it was true enough for doug schmidt, having to conduct a defense. but it was also true that we here in san francisco had a need to understand what had happened,ed a a need to see how it impacted our society. hat a need to see how this act of utter incivility affected the union of civil people. all trials begin and end with the jury. first jury selection. then the jury verdict. the prosecutor in this case, the chief prosecutor in the office of district attorney, joe frattus, was a map named tom norman. i think he had won conviction inside 96 or 97 murder trials. a very successful career prosecutor, and he told his boss that this was the best first degree case he had ever seen in his life. fratus had an agenda of his own, the district attorney. he wanted to be mayor and he had a little bit of a problem. his problem was that he could not be seen as going soft on dan white. this was a murder prosecution. there was a death penalty waiting for dan white if he was convicted of first degree murder. but fearful of being seen as soft on dan white, tommy norma