JUSTICE

Thus far I've only suffered through half of the brutal and bloody Hatfields & McCoys, a History Channel mini-series that depicts the war between two families, and the vigilante justice that nearly destroys them.

But I’ve endured 48+ hours of The Aquittal of Dr. James Corasanti.

It's turned out to be far more disturbing. Because it's real.

Rewind to July 8, 2011. 11:20ish p.m. 18-year-old Alix Rice is riding her longboard home from a job at a pizzeria when she is struck and killed by a prominent physician driving home from his country club.

Dr. James Corasanti feels his 2010 BMW run over something on the road, but he does not brake or stop. He drives home and parks his car in the garage. When he checks the right front fender for damage, he discovers a crumpled hood, red spots that look like blood, and "a little piece of yellow tissue". 

Corasanti freaks. He calls his friend of thirty years, who happens to be an attorney.  Learning that a teenager has indeed been killed, Corasanti runs from his home in a panic. Concerned neighbors catch up to him and he tells them, "I had some drinks... I've ruined my life. I've ruined my career."

The doctor refuses to give blood to determine his blood-alcohol level. Law enforcement officials get a court order, and blood is drawn. The doctor's blood-alcohol content is 0.10 percent - nearly five hours after the accident. Prosecutors estimate it was between a 0.14 percent and 0.21 percent reading at the time he struck and killed Alix Rice.

Charging Corasanti with five felony counts, prosecutors argue that the doctor was drunk, speeding and texting before the accident. Over the course of five weeks, jurors listen to 42 witnesses, and deliberate for thirteen hours before acquitting Corasanti on all felony charges.

A city is collectively shocked and outraged.

Hatred and ignorance rattle across the airwaves. Online, in print, at the water cooler, and in the check-out line, the criminal justice system is trashed. Defense experts are reviled. Jurors are dismissed as ignorant, stupid, corrupt.

Talk show hosts and newspaper columnists fuel the indignation. Citizen commentators predict eternal damnation for all who twisted the truth or rejected justice for a vibrant young woman so violently killed, and horrifically left to die on the side of a road.

It would be riveting, if it wasn't so frightening.

And dangerous.

Disclaimer. The doctor was my mom's doctor/surgeon for over a decade. Due to many reconstructive surgeries, she was a difficult patient, and results of Corasanti's procedures ranged from successful to life-threatening.

Disclaimer. I know one of the defense attorneys and his family. I often heard about expert testimony presented during the trial that was rarely reported in the 'fair and unbiased' local newspaper reports I read each day.

Disclaimer: I have an eighteen year old daughter and a seventeen year old daughter. Reading the sickening details of Alix Rice's death, and considering the slew of horrible decisions made by a man who was intoxicated (and most likely distracted) when he struck and killed Alix affects me on a visceral level. I imagine the moments after a legally drunk, preoccupied person mows down my child with his car. I imagine my daughter alone in the darkness, dying so violently and senselessly. Insane with grief and fury, I snap, and kill the driver. But only after I torture him. For hours. With every torture-inducing tool I can get my hands on.

Good thing we traded vigilante justice for courts, laws, judges and jurors centuries ago.  Because primitive, instinctual outrage, emotion, and thirst for justice cannot be unleashed into action.

Consider how such fury has turned a community upside down. Jurors, citizens who sacrificed five weeks of their lives - and plenty of their innocence - must now remain unidentified and secluded, fearful for their safety because they followed the law.

Defense attorneys - and their family members - are receiving death threats because they did their job.

Commentators and bloggers clamor about the unfairness of a justice system that hands out different justice for the poor and the rich:  Shame on us that a wealthy doctor can spend a fortune on counsel and experts, and walk away from all criminal charges when he killed a young woman in the prime of her life!

Fact: The prosecution also spent buckets of (tax payers') cash on this case.

Fact: Lawyers who coach witnesses, manipulate, and distort the truth to win a case before a jury work for both the defense and the prosecution. I'll never be selected as a juror because I've witnessed this first-hand.

Fact: The jurors who acquitted Corasanti on four felonies did not believe he was innocent. They believed that, according to the law and the evidence presented at trial, there was reasonable doubt that the doctor was guilty as charged.

We are learning more about what happened in the Corasanti case, and it appears we should not be shocked by the outcome. The very same thing happens every day in businesses, schools, politics and life.

Some people do their jobs better than others.

Jurors have stated that they found the defense's accident-reconstruction expert and mechanical expert to be more professional, careful, and credible than the experts for the prosecution. Which means that in the many weeks and months leading up to the trial, some people did their jobs better than others.

Prosecutors - who were obliged by law to provide evidence that would convince the jury of the truth of their charges  - did not have witnesses to detail the moment of deadly impact, or testify that the doctor acted or appeared impaired before and after the accident. Prosecutors supplied drama, supposition, and evidence that was either circumstantial, or less plausible than evidence presented by the defense.

According to the jury, the most credible evidence and testimony suggested that Alix Rice was riding her longboard at night, in a crouched position, without any reflective clothing.

The most credible evidence and testimony suggested that damage to Alix Rice's longboard proved she had swerved in front of the doctor's car, rather than being hit from behind as prosecution experts reasoned.

The most credible evidence and testimony suggested that Corasanti "was believable" when he said he couldn't see, feel, or hear the magnitude of the collision from where he sat inside his expensive car.

Charged with reviewing evidence to determine if Corasanti's intoxication or texting caused the accident and loss of life, jurors decided that Alix's actions "were probably as much to do with it, and probably more, than his." They acquitted the doctor on all counts, save a misdemeanor DWI.

Because some people did their jobs better than others.

Yes. Defense experts make lots of money. They have great credentials. They are educated. Well-trained. Compelling.

So are lots of craftsmen, teachers, laborers, business owners, and professionals who will never make millions.

The unfortunate truth is that one's hourly rate or salary does not always equate with one's level of competence, drive and dedication.  Just ask all the young, passionate, educated teachers who lost their jobs in this economy, even as some long-tenured teachers - who haven't inspired or motivated their students for years - continue to collect a hefty paycheck en route to retirement.

As we continue to consider the lessons of this trial, and grieve for Alix Rice and her family, we need to rethink our outrage.

Channel it to those of us who fail to demand excellence of ourselves, and do our jobs to the best of our ability -  regardless of how much we're being paid.

Channel it to those of us who get our wrists slapped with minor accidents or infractions, and continue our reckless behaviors.

Channel it to those of us who know when someone is intoxicated, and let him or her drive home, regardless.

Channel it to our kids who sometimes make decisions - and engage in behaviors - that can have disastrous and deadly consequences.

We will never know what actually transpired on that heartbreaking summer night when Alix Rice was killed on her longboard. But we know that her young, promising life was tragically wasted. We know that reckless behavior and poor decisions can kill.

I, for one, will conjure up Corasanti's brooding image every time I am driving, and am tempted to look down at my beeping or blinking phone.

And I will try to remember one of the most riveting images of beautiful Alix Rice: smiling and joyful, she has NO H8 stenciled across her cheeks.

May this image be seared into our collective consciousness, and reflected in our actions, so that Alix's life will continue to make a difference.