YOU ARE HERE BY SUMMONED

I had an opportunity to serve on jury duty the beginning of October. I've had to call in before, but I have never had to go. So, on Tuesday, October 12th, I headed for the Courthouse.

Little did I know that I would be there for 5 1/2 hours. They called 300 jurors to be at the courthouse that day. They had us watch a short video and then called 36 prospective jurors up into both the juror box and seats that had been set up below. Once the questions started, I knew two things.

#1 - This was not an ordinary, easy trial --- it was a criminal trial.
#2 - We were going to be there for a long time.

They asked a lot of questions, such as "Have you ever been charged with a DUI?" I was SHOCKED at how many people raised their hand. Out of the 36, I'm sure that at least 8 raised their hand. (No, I'm not over exaggerating.) A few of the questions, both the prosecution (state of Idaho) and the defense (Cody McDermott-Reid) AND the judge, juror, etc. went into the judge's chambers because of privacy. I have to say that this was very interesting.



At 11:30, the judge stated that normally we would have taken a break by now, but he really wanted to get a jury seated so that the trial could begin after lunch.

At 1:30, we were free to leave the court room. I had a friend who served on the jury to tell me that the verdict was a hung jury. I was grateful that I didn't have to see crime scene photos and sit through 4 days of court just to have it end in a hung jury.

Here is the original story in the Idaho State Journal:

Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010 12:20 am | Updated: 12:18 am, Thu Jan 28, 2010.

By Journal Staff

POCATELLO — The driver of a vehicle that failed to negotiate a turn on McKinley Avenue late Tuesday has been charged with felony vehicular homicide after the death of a passenger.

Cody McDermott-Reid, 22, of Idaho Falls, is being charged in the death of Angie Large, 24, of Idaho Falls. McDermott-Reid is alleged to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident.

McDermott-Reid’s northbound vehicle rolled after it failed to make the corner where McKinley turns sharply at the Z Street intersection to cross the railroad tracks. The vehicle came to rest approximately 100 yards north of the intersection next to the train tracks.

Large, a passenger in the front seat, was thrown from the vehicle and was pinned underneath it when responders arrived. She died at the scene.

Another woman was extricated from the vehicle and transported to Portneuf Medical Center with what were believed to be multiple fractures to her pelvis, but an on-scene responder indicated her injuries did not appear life-threatening.

A train was stopped on the tracks north of the scene, but was not involved in the accident as previously reported in the Journal.

McDermott-Reid was treated for his injuries and booked into the Bannock County Jail. He was arraigned via video link Wednesday afternoon in magistrate court, and his bond was set at $100,000.