Senate Republicans will soon decide if additional witness testimony and documents will be permitted in the impeachment trial. President Donald Trump is working hard to prevent that from happening.

Over the years, I have served as a juror in three trials, including one for murder. In each case, I and my brother and sister jurors were required to spend many hours, and, in the murder trial, several days, weighing evidence. I know that a real trial involves some combination of physical, electronic, and circumstantial evidence, along with witness testimony and any self-incriminating statements made by the defendant.

I’m not alone. Each year, 8 million people report for jury duty in the state courts and 1.5 million serve on juries. Another 64,000 serve on federal juries and 15,000 on grand juries. Millions more spend their evenings watching “Perry Mason,” “Matlock,” “Boston Legal,” and “Law and Order:SVU.”

Americans know that trials require evidence! Good heavens, if the Post Office had not provided evidence in “Miracle on 34th Street,” Santa would have been packed off to the the Funny Farm!

The president and his Senate chums think they can skip the evidence “because no one will notice.”

They risk their own trip to the political Funny Farm.

JOHN LAYCOCK,

Chairman,

Presque Isle County

Democratic Party