Two decades ago I served as a grand juror in Ohio. One of our last cases was difficult. The Assistant District Attorney explained that a pregnant woman had been seriously beaten by her husband, who had been arrested following her complaint and significant injuries.

The ADA suggested that we not prosecute the case, as she had since changed her mind and did not want her husband to be charged. The ADA said that in his experience, if the victim in a domestic violence case refused to testify, the case was unlikely to result in a conviction. The obviously pregnant victim appeared before us with her 3-year-old son. She corroborated the ADA’s story.

After she departed, I told the ADA that I did not care whether he got a conviction or not. There was absolutely no doubt that the attack happened, and I thought it was important to at least try the case. The ADA disagreed and said that wasting the prosecution effort was a more important consideration. We did not prosecute. Six men and one woman voted to give the lovely gent a pass; four women and I voted to prosecute.

As a man, I have neither been sexually assaulted, given date-rape drops in my drink, feared walking across campus at night without being attacked, been beaten by my wife while pregnant, nor slut-shamed for my dating practices. Unfortunately, too many women have experienced these (and other) things all too regularly. I think this stinks.

I’d prefer that a man who appears likely to have engaged in this kind of behavior as a young adult would not be considered for the Supreme Court. At a minimum, I hope we men can start to demand better behavior from ourselves, and more accountability for misbehavior.

Mike Loriz

Port Townsend