The "Rape-Cop Juror" Tell-All

So we all had a Big Bunch of Feelings about the NYPD rape trial of the summer. And now, in a really pretty incredible move, one of the jurors has written a very serious account of what it was like to serve. Back in June, Patrick Kirkland wrote on his blog: “Over the last three months, I’ve been unable to talk about a major part of my life. No, it’s not because I didn’t know how to, or I didn’t know what to say, but because, by law, I couldn’t. As a writer, I was told specifically not to write about them. Not to document it, not to research it. Nothing. Because over the last three months, I’ve been a juror on a major criminal case in New York City.”

And now, over at Gothamist, he has. At length. (The PDF is $1.99; on Amazon, for Kindle, it’s $2.99.) It’s a fascinating read, and I mean that in a very honest sense. In large part it’s about how unbelievably important jury service is in America, and about how we treat those accused of crimes. Whether you like the verdict or not, or whether you like the case presented by prosecutors or not (SIGH), this view into the thinking and process of the jurors is really valuable. It also may upset you!