Respect, Compassion and Understanding....

As the weather turns warmer it's a reminder that the Roseboro murder trial isn't that far off. As much as those directly involved have waited anxiously for it to start they have to also be filled with a sense of surreality and dread.
Each person involved may have their most personal information broadcast across a packed courtroom, and entered into the public record.
To those who believe in Mike's innocence, the terror has to be rising daily. Which is worse...to jail an innocent man or allow a guilty one to walk free?
Those who are heartsick over the loss of a beautiful soul in Jan Roseboro have been waiting and praying for justice. Those who believe Mike did, indeed, beat Jan brutally and then throw her into her own swimming pool are praying that the jury finds him guilty.
People have been trying desperately to pick up what pieces they can since the night of the murder, and even more desperately since Mike's arrest.
How do you answer the questions the children most certainly have?
They will grow up one day and find their own truth. No matter what the jury says.
People that haven't been in the Roseboro circle or had any significant contact with Mike in years may be called to testify.
Some have been yanked unmercifully out of their secure, happy lives and asked, or ordered, to relive and share the most intimate details of a chapter of their life that they would much rather never had experienced, and never wanted to share publicly.
For anyone not involved directly enough to testify, and the general public there is a choice ahead.
We are all going to hear things we've never heard about the people involved. Some things that were to be kept private forever may be shared openly in testimony.
The choice that we all share is how we will react to what we learn at the trial.
This trial will reveal many things that the general public is still very unaware of.
Will it all be a new titillating source of gossip or will the shock make some people finally be quiet and realize that any of us could have been in the situations some have found themselves in?
People make decisions based on who they are and what matters to them at the moment the decision is made.
I like the phrase "young and dumb". We all were once. At forty-nine, I am not the person I was at 21. I see things very differently. I often make the comment that if I had college to do over again, I'd have gone to law school. But that would have postponed a wedding and the births of my incredible children.
Alot of us don't have many decisions or choices that we would change drastically if we could revisit them. But some have one or two. And in some cases, those choices were huge, in the end. In a good way and a bad one.
Mike Roseboro has the reputation of a lothario, a ladies'man. There are many affairs attributed to him with many different women.
I've thought alot about the position some may find themselves in at the trial.
Some were more recent than others. And some have had to reveal the affairs to the husbands they were married to while seeing Mike.
For some, the affair with Mike was far in the past.
Having to go back and reveal that part of their history has been painful for some, I am sure.
I sincerely hope that the women who are called to testify are given respect, compassion and understanding. They aren't the ones Mike spoke with on the phone the night Jan died. They didn't parade around town wearing the infidelity like a badge of dis-honor.
Jan Roseboro lost her life.
And many, many people have lost much as well.
I just hope the feeding frenzy never happens. Anyone in Mike's past is in his past.
And their involvement with him has cost them enough already.
They feel remorse, I am sure. They are quite unlike Angie Funk.

The Reach Is Far and Wide

I would never post anything that could potentially have any repercussions on the upcoming Roseboro trial.
I have kept confidences and sometimes posted very vaguely as is required.
But I have been speaking in recent weeks with someone who led me to avenues where I was able to learn just how far and wide the effects of this tragedy really are.
Families and individuals who thought their interaction with Mike and/or Angie was years in the past will now have to relive it all.
Even instances and circumstances that didn't appear to be all that important way back when will now rise to the forefront and take on a quite different "caste".
It's clear how this tragedy has affected those in the families and even their friends.
But what is shocking how far the ripple effect reaches.
Families totally unrelated and feeling secure have now been thrust into this horrific and sickening chain of events.
There is so much more that will be revealed at the trial if the current plan is maintained.
There isn't time or room for much alteration at this point.
Mike and Angie created quite a storm with a few basic choices.
They have cost so many people happiness and a sense of trust and security.
As was said to me this week, it is going to take years for some people to get over and deal with this. And they aren't even related.
The repercussion are more than scary.
So many innocent people have been hurt and affected.
No verdict, no apology will ever make it right.

Jury Thoughts ......

