civic duty

Folks, it finally happened. Last week, during my final two days of jury duty, I was seated for a real live criminal trial. I've always heard of juries comprised of senior citizens and miscelaneous folks with nothing else to do, but our jury had a nice mixture of young and old, male and female, rural and sub/urban. And I must admit, I never thought that a prosecutor in this neck of the woods would seat a lefty English prof for a criminal case...but I was wrong. The charge: aggravated robbery. The outcome: not guilty. Noteworthy was the absence of testimony. Various folks who clearly were eyewitnesses to the event and/or had knowledge about it were never called to the stand. The police detectives were asked few questions about their investigation. Of course we had to weigh the evidence that we had, but, afterward, I couldn't help but consider possible reasons why both sides seem to have left stuff out. Illegal search? The judge ruling some evidence inadmissable? Witnesses pleading the fifth or likely to plead the fifth?