Jury Duty

The other day my daughter told me she was notified she had jury duty. I immediately thought of my first time, in New York when I was called. In those days, it wasn’t just a call in. You had to report to the courthouse, watch a movie about being a juror, and then wait, till your number was called to be interviewed for a specific jury.

My day started by being ushered into a large theater type room. The officer explained what we were going to see. The room was full and I was sitting in the 5th row or so and the next to the last seat to the aisle.

Everyone said, hello or acknowledged your presence, except for the young man sitting beside me on the aisle. He was stone cold and never looked at me. The lights dimmed and the movie began. I was watching attently and didn’t notice that he had left the auditorium until the lights went back on.

Not only did he disappear, but so did my wallet!

I reported it immediately, and of course the guy was gone. I guess what bothered me most was the fact that nobody did anything about it. I know they have surveillance of everyone going in and out of the building. I couldn’t seem to get anyone to listen to me. I had put my purse, which was rather large by my feet when the movie was on. This thief was good, I never felt him take the wallet out and I was unaware that he left. In the end, I believe they thought I made it up. It was no picnic trying to get back all the identification which was far worse than the loss of the few dollars I had in there.

I was called in for a trial, and I chosen as an alternate. I had to sit through the trial. During the lunch break, the jury was taken by mini bus to a local restaurant. The alternates, 4 of us, weren’t even allowed to talk to the other jurors. When we returned from the meal, we were dismissed as the case had been settled. What a waste of my time and the unnecessary aggravation. So much for my first jury experience.

My second experience was similar, minus of cause the theft. I was being questioned for the jury selection on a case of a child falling through an unsecured screen from his apartment building. The window, fortunately ( on the 4th floor) was above an awning that spanned the front entrance of the building.

The lawyers threw out several names, mostly doctors who treated the boy. I thought for sure I would be kicked off this jury because I knew several of the doctors. I disclosed the information, the lawyers asked me how I knew them and I answered honestly, that I knew several from the hospital where I had my brief stint as an audiologist. Instead of excusing me, I was told, “well then, you’ll be an expert juror.”

I really didn’t want to be on that jury because it involved a child. Nevertheless, I spent 4 days listening to all kinds of testimony from the construction of the building to the negligence of the parents, to the injuries sustained by the child. In the end, this case was also settled. We were thanked for our service and dismissed. Another wasted 4 days.

Lastly, I was called for jury duty in Virginia. I desperately did not want to be on this jury, it was a murder trial.

This trial haunts me. The accused was a young man, about 27. The evidence that he was the one to commit the murder was so slim. We, the jury were instructed that we would not be able to ask for specific testimony when we were sent to decide his fate. Only photos of the murder scene were available to us. I thought it very unfair. You can’t remember with perfect clarity what the DNA findings were, or the particulars of the murder scene. The young man, had everything going against him, from his upbringing to his inability to escape his environment. He did whatever he could not to end up in this situation, but everything from birth was against him. I felt great empathy for him.

As we were deliberating, I started to have terrible pain. It seems I was passing a kidney stone. All I wanted to do was get out of there!

I could not disprove he didn’t commit the murder, and other than a feeling or intuition could not say he didn’t. In the end we found him guilty. The only thing I was able to do was to find him guilty for the lesser charge, so manslaughter was the decision.

I tried to follow the aftermath, but couldn’t. I hope I did the right thing.

I have aged out of the juror selection. I never have to serve on a jury again.