Convicting a Child Molester

Today, along with 11 complete strangers and a good prosecuting attorney, I helped convict a child molester. It feels like one of the most important things I've ever done in my life, next to helping my mother transition through the final stage of her life.

In this case, a 10 year old girl testified what her grandfather had been doing to her when she was 9 and 8, and he was 56 and 55. It was basically her word against his (he testified too), and yet somehow this little girl who didn't know the same words that you and I do, left no reasonable doubt as to what was the truth. None whatsoever.

This was the first time I've every been called for jury, and hence, also my first time as foreman. It was an amazing feeling to help my fellow jury members harness the overwhelming information given to us, and to watch the victim's family as "Guilty" was read on all four counts.

I'm not sure yet whether tonight I'll sleep like a rock, or my eyes won't even close.

Whatever sentence he gets, it won't be harsh enough. Capital punishment isn't harsh enough.

Edited to adjust tenses.

He will be sentenced later. Hopefully, he'll do time first in Montana, then Colorado. After the verdict was read, the judge told us that Randy Lee Tyre is facing similar charges there. Of course we did not know that when we were deliberating, and the CO jury won't know about his conviction here.

I hope there is a special hell for child molesters because the innocence and trust they steal is forever damaging.

That must have been a hard case to be seated on. What a brave little girl. I hope his sentence is the maximum allowed.

Congratulations!! I was almost on a case like that a couple months ago but the offender decided to take a plea deal. I truly believe there is a special place for them. Death comes to mind too. The worst.

I hope the prison system metes out it's own special punishment for this son of a ......... To take away a child's trust for life - there is no punishment harsh enough.

I have served on juries several times. It was only after I had my doctor send a notification that I was deaf in my left ear that the county quit calling me for jury duty. I hated jury duty. I have heard several people say that they have never been called for jury duty. It seems like once you are called, you hear from them every two years or so.

I have been called 5 times. Served 4 times. My father is now 80 and was never sent a notification. It's crazy. I'd like to see their system for choosing

My dad was called every couple of years. My mom never. I have been called a couple of times, but being a nurse, most defendant attorneys do NOT want you, so I have never served.

Taking that degenerate's life would be far too easy on him (I firmly believe in capital punishment!) I think that most maximum security prisons have many people who would take great pleasure in teaching him a fraction of the terror that he inflicted on his own flesh and blood. And he deserves every minute of it.

No matter how old I get I'll never be able to wrap my mind around an adult doing something so horrendous to a child. Well done.

Well done, Carabou. I pray that brave little girl is able to go on to lead a good, normal happy life in spite of it all.

I've been summoned for jury duty about 5 times, but only served twice. One case ended up settling out of court right before the trial was scheduled to begin, but the judge marked us down as having served a full trial just for being selected and showing up, even though all we did was sit in the jury room doing crossword puzzles or reading to pass the time for a total of about an hour or so while the lawyers battled it out amongst themselves. I breathed a sigh of relief when we were released, because once you've served on a trial, they can't summon you again for jury duty for at least 18 months (at least where I live anyway).

The next time I was summoned was 5 years later...........which just so happened to have been a few months ago. I ended up being selected and served on a medical malpractice suit that lasted just short of 2 weeks.

I always used to fear being on a jury, but it actually wasn't as bad as I had imagined..... at least not with this trial anyway. Every single one of my jury-mates turned out to be wonderfully logical, honest, conscientious, fair-minded folks, and our chosen jury foreman, who had previously served on a handful of trials, told us that this was by far the absolute best jury with which he's ever had the pleasure serving. All of us were careful to take as meticulous of notes as best we could, and all of our deliberations remained civil/polite even when we were working through of points of contention (those notes sure come in handy for those times). I just hope my good experience hasn't spoilt me for any possible, future jury teams.


IrishLass

dibbles said:

What a brave little girl.

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She is enormously courageous! I am so inspired by her. No doubt this will shape the rest of her life - and I am convinced, not just negatively - also positively. I could see it in how she held herself, how she communicated, and the things she said about the important people in her life.

It was also heartening to hear from both her dad and her counselor how well she is doing now, 14 months after she actively exposed her abuser (no one knew what was going on, not even her mom). This little girl is continually moving forward. I am so happy there is now one less impediment in her way!

I was called but the reason that English is my second language, gave me opportunity not to be there. I find it difficult to judge people, later on I do analyze it a lot, does not help with sleep. Carabou good you do it,

CaraBou said:

She is enormously courageous! I am so inspired by her. No doubt this will shape the rest of her life - and I am convinced, not just negatively - also positively. I could see it in how she held herself, how she communicated, and the things she said about the important people in her life.

It was also heartening to hear from both her dad and her counselor how well she is doing now, 14 months after she actively exposed her abuser (no one knew what was going on, not even her mom). This little girl is continually moving forward. I am so happy there is now one less impediment in her way!

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there is nothing positive and it never end well with child abuse. I know something about it, It will influence whole life of that girl, she will have trust issues to the end of her life. .....very sad, I can not get it, people who suppose to protect and nourish small ones, abuse them. No pity for abusers. I hope he will get his portion in jail

The article is out! The judge had actually warned us that it might not make the newspaper, due to a general lack of interest by the local media. I am glad he was wrong.

I notice though, the article does not say the convicted man was the child's grandfather. While the two do not share blood, she was one year old when he entered the family. She called him grandpa, and he was trusted by the family as such.

Last thing, in case you don't want to chase the article link below. "Tyer faces up to two terms of life in prison, plus 200 years, as well fines of up to $200,000." Wohoo!!!!

http://ravallirepublic.com/news/loc...ad730fcb18.html#tracking-source=home-latest-3

Dahila said:

there is nothing positive and it never end well with child abuse.

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You are right Dahila, and I stand corrected. I should have taken more care to frame that as a silver lining, not a positive effect. There is clearly a difference that applies here.

I'm thinking they didn't mention his relationship to protect the child's identity. I'm glad he faces such a stiff sentence, he so deserves it!

That judge need to sentence him prison with the stipulation that he stays in General Population! He'll be dead in no time.

I've not been called for jury duty since I moved out here. DH has gotten notifications several times, but he has an automatic out. He works at the local jail, so he knows pretty much all of the cases and the charges being brought against them. This is a small town, so the local court is comprised of these local cases, so there's realistically no chance that DH wouldn't be familiar with any particular one beforehand. I suppose if it comes down to it, that would probably also be enough to disqualify me since of course DH talks about work sometimes to me.

KattChaos said:

That judge need to sentence him prison with the stipulation that he stays in General Population! He'll be dead in no time.

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Oh how I wish such a thing could be done. But that could be argued to be 'cruel and unusual punishment', which alas, isn't allowed.