Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
On a Jury
Jackie had finally done it, she'd finally been selected to be on a jury.
She was excited, the only downside was that she'd have to miss work for a couple of days but luckily the regular guest teacher at the school was available for that Thursday and Friday, the kids liked her and even cheered when Jackie told them she'd be with them, and they didn't have school the following Monday and in all likelihood the trial would be over by Tuesday but if not Jackie would just have to go in late one night and prepare lesson plans for a couple more days.
During the first day of the trial Jackie listened intently, it was disturbing because the defendant was being accused of several vicious rapes, luckily though none had escalated to murder.
The testimony of the three victims made Jackie want to hug them and also throw up, the fear in their eyes and in their voice was evident.
When the first day ended Jackie was glad, she needed a break, how Nick dealt with hearing things like that everyday and was still able to function Jackie didn't know.
"Jackie?" a woman called as Jackie stepped out of the courtroom and into the hallway.
"Hi Catherine, what are you doing here?" Jackie asked.
"I'm testifying in a rape trial but I just heard the first day of the trial just ended and they didn't have time to get to me so it looks like I'll be back tomorrow. What are you doing here?"
"I'm on the jury." She replied.
"You're what?" Catherine asked as her eyes grew wide.
"I'm on the jury." She repeated.
"You are a juror for the Mcmurray trial?" Catherine asked.
"Yep."
Catherine put her finger to her lips, grabbed Jackie's arm and led her into the bathroom.
"Jackie during your jury selection interview didn't they ask if you knew Nick, I'd think they would have, Stokes isn't that common of a name."
"They did ask if I knew Nick." Jackie told her.
"And you lied?"
"No, I told the truth. I told them that he was my husband."
"Did they ask if you knew anyone else in law enforcement?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah, they asked if I knew a CSI named Cathleen Wilkins. I said no, I figured she was either a CSI on a different shift or a CSI for a smaller city outside of Vegas, I don't know very many CSI'S outside of the Vegas grave shift crew."
Catherine sighed, obviously whoever was asking Jackie the questions was confused, her name wasn't Cathleen Wilkins, it was Catherine Willows and now there was a huge problem.
"Jackie you can't be on this jury, the defense will claim a major bias, and if a conviction is reached it'll be thrown out before you can say objection."
"Well what do we do?" Jackie asked.
"Can you get here a little earlier tomorrow?" She asked.
"Yeah." Jackie said.
"Ok, meet me here about 7:30 if you can."
"I'll be here."
The next day Jackie arrived early like she had promised, Catherine was already there. Catherine led Jackie into a room and explained the troublesome situation to the woman behind the desk, Jackie recognized her, she was the lady that had asked Jackie if she knew Nick Stokes and Cathleen Wilkins.
"Ma'am, I specifically asked you if you knew CSI Willows." The woman said sounding irritated.
"No you didn't…." Jackie started to say but the woman interrupted Jackie.
"Yes I did."
"No you asked me if I knew a CSI Cathleen Wilkins, not Catherine Willows." Jackie replied sounding somewhat angry, she didn't like being called a liar, she'd told the truth after all and had done absolutely nothing wrong, this wasn't her fault.
Jackie's reply made the woman's eyes go wide and her face blush, she realized this was all of her fault.
"I'm so sorry, you are right, I'm sorry about all of this but Mrs. Stokes, for obvious reasons you can not be on this jury. I'm afraid you'll have to be excused and an alternate juror will have to take your place. Thank you for your service on the jury panel."
"I understand, can I stay in the gallery for the rest of the trial though, I'm really interested in how this turns out." Jackie asked.
"Of course." The woman responded.
"Thank you." Jackie told her.
Jackie and Catherine then left the room.
With one juror (Jackie) being replaced by an alternate the trial got off to a little bit of a late start that morning but when the trial finally got rolling that morning Jackie took a seat on a hard bench with the other few spectators in the courtroom.
The rest of the trial was as disturbing as the first part had been and much to Jackie and Catherine's relief a guilty verdict was rendered.
Jackie just had to face the fact that by no fault of her own she just wasn't meant to be on a jury.
The End!