June 2010 Lower Family Newsletter

[Chad T. Lower]

So May started off and ended in almost identical fashion for me--in a courthouse.  I received a jury summons in April telling me to report for the May jury selection.  Of course, the week they are selecting the jury is the exact same week I am giving final exams at the college.  As I was giving 3 final exams on Monday and 2 on Wednesday, I called them to try to find out if I would need to find someone to give my exams.  The man I spoke with said to ignore any instructions given to the jurors for Monday and to show up Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. since I had no classes on Tuesday.  When I showed up Tuesday, they were still interviewing jurors from Monday and I was told to come back Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.  Knowing that I was giving two finals and not knowing how long it would take, I got people to cover my classes for Wednesday.

 

Wednesday, I went to the courthouse in the morning as instructed.  I was in a room with dozens of other people.  We were asked to fill out a selection form that was (I think) 17 pages long.  Once everyone completed those, they collected them and took them into the courtroom leaving us to wait.  Sometime later, they brought us into the courtroom and asked us a few questions as a group.  We were also told that they were looking for jurors for a first degree murder trial and that we were not allowed to read the newspaper, listen to the radio, watch TV, discuss the trial, or overhead anyone else discussing the trial.  The judge also told us that there was a possibility that we would be sequestered depending on how much news coverage was out there for us to accidentally overhear.  We were then excused for the day and told to call a phone number after 5 p.m. to find out when they would be calling us in for individual interviews.

 

When I called the phone number Wednesday evening, I was not on the list to report for Thursday, but the voice said to call back again Thursday evening for Friday instructions.  Thursday morning, I receive a phone call at the college (I am grading my finals from Wednesday) and told that the interviews are going faster then they had planned and was asked if I could come in that day (Thursday) at 1:15.  I said sure and made my way to the courthouse.

 

It is now that I get my first experience with "court time."  I arrived a little before 1 so that I was not late.  Meanwhile, the "afternoon" jurors are also arriving for their individual interviews.  At around 1:30, the court is finally ready to start, and they call the 1:00 juror.  People who were called in were scheduled 15 minutes apart, so I figure I am next.  After almost an hour (2:20), they are done with the 1:00 juror and calling the 1:15 juror -- but there are two of us that were called in for 1:15.  The other person was called first, so they got to go in while I waited some more.  I really don't mind the wait as I am still grading final exams while I wait, so I don't know exactly what time I was called in.  The defense asked me some questions, then the commonwealth, then I was asked to step out of the courtroom while they decided if I would be a juror in this trial.  After a few minutes, they called me back in and announced that I was selected to be a juror and I would be considered Juror #5 (reminds me of a perfume).  They said the trial would start after 16 jurors were selected (12 official jurors and 4 alternates) which they hoped would be by Friday, and then the trial would probably take 1.5-2 weeks.  I was again instructed not to discuss the case and to call the phone number every night to get instructions for when trial would begin.

 

All of this took place the first full week of May.  Since I found out on Thursday that I would be a juror, I spent most of the day on Friday contacting people and making arrangements to change my schedule for the next two weeks, especially with the knowledge that there was a possibility we would be sequestered.  When I called the phone number Friday evening, I found out that they did not have 16 jurors chosen yet, so jury selection would continue next week, at least Monday of next week.

 

The second week of May, I would call each evening.  Monday evening said more jury selection Tuesday.  Tuesday evening said more jury selection Wednesday.  Wednesday evening said more jury selection Thursday.  Thursday evening... we were told that the jurors have been selected and trial will begin the following Monday.  Unfortunately, I had signed up to take a class this summer.  The first day of this 5-week class was suppose to be on Monday as well.  I emailed the professor and he was very understanding.  I asked him if I would be able to make up the material no knowing how soon I would be finished or if I should drop the class and try to take it at another time.  He told me to go ahead and stay enrolled in the class.

 

Trial actually began Monday, May 17, 2010.  The jurors were told to report at 8:30.  Finally at 9:30, they call us into the courtroom to begin the trial.  I'm not going to go into a lot of the specifics of the trial as it does not have to do with the Lower family; however, now that the trial is over, I am allowed to discuss it with other people.  If you have any questions about the specifics, feel free to ask and I will answer to the best of my ability.  Also, during the trial, each person involved had a nickname in addition to their legal name.  The lawyers and witnesses used all three when they were speaking, so it was a bit confusing at first until we realized who everyone was.  For example, I could be called by my first name (Chad), by my last name (Mr. Lower), or by my nickname (Chopper).  For simplicity, I will just use their nicknames.

