Closing Arguments Tomorrow in the N.J. State Trooper Case

Just a reminder. Cnn.com is carrying most of the trial. The discussion beforehand may be interesting as well. If the hearing out of the jury's presence doesn't last long, the jury instructions will be read to the jurors tomorrow afternoon and then they begin deliberation.

I have a lot of opinions about what happened today with the charging conference, and with many aspects of this trial, but it's irrelevant because it's up the jury now.

Good, bad and ugly, it is always educational to observe a trial. In this case I very much admired everyone involved, however irritating some of the participants may have been. This is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, and fair judges I've ever seen in any trial I have observed or participated in (not that many, a dozen or so).

It was intense. I'm glad I'm not on this jury.

ON EDIT:

For clarification, this is a trial about a N.J. State Trooper who failed to yield at a stop sign while attempting to apprehend a speeder at speeds approaching 65 - 70 MPH on a poorly lit residential street. He caused the deaths of two teenage females. (This is not dispute).

The issues for the jury to decide are:

1. Was he driving the vehicle
2. Did his driving cause the deaths
3. At the time, was he reckless, showing a conscious disregard of a known risk (i.e., the stop sign)

His defense is that he failed to see the stop sign and may or may not have seen the "stop sign ahead" sign, and possibly mistook a sign a quarter mile away in the distance as the next stop sign even though it was closer than that. He also has no recollection of the accident itself or any of the other vehicles involved.

That's five weeks of testimony in a nutshell.

Does that mean he mowed down these two kids and left the scene? Were his lights and siren on?

the same intersection moments before the collision.

I watched a bit of that...but not enough to really have formed a valid opinion on the case.

this fascinating case.