I've always been a people watcher. Without an effort, I observe. It just happens. Sometimes I can almost sense the "story" of a person simply by watching them. When surrounded by large crowds, there are a few singular souls that will snatch my attention quickly.
I had an excellent opportunity to observe some fascinating individuals when I was called for jury duty.
I'm an odd cupcake. When others are cringing at the letter, feverishly trying to come up with a reason, any reason, why they should be excused from their civic duty, I actually get pretty excited about it. Other than the loss of income, should I be seated for a lengthy trial, or God forbid, I end up sequestered, being in the midst of the great minds and the austere, but so imposing atmosphere of the Halls of Jurisprudence stills my thoughts and lowers my head in reverence.
I'm not sure why I have always held the courts and our legal representatives in such awe. But I do.
I considered entering law school when I was soon to receive my first undergraduate degree. But I was so excited about getting married and starting that phase of my life that I only went as far as the interview. Many times since then I have revisited that decision. Not as any disrespect to my marriage or that facet of my life as a whole, but I now have serious doubts as to my ability to actually pull it off anymore in my lifetime.
A high school Social Studies teacher, whom I adored and who had a sense of humor bar none, suggested I become a lawyer all those years ago. He said my ability to argue, apparently with him although I don't recall it, made me tailor made for the profession :)
On my last call for jury duty, I had an eye opening experience.
Seated on the cold hard wooden bench in the cavernous courtroom, packed shoulder to shoulder with my fellow countians, I quietly looked around. And I listened.
I take no action in a courtroom lightly.
What I heard scared me to death.
As part of the jury selection process, the defendant has the right to be present for voir dire.
Before the defendant was brought into the courtroom, I listened as women around me fussed and fumed at having to be there. Many wanted to get back to work. One stated that her manager at Walmart was going to be "pissed" if this took too long or if she got picked.
Not a situation that made me feel hopeful for the sincerity of the process we were about to possibly enter. Or for the defendant.
The defendant was led into the courtroom in an orange jumpsuit.
At this point, no one in the jury pool has a clue as to his charges or the theories of the prosecution or defense.
And then I heard it.
"Well, look at that. He's black? He's guilty!" whispered one woman to my right to another beside her. That brought forth a low wave of chuckles down the line from anyone who could hear her muffled comment.
At that moment, without the benefit of paper and a pen, both not allowed, I desperately tried to commit to memory something about each person I heard laugh and especially of the woman who made the comment to begin with.
I intended to ask to speak with the judge immediately should any of those people be seated for the trial.
It made me sick.
And it made me realize that the defendant's being black was a variable.
That comment could have been made had the defendant been a woman with red hair. Or a man with a beard. Or a young female who may have looked "uppity" or snobbish.
Or a young man with tatoos.
The fate of the defendant was resting on the heads of the people in that jury pool. And several of them took it lightly enough to want to pass a verdict based on not one fact. Just skin color. So that they could hurry up and get back to their register at Walmart.
I kept my eye on them for the remainder of the voir dire.
I was seated as a juror. None of them were, thankfully.
I would like to think, pray actually, that had they been seated, their private self would have risen to the top and they would have helped hand down a verdict based solely on the evidence presented.
I know that the jury of which I was a member took it all deadly seriously.
Not sequestered, but we served for four days. And it got testy. And it bordered on ugly. But we did our duty and followed the rules.
We ignored the tear stained faces in the courtroom. We had to.
We focused on the video and audio tapes that were entered into evidence.
We had to.
We cast off all and any stereotypes of the defendant, the prosecutor and the defense team.
We cast off all stereotypes of fellow jurors.
It is one of the most intense situations a human can find themselves places in but it's the system we've got.
I'd like to think, pray, that Michael Roseboro will be afforded a jury who follows the rules to the letter.
For if he is deemed guilty or not guilty under any other circumstances, or by any other assessment under the guise of just and true evidence, none of us can expect any better treatment under the law should we ever find ourselves being judged by a jury of our peers.
We all need to begin praying for the potential jury pool now. We are that jury pool and we are the defendant. There's a part of us in every facet of this tragedy. And for that reason, we need to do all we can to make sure it is just and right.

Still No Letter......

I forgot to post the update...As of today, I still haven't received a letter of any kind from Amy Rothermel, Esq. I am still looking forward to speaking with her, but I think enough time has passed that if I was to receive a letter, it would have arrived by now...
I know several of you were curious, but nope, no letter :)