Sit on a jury

Although I’ve been registered to vote (which I understand is how you get on the list) since I first was able, I’ve never gotten called for jury duty. I’d love to do it and it amazes me that most people seem to want to get out of it. I think it could be really interesting.

but it turned out to be an interesting experience, and a bit of a holiday from my normal work.

I didn’t want to do it however, I was selected and I did my part. If I’m selected again, I’d do it again. It’s part of our system and one of the duties of citizenship.

Actually, the very first time I was called, I sat on a grand jury. It was a very interesting process, and I learned quite a lot about the process involved in getting a case to trial. While it’s not exactly the same as the regular juries that determine guilt or innocence, it’s still an important part of the legal process.

I sat on a Fed Grand jury for 1 year, met every other Wednesday. Our job was not to decide guilt or innocence, only if there was enough evidence to indict. Many cases were so interesting, some so depressing, and some scary that the govt. had that much power. Overall I’m glad that I had this opportunity, it opened my eyes to so much, made me start looking closer at govt. and society.

It’s a lot of work to pay attention to all of the deatails in the testemony, to not talk about the trial until time to deliberate, and then to work through the process of deciding the case, but it is what makes citizenship in a country worthwhile.

Many years back I was selected for a jury panel. It was some young kid charged with posession of cocaine. The defense kept alluding to some new “3 strikes you’re out” law which would get the prosecutor all wound up and the judge telling us to ignore what we heard. In the end we found him guilty. The judge then told us that, “this was the first ‘3 strikes you’re out’ case to be found guilty in the state of California. Sentencing would occur at a later date, 20 years to life minimum.” The entire panel was thunderstruck. I was so disheartened, so disappointed with the justice system. Talk about getting screwed….

What a good experience. Sure I griped before it because I had to do a bunch of stuff at work before I left, but it was a very positive experience. Twelve of us decided the fate of the defendant who was charged with multiple counts of robbery. While in the end we found him guilty, the discussion with my fellow jurors, who heard exactly what I did but had differing feelings about it, was very enlightening. The judge described serving on a jury as the second most important duty to our country, behind serving in the military. I felt proud that I performed my civic duty.

I’ve always felt that this is the highest duty one can have as a citizen.

Up until a couple of years ago, I always went when I was called to be part of the pool, but I didn’t get picked.

Then, I became part of a Federal jury pool. These guys are serious—even sent Federal Marshals after a couple of no-shows.

In the event, I was picked to sit on a jury for a molestation case (it was Federal because it happened on an Indian Reservation). We ended up finding guilty, but it was sad because I had the strong feeling that the verdict would not change anything—the root conditions that led to the sad, sad circumstances of this case did not change because one man was sent to jail.

this was definitely an interesting experience. i don’t know if i would be thrilled to do it again anytime soon but i’m glad i got picked. i ended up on a criminal case and we had to vote not guilty because there wasn’t enough evidence for the charges. it’s sad that more couldn’t have been done for the plaintiff, who’s daughter recieved 2nd degree water burns from a daycare provider.