It was an interesting day. I met the richest man in the world. His investment strategy was nothing fancy...he invested in equal parts of gold, land and equity in European manufacturing companies. His first love, however, is not business but Jazz. In fact he was apparently anointed the King of New Orleans largely for his expertise as a bass player. He got his musical training at Julliard where he earned a doctorate in music. He draws his real power, however, not from his musical talent or his money but from his faith in god. A committed Catholic he goes to confession weekly even though he hasn't sinned in 17 years. He met his wife while living in Vatican City and was elected as Pope Peter II--a title that he still holds....at least that's the reality inside his head.

 

I had jury duty today. From the time the jury selection began until the time the judge excused us and thanked us for our service, it took just 75 minutes. We learned that this man, at the age of 22, was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and has been in and out of hospitals since 1968. In the mid-70s fearing that someone was trying to give him a lobotomy he protected himself the only way he could, by literally ripping out his eyes rendering himself permanently blind. Despite claiming to earn $1 million every second, the evidence showed that his earnings are closer to $1200 a month. Today's trial was to determine if he was competent to manage his own affairs.

 

Personally, I think everyone has the right to believe what they want to believe. In fact, I would go so far as to say that crazy people are entitled to live as they like in our society. As the case unfolded, I wanted to find that he was capable of caring for his basic needs. Clearly he was able to feed, dress and medicate himself without issue. If he had stopped talking when his lawyer stopped asking questions, I might have voted in his favor. But he decided to address the jury. We learned that he was both King and Pope. We learned that in addition to his other investment strategies, that his money came from angels (not the baseball variety) and it became clear that while he might have met the other tests, he was not going to be able to survive on $1200 a month without some help.

 

The attorneys waived opening and closing statements, passed on asking questions of the jurors and we heard from two witnesses...a doctor and the defendant. After getting our instructions we filed into the jury room. We elected the one lawyer as our foreman, he asked for someone to offer an opinion. I said what I said above and then we took a lap around the table and 11 others said "I agree."  We left the jury room less than 4 minutes after we were locked in it.

 

I liked him. He seemed frustrated, but relatively happy with life. A little dementia never hurt anybody.