Santiago Camarena

Voir Dire: an Oath to Tell and Seek the Truth Santiago Camarena

Voir Dire is an oath that potential jurors are asked to take during jury selection. It's an oath to tell and seek out the truth during the selection process and throughout the trial. This oath takes on a strong meaning for Vincent Paul Candelaria as he tells his life story in Voir Dire. A life filled with emotional and drug endues highs and lows in the streets of Albuquerque NM. His life develops into a lifestyle that most children are exposed to. This lifestyle puts him in Santa Fe prison during America's most violent and brutal prison riot in its history. It puts him in New Mexico's, courtrooms for the murder of an Albuquerque police officer. Vincent Paul Candelaria's story is about life and death, about living free and living locked up. His story touches an array of issues that exists across America today. He expresses those issues when talking about the death of his father and how he feels about his life of crime. What he thinks about the injustices he's endured and the cruelness incarceration brings to the world. His memories explode with killings and rapes he witnessed during the 1980 Santa Fe prison riot. His personal memories of these events are the history of New Mexico and the history of America. It affects everyone directly or indirectly. Like the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger or the tragedy of 911. His story expresses issues worthy of everyone's resolve.