[Reader-users] KNFB reader helps dispense justice

[Kathy Davis]

Dear Mike,  

I am so pleased about your having the opportunity to serve on a jury
and it is wonderful that you were selected as the forman.  You obviously
did a terrific job. Kudos!  You are a perfect example of how we are
"changing what it means to be blind."  

By the way, what is the bookport?    

Take care,

Kathy Davis


>>> "mhingson" <mhingson at guidedogs.com> Thursday, December 07, 2006
8:25 PM >>>
X-nfbnet.org-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more
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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

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