a reader story:

A week after adopting my pair of then four-month-old kittens, I had to leave early one snowy morning for jury duty. I was a little reluctant to leave them, since it was going to be the longest time they had spent alone since coming home. Lily must have been feeling some separation anxiety as well, because when I picked up my purse and headed for the door, it seemed heavier than usual. I looked down and saw a little white face looking back at me, mewing.

Of course, showing up to jury duty with a kitten in my bag probably would have gotten me dismissed a lot faster…

Rambus jury in fourth week of deliberation

By Laird HarrisonSAN FRANCISCO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - In its fourth week of deliberations, the jury in Rambus Inc’s $4 billion antitrust lawsuit against Micron and Hynix has yet to reach a verdict — and is reviewing more testimony from the trial.The request to hear a transcript of witness testimony on Wednesday was not accompanied by any further information about when jurors in the California state court trial might render a verdict.Over the course of a trial that lasted more than three months, Rambus accused Idaho-based Micron and South Korea-based Hynix of colluding to fix prices of memory chips used in personal computers and preventing Rambus’s technology from becoming widely used. Rambus claims it lost billions of dollars in business.Micron and Hynix countered that Rambus’s chip technology was plagued by technical problems and that Rambus blames competitors for its own failure.Jurors on Wednesday asked to review the testimony of Michael Sadler, chief sales executive for Micron. In video testimony, he said he had met with Hynix representatives to discuss setting the prices of microchips, and agreed with a Rambus attorney that the conversation was “improper.”The jury has already listened to one readback of Sadler’s testimony, by a court reporter. It lasted more than an hour.At its request, the jury has also listened to testimony by four other witnesses, all of them former executives at Hynix, Micron and their clients.Over the course of four weeks, the jury has deliberated on 11 days. On Tuesday it expanded its schedule from five hours per day to seven hours per day.Any antitrust damages awarded to Rambus could be instantly tripled under California law. Rambus is also seeking punitive damages.Such an award could dramatically change the fortunes of Rambus, which was worth $1.46 billion in stock market value on Wednesday. Rambus shares closed at $15.68 on Wednesday, up nearly 2 percent.The company’s shares often gyrate in tandem with major court decisions.The case in Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco is Rambus Inc. v. Micron Technology Inc. et al, 04-431105.

New York jury chosen to hear Viktor Bout arms dealing case

He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted in a trial in federal court in Manhattan due to open on Wednesday and last no more than four weeks.U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin winnowed the jury pool by asking prospective jurors, among other questions, if they could be fair and impartial in a case involving the FARC, the Colombian militant group. Twelve jurors and three alternates were ultimately chosen from a pool of at least 150 prospects.Bout was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 in a sting operation by U.S. agents posing as arms buyers from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC. He was extradited to the United States in November to face trial.Washington classifies FARC, nominally a Marxist-inspired guerrilla army, as a terrorist organization and says it is deeply involved in the cocaine trade.According to court documents, Bout offered to sell the agents advanced man-portable surface-to-air missiles, as well as approximately 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles.While he was charged only in connection with the suspected arms deal in Thailand, U.S. authorities have said he has been involved in trafficking arms since the 1990s to dictators and conflict zones in Africa, South America and the Middle East.Defense attorney Albert Dayan and assistant U.S. attorney Brendan McGuire said they would deliver opening statements on Wednesday.Prosecutors did not say who they would call as their first witness, but jurors at some point will hear from Andrew Smulian, who has pleaded guilty to related weapons charges and has agreed to testify against Bout.As Tuesday’s court proceeding was about to end, one of the selected jurors suddenly asked the judge to quit the jury. After she had been excused, the judge said the woman had said her fear of elevators would prevent her from serving.The final pool is composed of nine women and six men.

Rambus jury in fourth week of deliberation

Principal Skinner: Justice is not a frivolous thing, Simpson. It has little, if anything, to do with a disobedient whale. Now let’s vote.

Jury told that man aided in gruesome Connecticut murders

Defense attorneys for Joshua Komisarjevsky, who is charged with murder, arson and sexual assault, have tried to shift blame on the alleged accomplice, Steven Hayes, who was found guilty last year of similar charges and sentenced to death.Jennifer Hawke-Petit and daughters Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17, died in the 2007 attack in Cheshire, Connecticut. The only survivor, Dr. William Petit, was badly beaten and bound but managed to escape as the house was set on fire.”There was no way Hayes committed those crimes alone,” state’s attorney Gary Nicholson said in a 90-minute closing statement. “Hayley and Michaela knew they were going to die a horrible, painful death. And what did this defendant do to stop it? He did absolutely nothing.”He said Komisarjevsky intended for the family to burn in a fire set by him and Hayes.Like Hayes, Komisarjevsky, if convicted, faces the possibility of a death sentence. Of the 17 charges against him, six have a maximum penalty of death.The defense tried to portray Hayes as wanting to murder the family and Komisarjevsky as protesting against killing anyone.Komisarjevsky confessed to police but did not intend for anyone to die, defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan said in his statement.Donovan asked jury members to keep emotion out of their deliberations. “You have more power than the president. You have the power to have someone die,” he said.The case was expected to go to the jury on Wednesday.Komisarjevsky sat in court, dressed in a dark suit. His parents were seated in a row behind him.Petit sat in the front row closest to the jury, surrounded by family and supporters. His head was bowed as he listened to Nicholson describe the deaths of his wife and daughters.The prosecutor took the jury through the events of July 23, 2007 when he said Komisarjevsky spotted Michaela Petit shopping in a grocery store and made her his target.”He was interested in her the moment he saw her. The fact they had a nice car, house made her a more attractive target,” the prosecutor said.Prosecutors say Komisarjevsky and Hayes broke into the Petit home at about 2:30 a.m. The doctor, who testified at both trials, said he was beaten and bound in the basement.About 9 a.m., Hawke-Petit drove to a bank, where she told a teller her family was being held hostage and she needed $15,000 to pay off the captors.A bank manager called police but when authorities arrived at the Petit home, it was engulfed in flames. The police have been criticized as being slow to respond.Petit testified that he managed to free his hands and hop up steps out of the basement. He fell and finally rolled across the lawn to a neighbor’s house for help.In the burning house were the girls, who died of smoke inhalation, and the body of Hawke-Petit, who had been raped and strangled. The younger girl had been sexually assaulted.Earlier in the day, defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought a delay in the case after discovering letters Hayes wrote to a woman in which they said he wrote that he had killed 17 women.Hayes would have killed Komisarjevsky if the two had escaped, the defense said.Connecticut has only executed one person, in 2005, since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.