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Granny’s got a gun
In Georgia, we find little old 79-year-old Lena Driskell, a gold-rimmed glasses wearing granny-type. Well, sweet little Lena is getting ready to stand trial for murdering her former lover, 85-year-old Herman Winslow. She and Winslow, who both lived in the same Atlanta senior citizens home, had been dating for about a year. But after taking a trip to Daytona Beach together, Winslow broke it off with Driskell. When the 85-year-old began seeing other women (!!), Driskell got her mad on. So one day, she put on her favorite bathrobe and slippers and stormed into his apartment. They got into a heated argument which attracted a security guard’s attention. He tried to break the scuff up, but Driskell managed to pull an antique handgun out and fire off several rounds, killing Winslow.
When the cops arrived, they say they found Driskell waving the gun around and screaming “I did it and I’d do it again!” She was, of course, promptly arrested and now faces charges of murder, aggravated assault, and illegal possession of a firearm while committing a felony. Bizarre as this story is, we haven’t even gotten to my favorite part. On Monday, a jury pool of 58 potential jurors was put together and fifty-three potential jurors appeared to be under 65 years old (“appeared,” because there wasn’t a readily available list of ages). In other words, 91 percent of the potential jurors were at least 14 years younger than Driskell. See where this is going yet?
That’s right - Driskell’s attorney took this as an opportunity to argue that Driskell’s Constitutional right to a fair trial is being violated because it won’t be possible for her to be judged by a jury of peers. “This is the youngest jury pool I’ve ever seen,” complained Driskell’s attorney. The judge apparently didn’t bite, noting that Georgia law doesn’t exclude seniors from jury service (although it does provide an automatic exception for folks over 70 years old who are called for jury duty and provide an age affidavit).
And here’s a bonus for you. The article reporting this story presents the following concluding paragraph: “Prosecutors are not pursuing the death penalty.”
