Appropriate Reaction: Beating the Rap

One might think the vanishingly rare experience of being acquitted of Murder In The First Degree by a Jury of Esteemed Peers would yield unpredictable and varied immediate reactions, depending on the circumstances and the personalities involved.

Yet, perhaps because of the un-practiced nature of the moment, the response pattern is astonishingly predictable.  Not the leaping for joy, the wide smile, the athlete's triumphant fist pump.

 No, this victory is marked by its own peculiar expression:

(In the examples above,  it might be fair to note a caveat-- this expression may be specific perhaps to the experience of being found innocent for an act one knows one did commit.  But, setting that aside, for now... )

LET US OBSERVE: 

1.  The eyes turn down immediately, the face is turned slightly off-axis with the body. 

2. The brow is drawn in and up, initially, for a fleeting moment, the furrow of  aggression. 

2. The Jaw is clenched, the chin stuck out.  A surge of confidence in this undefended stance. 

3. The lips drawn thin, and pressed together, fighting back a sob. 

4. Moments later the eyeballs rise to face the jury, head is still askance-- The eyes look up from under a brow pulled out and over, like a pitcher looking in at the catcher from under the brim of a cap. This signals a moment of private and intimate communication with the jury. 

5. Next, the brow is relaxed a bit and pinched up at the front. A communication of truce and allegiance to the jury, while the chin remains protruded, pride restored, ego intact. 

Well, these just the observations of a simple Wah. What else this means, and if it holds, is not for Wah to know, but for the experts and the peers.