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Homecare nurse accused of felonies was found guilty of two misdemeanors
I've flagged the above as a suggestion for removal based on it being entirely inaccurate. The San Diego Reader has my direct contact information and I'm more than happy to verify to them my identity via email, telephone, or whatever means they would like to use. I still have my juror's badge if that helps.— May 15, 2013 5:15 p.m.
Homecare nurse accused of felonies was found guilty of two misdemeanors
Where I state above that I won't use the defendants name, I meant the victims name.— May 15, 2013 1 p.m.
Homecare nurse accused of felonies was found guilty of two misdemeanors
I was an alternate juror in this case - which means I sat with the rest of the Jury and heard all testimony and saw all evidence presented. Because I was an alternate I was not involved in deliberations. I have just received a call from the court clerk letting me know of the verdict and that I am now free to discuss the case. I was absolutely shocked when I heard that McDuffie was found not guilty of all six felonies and guilty of only two misdemeanors. The above story tells little about the offenses, or the victim, or the evidence presented, so I'll summarize very briefly here. This trial was over 2 weeks long, and I'm summarizing in a single paragraph - so it's truly a high level summary. The article doesn't use the defendant's name, so I won't either. The victim is a 23 year old man so severely autistic he is unable to speak, or feed himself - or even use the bathroom - he wears a diaper. The defendant was accusing of punching, slapping and otherwise abusing the person he was paid to care for. We saw videos of these actions. We saw testimony from an expert in the field of autism, from the victims doctor, from other caregivers, and from the family all detailing and agreeing McDuffie's actions were abusive. The only witnesses presented by the defense were two family members of another caregiver accused of abusing Jamie and the defendant himself --- all very motivated for acquittal rather than justice. Even the defendant himself admitted on the stand to slapping the defendant, to using his hair as a handle to move him around the room and to shove him to the ground. Watching video the victim being abused over and over was not fun. Watching him pull back from McDuffie in ways I interpreted as cowering to not be hurt was not fun. At one point the prosecutor showed a video of the victim standing up from his bed, then jumping back to it in fear after McDuffie came closer. McDuffie was asked "did you see the way he jumped back on the bed" (or something similar to that) ... the answer from McDuffie was a grin and "yeah, did you see that" - which I interpreted as pride at having dominated the victim into submission. It was at that point that I decided McDuffie was not only incompetent, but sadistic as well. I have no idea what was discussed in deliberations. I don't know why McDuffie wasn't held more accountable for his actions. The penal system in this country is designed to be entirely fair to defendants, and it should be. This is one case however where I feel justice was not served.— May 15, 2013 10:17 a.m.