Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveProcedural - Jury Viewing
15 linesJUDGE CANNONE: All right, jurors, we are getting ready to go for our view. So we're about to visit a place which you'll be hearing about some more — you've heard about, you've seen photographs of — and in court terminology we call this a view. The purpose of the view is to help you better understand the evidence which you'll hear during the trial and to help you appreciate the location and its surroundings. The view that you will take is a part of this case. The observations that you make while on the view may be used and considered in your deliberations in reaching a verdict. The place that we're going to go, you've seen photos of, you've heard it — it's 34 Fairview Road. The lawyers and I will accompany you on the bus.
JUDGE CANNONE: The attorneys may point out to you the arrangement of the scene and items that they want you to pay special note of, but otherwise they cannot discuss anything in this case — in regard to this case — and they can't talk to you. All right. They'll be able to do an opening here and they'll be able to point these things out while you're on the view. It's very important that you can't take notes and you certainly can't use your phones and take photographs. All right, it's really just for you to see. You cannot conduct any independent investigation while we're there or at any time during the trial. As you've been told, you're not to return to the scene or ask anyone else to do it for you until the case is over. So this is your opportunity to take a look.
JUDGE CANNONE: When we go, what you are to do on the view may be best summarized in two very familiar words, which is stop and look. Okay. Your responsibility is to see the place, to observe it carefully, and to remember what you see. So during your trip to and from the place that we're going to view, you're not to discuss this case or anything about it among yourselves or with anyone, and you are not to permit anyone to talk with you about the case. You'll be under the supervision of our great court officers at all times and you'll remain together until you return to court unless the court officers direct you otherwise.
JUDGE CANNONE: And just so that you know, because some of this came up during our jury selection process — spectators, if there are any, and all members of the press have been ordered to stay 100 yards away from you. All right, so you can go and you can look and take your time looking without worrying about any interference from anyone. All right. So with that, Mr. Clerk, could you swear in the court officers, please?
COURT CLERK: Raise your right hands, please. Do you solemnly swear you will take this jury upon the premises in question and suffer them to view the same and any property, place, or thing bearing upon the issues on the trial as they shall seem necessary? That you not permit the parties to enter in a debate in front of the jury or a person to speak to them unless it be Adam Lally for the Commonwealth and Alan Jackson for the defendant, they to point out such places or things as they deem expedient for the determination of the issue? And that you will keep the jury together until they shall return into court except the court shall otherwise order? So help you God?
JUDGE CANNONE: Thank you. All right. So who — Mr. Lally, do you want to do a short view opening?
MR. LALLY: Yes, thank you.
JUDGE CANNONE: Okay.
MR. LALLY: So, ladies and gentlemen, as her honor describes, we're about to go to a place. When we arrive there, and at any point in time when we're there, this is not a point where we can have any sort of conversation or back and forth. So all I'm going to be asking you to do is just take note of certain locations and certain items as you see them. And again, as with any in this case, this is as you find them, as you observe. Okay. So first I'm going to ask you to, sort of when we arrive, in a general area, as far as taking note of sort of street names? when you're coming into, when you're exiting from, this particular area.
MR. LALLY: When we arrive at a specific location, I'm going to ask you to take note of certain things about the roadway, okay — certainly any abutments to the roadway, any residences that you observe, the distances between the roadway and any landmarks or any items that you observe on that property — specifically a driveway, specifically a front door, any other sort of items of interest within the front lawn area of that home. I'm also going to ask you to take note of the roadway itself and sort of the width of that roadway, whether or not you find any sort of lanes separating within that roadway, and then the individual width of some of those lanes as well.
MR. LALLY: Lastly, there is also going to be a vehicle there as well, and I'm going to ask you to take note of certain things with respect to that vehicle — with respect to the size of the vehicle, with respect to the height of the vehicle, with respect to anything that you observe specifically from the front, the side, the back, all of the exterior of that vehicle, and also some of the interior. And specifically, I'm going to ask you to take note of the center console in the front driver's compartment of that vehicle and anything that you observe in that location as well. And that is all I'm asking you to do on this case, and I thank you again for your time and attention.
JUDGE CANNONE: All right. Mr. Jackson.
MR. JACKSON: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It's the first time we've been able to speak to you directly, so I want to take the opportunity to introduce myself and thank you for your service, and thank you for your time and commitment to this. I'm going to echo a lot of what Mr. Lally just said. There's nothing magical about this other than it gives you perspective. It's an opportunity to introduce you in three-dimensional form to stuff that you've been seeing in two-dimensional form — photographs, some of the testimony, diagrams that you might see. I'm sorry — we've really been pointed about what we can say. What we're going to ask you to do is take special note of the relationships of physical items out at the scene, much as Mr. Lally just indicated.
MR. JACKSON: There are going to be physical things out at the scene you've heard about — a flagpole, a fire hydrant, a house — we're going to ask you to take special note of where those are in relation to other things physically at the scene. That will hopefully, with the Court's instruction, give you some assistance in putting together the testimony that you think is relevant, the documents that you think are relevant. And again, to echo what Mr. Lally said, we're going to ask you to look at the roadway, the vehicle, the house, the physical items at the home, and the relationship between and among all of those things to each other. Hopefully that will give you a very good understanding of what we're dealing with, especially with the exhibits. Thank you.
JUDGE CANNONE: All right. So folks, we'll be all set. We'll see you at the bus in a little bit. Please make sure your books are closed. You are muted.