[Reader-users] KNFB reader helps dispense justice

[mhingson]

Hi everyone,

Here is another story for the annals of the KNFB reader.

Recently I was summoned to report for jury duty here in Marin County.  I was
asked to report last Wednesday.  So, with KNFB reader and BookPort in hand
off I went to do my civic duty.

After the obligatory preliminaries and introduction to jury service were
completed hi and 59 other people trooped down to courtrooms see where we
anxiously waited to see who would be selected to serve on the jury for the
trial being conducted in that courtroom.  I was not one of the first 12
summoned to sit in the jury box.  However, after 10 or 11 peremptory
challenges I was drafted and took my place in the box.  I was questioned by
the judge, the prosecutor, and the defense lawyer.  Although I was not
challenged, another person was and so the selection process went on.  After
two more challenges the attorneys said they were satisfied.

There I was with 11 other people now sitting in judgment of an individual
brought up on a misdemeanor battery charge.  The process and the trial were
fascinating.  I won't bore you with all the facts.  Suffice it to say we all
paid attention and did our best to wait our turn to discuss the facts in the
jury room at the end of the trial.

Skip ahead now to Friday morning.  The judge read her instructions to the
jury at the end of the day on Thursday.  We all arrived on Friday fresh and
ready to deliberate.  The first order of business was to select a four
person.  Someone said "who wants to be four people"?  After about 15 seconds
of silence I spoke up and said that as long as no one else was volunteering
I would be willing to take the job.  And so, there I was reader and BookPort
in hand, foreman of the jury.

As we began to deliberate it became obvious that we needed to reread the
instructions the judge had given to us.  This was done by one of the other
jurors, for the most part.  However, there were times when I wanted to
specifically read certain portions while others talked.  Out came the KNFB
reader with Bluetooth dongle attached and Bluetooth headpiece in my ear.  I
read the instruction sections I needed to read.  The reader performed
flawlessly!  It was wonderful to be able to read independently and use that
knowledge from my reading to help in our deliberations.  In fact, because of
what I read, I was able to bring appropriate focus to certain portions of
the trial specifically in considering certain parts of the law.

We deliberated for an hour and 15 minutes after which we found the defendant
not guilty.  As in such cases, the decision needed to be a unanimous one.
It was.

We all left the courtroom feeling we did a great job.  The judge was
impressed with what the KNFB reader did.  I think the news got around the
entire courthouse very quickly.

I think this story is what the KNFB reader development project and all our
hard work is all about.  Justice was served and the organized blind were
part of the process.  Great job everyone!  Now, I am just waiting for the
day that history gets reinvented and we discover that Perry Mason was blind
(grin).  By the way, I never did get to use the BookPort.

Mike Hingson