Rahm ballot case: I was a juror in a murder trial presided by the dissenting judge

Justice Bertina Lampkin

A Republican, make that an elephant, never forgets. And I didn't forget the name of Bertina E. Lampkin. I've been called to jury duty four times, only once did I serve on a trial, in 1998, Lampkin was the presiding judge.

It was a murder case held at the Cook County Criminal Court on Chicago's Southwest Side. It was pathetic crime involving a man stabbing his friend to death over a bottle of Richard's Wild Irish Rose and three dollars.

She ran a tough, no-nonsense courtroom. After the verdict was read, she told us, "You have reached a just and correct verdict." The accused claimed self-defense, we found him guilty of murder--after deliberating for only two hours.

Lampkin's name is in the news this evening. She wrote a strong dissenting opinion in the case that threw Rahm Emanuel's name off of the Chicago mayoral ballot. The other two justices ruled that Emanuel didn't meet the city's residency requirement.

The only that I viewed as unusual about the experience is a letter I got from Lampkin a couple of years later reminding me that I served as juror in her courtroom and that she was up for retention and that she would appreciate that I not only vote to keep her on the bench, but that she would be grateful if I told my friends and relatives to do the same. Legal? Yes. Sleazy? A bit.

To remain on the bench in Illinois, elected judges need 60 percent of voters to choose "Yes" when asked to retain. Lampkin was retained that time as well as last year as an appellate judge, a position she was appointed to in 2009. Yes, I voted to keep her in judicial robes.

Click here for the opinion on the Emanuel case.

Oh, Lampkin was quite patient during that trial. Not only with the whiny public defender, but also with the jurors who couldn't seem to make it to court on time. I was not one of them. The only direct conversation I had with Lampkin was to see if I could if it was okay for me to have another juror carpool with me-she didn't have a car. She said, "Fine, just don't talk about the case."

We didn't. But we did received $17.20 a day for our toils.

Related post:

Appeals court kicks Rahm off ballot

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