| | Runaway (from the) Jury
This week I ran away from the jury....from jury duty, that is. It's not that I am against serving, because I am not. I just have been called many times, and have served more than once. This week, I sat for hours in the jury assembly room, waiting for my number to be called. After we had been there about an hour, they called between 20 and 25 numbers. Those people were taken up to be interviewed for a criminal case.
Three hours later they called a TON of numbers, and those people got to...get this...go to lunch! You can imagine how those of us felt who were (still) sitting there....quite uncomfortably, I might add. A small amount of people were now left...just looking around with sad, woeful eyes. Then they called about 10 or 15 more numbers, and those people were told they were free to go (imagine audible groans from the few of us who were left), but they had to call back later to see if they were needed the next day.
Finally the gal on the loud speaker said that those of us who were left were dismissed from serving! They didn't need us! I tell you true, the people who formerly had been looking rather sullen and forlorn, now had goofy grins on their faces! And yes, I was one of them. We were told that they considered our sitting there all morning as "serving", and we wouldn't be called to serve for at least a year. (Can you imagine???? In theory, a person COULD be called up to serve every year!!!!) So, being last had it perks!
During our orientation, the judge had asked us if anyone there was happy to serve on a jury....one lone hand meekly raised in the back of the room. That could have been me....years ago. No one else in a room of a hundred or so people was happy about it. John Cusack in Runaway Jury is about the only person I know who wanted to be on a jury. Although, when I was first married, at 20 years of age, I received a jury summons and gleefully skipped down to the courthouse.
It was a civil trial involving two women who had been in a wreck. Our one and only job was to figure out the percentage of wrong doing on both sides. The amount to be paid would be established by that percent. During the jury selection process, one attorney asked the judge to dismiss me....TWICE.
Each attorney is allowed to ask questions of the potential jury. Of course they ask ones that would be relevant to the case, specifically to their client. One asked if anyone had ever worked at a day care center. Well I had. I used to be a teacher for 4 year olds. He asked if anyone had been to a chiropractor...well I almost lived at mine. He asked if anyone had ever been a secretary....yep, me. He also wanted to know if anyone knew where a certain intersection was. Again, I knew. When asked how I knew where it was, (I lived very far from there) I told them we had friends that lived one block from that corner. It got to the point when an attorney would ask a question, everyone turned and looked at me! It was rather embarrassing!
After the trial was over, the lawyer for the defendant invited any of the jury to hang around for more details about the case, and to answer any questions that we had. I stayed and asked them why I was kept if the other attorney had asked for me to be removed. Well, it seems he changed his mind and thought I might be sympathetic to his client, the gal who was suing.
The second jury I was on was a murder trial. The young man (age 18 at the time of the crime) said he was WITH the people who murdered a man, and that his intent had been only to rob him. After the trial, we found out there was evidence that had not been allowed to be heard, that would have put some doubt on his story.
Even if it had been a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it really didn't matter. The law clearly stated that regardless of the extent that he was involved, he WAS involved. If someone is murdered during a bank robbery, the driver of the get away car can still be charged with murder...not necessarily first degree, but murder none the less. If I remember correctly, he was given life in prison. I really did feel sorry for this kid, but the law was very clear.
As jurors, we need no expertise...we just listen to the judge tell us what the law says, and hear the evidence. Using our personal experiences and our judgment, we decide who we believe is telling the truth, and after listening to both sides, try and decide what really happened.
As I said earlier, I have been called for jury duty many times in my adult life. Several of them I had an excuse for postponing my service. With several other summons, I was an alternate and was dismissed without actually going downtown.
All in all, I know our jury system can only work if people show up and do their duty. And yes, it really feels like "duty". But I was very happy to be able to "runaway" from the jury this week...and so was my rear end!
Have you ever been called? Have you ever served? They say it's the "luck of the draw" on who gets picked and who doesn't.....am I lucky or what??!!!!
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