Day 66 (Weds., Nov. 16)

Talk about being in an uncomfortable place. Wow!

Today I was sent off to cover the a court trial of a 25-year-old man who was about to get his sentence after being convicted in the home invasion robbery and killing of a 91-year-old man. The sentence was either going to be life w/o parole or the death penalty.

That's not the uncomfortable thing about it. The thing that made today's assignment tough to swallow was the fact that the 25-year-old man took the stand and asked the jury to give him the death penalty because he didn't think he was worthy of living.

Wow!

I sat in the court room for nearly five hours and I couldn't believe what was going on. Then, the jurors came out and the verdict was read by the court official. Death Penalty.

Of course, the guy's family (pictured above) were devastated and it was hard to shoot such a tough moment in their lives. I couldn't believe it. Just minutes before the verdict, he joked around and laugh as he talked to some of the members that were inside the court room. Then, things went bad for the family.

The thing that I couldn't understand was how could a person want to die. I am sure the guilt factor might have to do something, but still. It was just a hard day to work and swallow the way life turns out to be for some people.

In the mean time, I shot the photos of the guy. These photos told the story. The first photo is of the moment the jury is about to exit the courtroom after their death penalty verdict. The thumbs-up was in gratitude for giving him what he wanted. The photo of the family tells it all. How one person's actions will have so many reactions, especially when family feelings are involved. And the third photo is of the guy gesturing to his family because he thought it was classy that they actually showed up to see what was going to happen. He was especially mad at his step-mother because, as he said, she was finally going to get a wish come true: his death. Wow! Hard stuff.

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