 

In summary, four people were involved selling illegal drugs: Banks, Little Man, Raydar, and Bop.  One night in February 2007, Banks gets arrested for eluding police and is sent to the Lycoming County Jail.  While in jail, he hears a rumor that Bop is a police informant, so tells Little Man to tell Raydar to kill Bop so that he can't testify against the other three.  Raydar murders Bop in March 2007.  Little Man drives the get-away car, and they are caught minutes after the murder by the police.  Raydar agrees to testify against Little Man and Banks for a reduced sentence.  Little Man plead the 5th and receive a life imprisonment sentence (which is on appeal).  The trial I sat on was for Banks as an accomplice since he ordered the hit.  Although Banks was already in jail at the time of the murder, in Pennsylvania, an accomplice can be tried as if he was present at the crime scene and pulled the trigger himself.

 

The evidence portion of the trial lasted 8 days.  On most days, the jurors would arrive at the courthouse at 8:30 a.m.  The trial was supposed to begin at 9, but often the lawyers had motions to present and the jurors were called in later.  We were given a morning and afternoon break as well as lunch.  The breaks lasted 15 minutes, but (again) the lawyers often had motions to present after breaks and we were called in later.  I believe lunch was 60 minutes long, but the jurors were always dismissed for 90 minutes to allow for lunch and more motions.  The courthouse officially closed at 5 p.m., but if we were in the middle of a witness, we would often finish the witness before dismissing.  On the other hand, if a witness is finished and it does not look like the next witness will be finished before 5, we break for the day.  The commonwealth presented their evidence Monday through Wednesday.  The defense begin their evidence on Thursday and seemed like they were almost finished Friday.  I was hoping to be finished Monday.  It was not to be.  After the defense was done, the Commonwealth had an opportunity to present a rebuttal.  Then the defense could present again, both taking turns until they were both finished.  That finally happened on Tuesday afternoon.  The judge decided to break for the day and to start Wednesday with closing arguments, then we would deliberate the case.  On Wednesday, the jurors were ready to go, but the lawyers had more motions (What?  They both rested the day before!) so we didn't start until close to 10 a.m.  After closing arguments, we were sent to the jury room to deliberate.  After 7.5 hours, we were finally ready to present our verdict of guilty.

 

For most charges, once the jury decides guilt, the judge determines the sentence.  The only exception to this rule is a charge of first degree murder.  For that charge, the jury decides the sentence which, in Pennsylvania, is either life imprisonment without parole or the death penalty.  However, before we decide the sentence, the lawyers are able to present some more evidence (aggravating or mitigating) to help us determine our decision.  Since we reached our verdict well after 5 p.m., the judge chose to sequester us that night and begin the sentencing part of the trial on Thursday.  It just so happens that Thursday was my 10 year anniversary with Suzy.

 

The sentencing trial began Thursday morning and ended Thursday evening.  Many of the jurors said that they were too tired from the long day yesterday and didn't sleep well on the hotel beds.  Although it would mean another night away from our families, we felt that deciding a man's fate was deserving of our fullest attention and asked to be sequestered again to decide the sentence on Friday.  Friday morning, we came to the courthouse and were able to reach a unanimous sentence after about 90 minutes.  I know if we would have tried the night before, we would have spun our wheels.

 

Although our anniversary was Thursday, I got home Friday about lunch time, so I took Suzy, Chi, and Ali to a fancy restaurant the college owns called LeJeune Chef (http://www.pct.edu/lejeunechef/).  Fortunately, they were not busy during our time there as a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old don't necessarily have the best table manners at a "nice" restaurant.  We got there at 11:30 and left at 1:30.  During that time, there was only one other couple who came and left before we were done.  Suzy had the chef's special which was a roast beef and turkey club sandwich.  I had a chicken salad with a yogurt mint dressing.  We ordered the kids a ratatouille pizza and a tuna melt, then split it so each kid could try them both.  The soup was a cold strawberry cream soup (reminded us of yogurt).  They had three desserts available: chocolate soup, key lime pie, and chocolate cheesecake.  We ordered one of each with the intention of sharing with each other.  When they brought the dessert, not only did they bring us our order, but also a cupcake decorated like a flower and the words "Happy Anniversary" written in chocolate on the plate.  We never asked for the cake nor did they charge us for it.  What a pleasant surprise!!

