I have become very disappointed in my fellow county citizens. I was summoned for Jury Service for one week in mid-December. Now, I realize this is a busy time of year for everyone - but in my opinion, Jury Service is a civic responsibility (it's one of many things that make America, well, America!)
What was supposed to be a full week of service actually got off to a late start, and we were told not to come in until Tuesday. Fortunately, my employer is willing to go above and beyond to accommodate jury service - so I do realize that I am one of the lucky ones.
On Tuesday, close to 100 of us filed into a room meant to hold closer to 35-ish people. I noticed a few folks holding bibles, and wondered why I didn't get that memo! (more on that later....)
After watching a brief video explaining how important our role as jurors is, we filed into the courtroom. The judge began asking if there were any extenuating circumstances that could keep one from serving - and this is where I began to lose faith in the human race.....I would estimate that about 25% of the jury pool stood up to cite their situations. Several stood up and indicated that God's law, not man's law, is the law they follow - therefore they would be unable to serve (note - these are the same folks who came in carrying their bibles). The judge denied their requests. Nearly everyone else stated they had sick kids at home, and serving would be a hardship (most of these requests were denied as well; the judge looked up each jurors name in the county computer system, and found one woman had requested deferment 5 times prior for various reasons - he denied her request as well) I could go on and on listing all the excuses that my fellow jurors attempted to use. After nearly all the requests were denied, we were asked to listen to the particulars of the first case, and then 12 of us would be randomly selected and questioned by both the Assistant District Attorney and the Defense Attorney. This process gave jurors a second chance to state any reasons why they should not/could not serve.
At the end of the day, both sides were satisfied with the 12 jurors plus 1 alternate. The rest of the jury pool was dismissed and told to return Thursday morning, ready to begin jury selection for the second case. What I found interesting was that when someone was dismissed by one of the two lawyers, the judge actually made them re-join the jury pool - I wasn't exactly sure why, since there was no way they would get re-selected for that same case. I actually thought it was a good idea, though, as just because you may have gotten yourself excused from the case (by, for example, making a racist comment, or again stating that you only followed God's law), you were not able to go home. Come to find out, the juror is normally sent home - but this particular judge was a 'substitute' judge, and didn't have constituents to please - Loved it!!!
So most of us returned on Thursday - although some skipped out (again, interestingly enough, some of them were the very ones who tried to get out of service earlier in the week.... not sure what will ultimately happen to them....) Same process, different case - same answers to get excused from the group of 12 jurors being interviewed by the attorneys.... by the end of the day, the attorneys had agreed on the 12 jurors plus 1 alternate, and the rest of us were dismissed.
Ultimately, I was never selected to be one of the 12 - but that brief foray into the entire process was very informative, and at the same time very disappointing - at least with respect to many of those citizens residing in my county....
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