So...I can finally talk. Three weeks ago I started jury duty for Anoka County. I showed up on Monday and there were over 75 people present. We were brought in to Judge Hall's courtroom and informed about the case, then asked to complete a 27 page questionaire. The next morning, I was called in right away to interview. I thought interview meant sit down with one other person and have them ask me some questions. It actually meant, sit down on the witness stand and have both sides ask me questions. I was asked a multitude of random questions (how do you know if someone is lying? what's your favorite part of the day? what do you like versus dislike about your job? what was the hardest decision you've ever had to make?) and passed for cause. This meant the next Monday morning, trial was starting and I was going to be a juror.
The trial I was assigned was State vs. Andrew Hawes. At the time, I knew nothing about this case. By the end of these last two weeks, I know too much. Andrew Hawes was held on indictment of killing his 10 year elder brother Edwin Hawes and was convicted of murder in the first degree. I couldn't believe the amount of detail that was gone through as fifty different individuals testified against Andrew; including his fiance's mother, the gentlemen who lived with Edwin and was home when he was killed at 7 pm, and Edwin's ex-fiance and mother of his child. We met forensic accountants, blood spatter specialists, latent fingerprint specialists, forensic anthropologists, and forensic doctors. The amount of people involved was honestly ridiculous. One of the only people testifying for Andy was his mother. How hearbreaking. One son killed by another, and she testified for Andy. Her husband had committed suicide a year earlier due to a bout with depression. She said she'd do anything for her children. Now, one son is dead, the other in jail for life, one daughter in jail for the same reason. Essentially one daugther left.
We were warned prior that their would be pretty graphic pictures, and they weren't kidding. I'll never forget where all the blood was found, where the cars were parked, where random mallets were found, where the crossbow that Andrew/Elizabeth/Kristina/or Dan used to killed Edwin was found and what it looked like and weighed. The address where it all went down: 2579 S. Coon Creek Drive. The truck that was used to haul Ed's body to Westbrook, MN in Cottonwood County and the shoes, arrow and blood found in the truck. What will haunt me the most are the things that Andy said up on the stand. The way he was able to lie to us on the stand. How he laughed at the fact that he wrote warnings to his brother, how he called what they had going on a "cat and mouse" game. How his nickname for his brother was "buttf**k"; how he responded to a letter Ed had wrote detailing his love for Andy as the "biggest crock of shit he's ever heard"; how he, without emotion, talked about taking his brother's body out of the truck and putting it on the fire and putting motor oil on the fire to make it burn faster; how he gave up on cleaning it all up because the plan was already screwed; how when they asked him if he was angry when the killing happened....and he said "I'm still angry."
After it's been all said in done, I've found out more about Andy. He is diagnosed bi-polar, tried to escape from prison, and said that if he's going down, he's doing it "in a blaze of glory". These words allowed for over seven extra police officers to be in regular clothes during the trial....waiting for him to make a wrong move.
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/92531199.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMcyaL_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
So, all in all, it's really been a long couple weeks. Going to work tomorrow and carrying on a normal life really will be tough. Time will heal all things.
