same year. The police found out, the relationship ended, Jen was accused. I still dont know the details of the criminal case beyond what the Judge told us last week. Maybe I will look it up some time. What I do know is that some time in the following couple years Jen was convicted, sentenced and fulfilled her sentence. That brings us to the Civil case that I and 11 other jurors were now a part of.

That first day there was only time for opening statements by the Plaintiff and Defense lawyers. Jen was present, but D.C. was not. This would be the norm except for two days in which D.C. would testify.

Four and a half days of gueling testimony and evidence

Trax station near Decker Lake in WVC, on last day of deliberation.
Rode Trax every morning

I wont bore you with every detail of this case. What took place over the next four and half days was a ton of testimony from witnesses, evidence presented and free lunches. I will share some of the more interesting or disturbing things here.

"I object"

Lets start with the Plaintiff Lawyer. Not sure if he was new to the whole Jury trial thing or not, but he kept on leading his witnesses. The defense lawyer over and over and over, "Ojection, leeeeading the witness." She got pretty snarky about this, and the judge got pretty exasperated. I think he figured it out by the third day, after we had gone through this same scenario about 70 times.

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat

So, so many things were repeated. Some of the items were just simple evidence we were already aware of. Other things were quite disgusting. Such as the defense lawyer reiterating 3 or 4 times specific sexual acts that I will not repeat here. I suppose this kind of repetitive language was for our benefit supposedly. Repetition breeds remembrance. This caused me to feel dark and worn down inside by the end of each day. It all weighed on my soul, that such despicable things could be done by people.

Lies, half truths and contradictions

I cant tell you how many times we found people were lying or just didn't know what actually happened. Sifting through all it at the end, we simply had to disregard a substantial amount of testimony due to contradictions. For example we never came to an absolute conclusion on how their first sexual encounter was initiated. The defense asserted that it was completely consensual, while the Plaintiff was certain she was the initiator and he never actually gave his consent due to being absolutely smashed. One thing which was absolutely clear is that both of them were completely drunk when it happened, and they both agreed to continue the illicit relationship after the first encounter. This, in part, resulted in both having some responsibility for damages. Obviously because D.C. was a minor at the time, a larger percentage of damages fell on the shoulders of Jen. There is just no getting around the fact that she was an adult who should have been more responsible for her actions than she actually was.

Disturbing reenactment

Trax station near Decker Lake in WVC, on last day of deliberation.

The most disturbing thing to occur, for me, was a reenactment of an incident at the El Matador. D.C., playing Jen, came up behind the wife of the Plaintiff lawyer and whispered a despicable, and sexually charged phrase into her ear. The whole idea was to show, in a shocking way, how Jen approached D.C. at times during their relationship. They wanted to cast even more blame on her by doing this. Instead of that, all I could focus on was how sincerely, and predatorily D.C. said the words to the Plaintiffs wife in the court room. I felt convinced that he could actually do that in real life. This was not a positive experience I hope never to repeat in my lifetime

Great Food

They took really good care of us. One of the court people (Sorry forgot her title) named Stephanie did all within her power to make us comfortable. She took care of reasonable requests and made sure we got fed an excellent breakfast and lunch every day.

The elevator incident

We had a small adventure on an elevator at the end of the day, I believe on Friday. We were escorted down to the exit as a group, the same as every day previous. Today a kind female security guard took us. Instead of taking us around the perimeter hall to what we came to know as our normal elevator, she directed us into a closer, and much smaller elevator just off the perimeter hall way. We all squeezed in, the thought never crossing our minds that all of us together were too much for this samller elevtor. We began our decdent from the 8th floor. As we came to a halt we all felt a slight jolt. The doors did not open. We all took this in good humor. Fortuneatly we were only stuck for about 7 min. Not sure if the elevator company got us out, or if it started working on its own. Felt good to be releasd from such a confining box. The poor security guard will probably never live it down. I felt bad for her. She appeared to b one of the few female guards at the courthouse. Hopefully her co-workers wont give her too bad a time for too long. She made an honest mistake and deserves forgiveness and respect just like anone else

Awesome Jurors

The most positive aspect of the court were the people I served with. We came from all walks of life. Young (20s) middle aged (30-60) and elderly individuals. Some of us divorced, some of us raising families. Some rich and not-so-rich. Some of us Mormons, other religions and perhaps non-religious. Through all of our differences we came together, focused, and had civil conversations about the evidence and testimonies. We all adhered strictly to what the law required of us in our decision making. Some of the Jurors were more outspoken than others, but we all respected each others views, and gave everyone a chance to share their feelings on every matter of the case. There was much laughter and camaraderie through all of this. So much so, that we want to get together some time for lunch. I hope that happens. I feel like our group is a representation of the way civil dialogue in America should take place. We didn't agree on everything, but at the end of the day we could still respect each other, and even be friends. At the end of it all we came to agreement on a matter that was not easy to come to terms on. If we can do that among 12 random citizens, why couldn't we as a people do the same thing on other big issues in America. No matter what way you swing politically, religiously, sexually or ethnically; I believe there is room to talk and understand each other. This experience with these jurors showed me that is possible. God bless America, I love it!

Some of the Jurors and clerks right before leaving on our last day

The Jurors on this case. We had a blast. Photo by Lynette Sahleen

Final day

Judge talking to us and thanking us for our service

Today we concluded our deliberations. D.C. was awarded some money, Jen was assigned her percentage of responsibility for the aftermath of her foolish decisions, and El Matador came away scott free (Which we all disagreed with, but our hands were bound by the law in this matter). We all felt greatly relieved by the conclusion of the whole affair. After the verdict the Judge came into the jurors room to thank us for our service. This was a wonderful occurrence. she was absolutely sincere with us about our professionalism and taking the whole matter so seriously. Unlike the propaganda video at the beginning, her's was a human touch that I will probably never forget. I felt honored to serve with her in court. She answered all our questions. We took photos, exchanged phone numbers, said our goodbyes and we left the courthouse.