Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Jeffy's Corner: Fredda Arney, Juror in the American Sniper Trial

Episode Date: March 7, 2015

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You're listening to the Jeff Fisher Show. Having been on a jury that convicted a man who ended up going to prison, I have a little knowledge of what it's like to be on a jury and a little bit of what you go through, what you try to tell yourself. But nothing, nothing like the Chris Kyle case for sure. and that case is now over. And joining us now is a lady that was on the jury, Freda Arnie. So you were on the jury for the Chris Kyle, Chad Littlefield, Eddie Ray Roth trial. And when you were chosen, what went through your mind at that time? Well, I knew that it was going to be a real difficult trial.

I knew it was going to be a responsibility that I had never experienced before. And I was also really shocked because I was the oldest person on the jury by several years. Right. How much did you know going in? You said it was going to be a difficult trial and you knew it was going to be a big trial. How much did you know about what the trial was going to be going in? Well, of course, living here in Stephenville, I knew about the murders when they, I mean, we heard it, you know, TV, radio. It was, there was a lot of press about it.

Right. And then he was housed, Eddie Ray was housed here in our county jail, and every once in a while they would bring him to court for some type of hearing. and every time that happened, of course, there was a lot of publicity and, you know, movie or TV cameras here, et cetera. But the main thing that I knew about it was how it displaced the merchants downtown because they would have to bring him in, you know, downtown to our courthouse, and there's a lot of businesses around. So they lost, or they didn't lose any customers, but they lost business because of it. sure because there was no traffic down there allowed down there right right so that yeah

that has a little little fact-time business right during the trial uh around the court well on the main street you around the courthouse the merchants had to wear armbands and every day as they would go to work the police would check them check their driver's license and give them a different colored arm band before they could even go to work. So, and my, the beauty shop that I go to is own the square. And my beauty operator said that several of her customers had said they just didn't want the hassle of trying to find a place to park. So they just canceled their appointments, which means lost revenue.

Right. Which could mean that, you know, they, the town was happy that the trial was over as fast as it was? Oh, absolutely. And, you know, we've been told that if we had had different judges or a different judge with a different mindset, that this thing could have drug on for four to six weeks. And our judge, Judge Cashin told us going in that he was hoping to wrap this thing up in two weeks. And it was nine days. Yeah, that's amazing.

You know, obviously, nothing like this, but I do remember being chosen and being on a jury for a case where we sent the person to prison. And I, too, I went through the whole trial forcing myself, look, he's not guilty. They prove it to me. He's not guilty, prove it to me. He's not guilty, prove it to me. Did that same thing happen for you as well during the trial? No, because Eddie Ray had confessed. So our charge was to the defense was proved to us that he is insane.

Gotcha. Say, because we're saying, I mean, the same thing. Right. We were the opposite of what you're saying. The prosecution had their case laid out, you know, line by line. they were on top of everything. So the defense was climbing the uphill battle to do the not guilty by reason of insanity. Right, with the psychosis and the paranoia, the schizophrenia, the whole works, which obviously didn't work.

That's right. It did not. And another thing, you know, they tried to say PTSD, and his feelings, you know, they tried to say PTSD, and his psychiatrist, Dr. Dunn, out of Terrell State Hospital, said you have to have trauma before you can have PTSD, and he didn't have trauma. He was never in battle. He was never, you know, he didn't, he was an armorer.

He fixed their guns. He didn't engage in battle. Right. I understand. How much, when you saw some of the, the footage that they showed. We learned so much that we didn't know as the trial was going on about how they were shot and some of the underlying scenes that you didn't really know about in your head during the trial.

I mean, is that ever going to go away? Probably not. Yeah, it's pretty bad. Probably not. but one of the things that just keeps going through my mind is you know the little fields Chad was 37 the day that his would have been 37 the day his mom testified and then Chris Kyle's widow testified but Eddie Ray has a family also right they testified so as I've said all along there were three families that lost there were no winners

in this case. Even though we came back with a guilty verdict, there's still three families that are destroyed. It's very sad. And when you were given the case to go back into the and deliberate, it took you less than three hours? So everyone was kind of on the same page. It was unanimous. Is that correct? It was unanimous.

and the only reason why it took us three hours was because we had to have a smoke break. And then the county took care of us, the law enforcement, all that. They had brought in food and we had to eat and we had to do it as a group. We were really ready, I think some of us were ready to vote after we saw the the state witness that came in and showed us how they perceived that Mr. Littlefield had been shot in the top of the head. And that was the last witness prior to the summations. And, you know, that sealed it for several of us. And so we probably could have come back within an hour. and it would have been a good thing.

I mean, it wasn't. You've got to be able to catch a smoke before you come back with a guilty verdict. Well, and see, when you're, when you go into deliberation, if someone has a smoke fix or has to have a smoke break, all 14 have to go out. Even the alternates have to go out with you. You can't go out to people. It has to be all 14.

Oh, that's fantastic. I didn't realize that. So you all went out and had a smoke break? Well, some of us tried to stay away. I'm a smoker. And I said, please limit this to one so we can get back in, you know. Yeah. So when you go into to deliberation, it's different because they don't want any improprieties

and anything to come back that might jeopardize what has gone on. before. Which is great. I mean, really, that's the way it's supposed to be. I mean, that's fantastic that it happened. Now, aside from him being guilty and you're saying that, you know, it was really three families that were, you know, affected and there's no question about that. What was the biggest takeaway from the trial for you? The biggest takeaway is the fact that we have the judicial system that we have and that we as as American citizens have the obligation to to serve on a jury as well as the obligation to go and vote and it's a privilege that that all of us should be aware of and when you get that jury summons take it seriously. Fred Arnais,

Thank you very much. I appreciate you joining us on the program today. Have a great day. Thank you.