More jury love ....

As you may recall, last Friday, a guilty verdict was returned in the kidnapping trial of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter (a.k.a. "Clark Rockefeller") at Suffolk Superior Court.

This was one of the highest-profile court cases in Boston in recent years. You may also recall I went to some length in tying myself to the event on account of my concurrent service at the same courthouse.

(Alas, it is what we bloggers often do .... try to make ourselves relevant to everyone and in all places.)

But I was taken aback, nonetheless, when Saturday at 2:05 a.m., I found this message in my Facebook inbox:

Subect: Connection #4

"Hi! I read your blog and saw all the connections you listed to the Clark Rockefeller case ... you have an additional connection: you know me!

Yes, I too was called in that fateful day after Memorial Day and selected with 15 other lucky people to decide his fate and then spend the rest of the day today dodging media.

Seriously, channel 7 showed up an apartment I haven't lived at for a YEAR! I set my facebook to ultra private, but I have a feeling these people are good...."

So a Rockefeller Rock-Star Juror (featured Sunday night here, on Dateline: NBC) is one of my Facebook friends .... a.k.a., a fellow Rock-Star Alto in our church choir. On the Dateline video, she was also a featured interviewee.

Figuring she spent the weekend being mobbed by everyone she has ever known, I replied:

"Craziness! I promise not to harass you for details ... but would be very curious at some point to hear the process of how you got sat .... as well as, perhaps, how you went about deliberating. Glad to hear you were able to come to agreement.

Best of luck surviving the media scrum!"

Being a Rockefeller Rock-Star, my friend still maintains a balance of humor, articulateness and intelligence .... no surprise, since that's how I know her as a Rock-Star Alto. After sitting on a trial jury myself, I would want her thoughtfulness as a co-deliberator.

"I'd love to share details at some point," she replied yesterday. ".... And actually, I'd feel more famous appearing on your blog under some wittily vague moniker (such as "The Civic-Minded Chorister" or "The Singing Juror" or maybe just "The Jurister") which will make everyone think I learned all my legal chops from 'Trial by Jury ...' "

Which she followed by attaching a video from that particular comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan: "When I, Good Friends, Was Called to the Bar."

Infinitely more classy than the man she helped convict.