 

Earlier in the month, Suzy and the kids went to her parents for a baby shower for our nephew Jonathon who's girlfriend is expecting.  I was teaching a motorcycle safety class that weekend and could not attend. The baby could come any day now.

 

Malachi had a busy month.  His Preschool has a celebration (kinda like graduation) to show off what they kids have done this year.  They also went on a paddle boat ride (as mentioned in an earlier newsletter).  I was able to go last year, but this year was unable to since I was on jury duty.  Finally, on their last day of Preschool, they had a carnival at the school.  This was Malachi's last year of Preschool; he will attend Kindergarten next year at the same school Bella will attend for third grade. And next year, Ali will attend the same Preschool that Malachi just finished.

 

Speaking of Bella, she had her Girl Scout ceremony.  She received many Try-Its (like badges) and some rewards for her cookie sales.  She seems eager to go to third grade.  We have found out recently that, although she started out one level below standard for her reading, she has improved over the course of the year and is now one of the better readers in her class.  She has even found two book series she likes to read.

 

Over Memorial Day weekend, the family travelled to Cowans Gap State Park for a camping trip.  We had some extended family at the campground as well.  The kids had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories.  We arrived Friday evening around 7pm and none of our extended family showed up yet.  We got worried that they had gone to Caledonia State Park (another family favorite camping spot) and we made reservations for the wrong campground, but everyone else showed up within about 10 minutes after we arrived.  After setting up our tent and having a few marshmallows at a neighboring campsite, we finally crawled into our sleeping bags at 10 p.m.  With a normal bedtime of 8 p.m., we hoped that the kiddos would sleep in the next day.  Not our luck.  Bella was the first one up at 6:30 a.m.  After going to the bathroom, she wasn't tired so played in the woods behind our campsite while the rest of us continued to sleep.  A few minutes later, I hear a splash and Bella shouting, "Get it off!"  She had dropped a log onto her index finger and thumb.  Worrying that it may be broken, we rushed her to the ER.  Fortunately, it was just a really bad bruise, but it still hurts her today, and it is the hand she writes with.

 

Later that same day, we found a tick on Bella.  Cousin Jamie used her nails to pull the tick out of Bella's arm.  That evening, Ali had a tick.  Jamie was away from the campsite, but the neighboring site had a pair of tweezers.  I played doctor and ended up breaking the tick as I tried to remove it.  So off to the ER we go--fortunately I knew where it was.  The doctor looked at it with his magnifier and said the tick had embedded its head and first two legs under her skin which is why it was so hard to pull out.  He numbed the area, then dug it out taking skin and tick away.  When Ali noticed it on her, she called it her "spider."  Because he dug some skin to get it out, we are putting antibiotic cream on it and changing band-aids often.  She still calls the wound her "spider".

 

In closing, let us go back to the I Corinthian 13 definition of love.  We have spent the last 9 months looking at the first two verses of the love definition.  We are finally getting into the third verse today, and you will note that it gets quicker from this point forward.  Love... does not delight in evil.

 

One way that we can "not delight in evil" is by abstaining from looking at or reading anything evil.  Matthew 5:29 tells us, "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."  Gouging out an eye is pretty strong and graphic, but I think it makes the point.  As they say, garbage in, garbage out.  If we delight in evil by reading it and endorsing it, we may stumble and commit the sin ourselves.  Jesus has said numerous times that to think an act (murder, adultery) in your mind is enough to have committed a sin.

 

Another step we can take is to not gossip. Proverbs 11:13 reads, "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret."  If we love someone, we want to remain trustworthy in their eyes.  We should not betray those that we love.  When we gossip about some things, those we love do not know if we will gossip about other things, or about them!  It is better not to gossip at all and remain trustworthy will all people.

 

When Paul wrote to the Galatians (6:1), he wrote, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted."  We mentioned this verse last month as well, but I think it has meaning for us again this month.  When others sin, we should help them get on the right path, but we should do so under a guise of humility.  We should not gloat over their failure.  We should not rejoice because they are in sin.  If we love them, we should not delight in evil.

 

Next month, we will share what to do instead.  Until then.

 

Chad T. Lower
a.k.a. Chopper
http://chadtlower.tripod.com/

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Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
                              Philippians 2:3-4