A potential juror in a Trumbull County capital murder trial was so inspired by the judge’s charge, he wrote a book that documents the world’s historic search for common law and representative government.

Bill Paxson, a former teacher, pressman and horticulturist, said he was summoned to the courthouse for jury duty in fall 2017 for the Nasser Hamad case.

“I was substituting teaching at the time, and this was a prominent case. I was worried about losing time in my substitute teaching job” at Trumbull County Career and Technical Center, Paxson said. “I probably worked three times a week at school.”

The case was the aggravated murder trial involving the late Hamad, who was convicted of killing two people outside his Howland home.

Paxson, of Farmington, said he was dismissed because of a medical excuse — a prescription required frequent restroom trips — but said he was glad to stick around to hear Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice’s charge to the jury.

The courtroom scene also was documented in the foreword to Paxson’s new book.

“I couldn’t wait to get out of there and assumed I would have to hear a boring lecture,” he said.

But Paxson said he was never so glad to be so wrong.

“There were about 60 people in that courtroom (from the jury pool), and he begins talking about how our legal system goes back to 1215 when (English) King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta upon the threat of a sword,” Paxson said. “It kind of made me feel bad about my reservations about serving on a jury when the judge starting talking about it as a privilege.”

Hamad eventually was convicted by the jury, which deliberated over two days to save Hamad from the death penalty. Hamad, however, died of cancer a few months later in a state prison.

After returning home after that day at the courthouse, Paxson thought some more about what the judge said.

“He sure lit a fire under my butt,” Paxson said. Rice’s words “sure gave me a different look at our jurisprudence system.”

Combined with his interest in history and government, the six-time author got busy doing research for “Searching for Common Law and Representative Government,” his latest work printed by Morris Publishing of Kearney, Neb. Paxson said the book, which was released this year, took the longest of his works to research and write, using internet searches and books from his extensive private library.

To show appreciation for the inspiration, Paxson last month headed to Rice’s chambers to present the judge with a signed copy of his book.

“It’s sure neat to think that my words can have that kind of effect on a person,” Rice said.

Paxson, who worked as a pressman at the Tribune Chronicle for almost 30 years, said his main goal of writing this work was to follow the trail through early- and mid-medieval European history searching for a representative form of government. His research took the story back to the fall of the Roman Empire, about 476 AD.

He said the struggle among three major powers of Europe — England, France and Spain — formed the backdrop for his writings, which feature the common people as the benefactor.

“Through the ages the people began to get smarter due to major factors: the Enlightenment, exploration and discovery, religious reformation and the Renaissance,” the book’s introduction notes.

Paxson, who also pens inspirations for the weekly bulletin for the United Church of Christ congregation in Warren, said he delighted in writing about the personalities, such as William the Conquerer, the man who changed the face of British history with his 1066 AD invasion of the island.

“Somehow he managed to bring 4,000 horses with him. That had to be a great magic trick in crossing the channel in the style of boats they had back then. But my guess is that he had help from someone on the inside,” Paxson said.

Paxson’s wife of 55 years, Linda, said she pushed her husband to go see the Magna Carta — the royal document that gave limited rights to commoners — in person.

“My sister-in-law was from Nottingham, so she was a natural tour guide,” Paxson said about the 10-day excursion they made during September 2019.

“Besides I think I instigated the whole thing because I wanted to see the stones (Stonehenge),” Linda Paxson said.

Bill and Linda Paxson said the actual Magna Carta is under guard located in a darkened tent inside one of the palaces.

“You can’t take a picture, and you really can’t get near it,” he said.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com