One of the toughest things I have ever had to do was be a juror on a murder trial. It was hours and hours of often gruesome testimony and evidence. Your gut (heart and soul) is telling you this guy in the hot seat is a slime ball. He had a gun when he shouldn’t. He put himself into a dangerous situation. He could have turned around and gone home at any time.  Things got out of control and the gun is fired. A young man died. BUT … did the prosecution make the case? What did the EVIDENCE indicate? Beyond a reasonable doubt? And remember, the very explicit instructions from the judge: What you can consider … what you can’t. In the end, all 12 of us agreed. We hated the guy, but he was not guilty. Not “innocent,” but not guilty.

That is MY experience in a Snohomish County courtroom. Not any other trial. You can draw whatever parallels you want. Justice is not always easy.