Jury Duty

This week I served jury duty for the first time.

I've always wondered what it would be like - and now I know! It is pretty interesting. :)

Monday I was selected to sit on a jury for a trial that was held today. I won't really go into details of the trial - it was a fairly cut and dry case for a drug charge which isn't the interesting part of my experience.

First - jury selection itself was an interesting process to be a part of. The questions that are asked during selection range from fairly benign to personal about your experiences with the court system. While I did spend several hours just waiting around to be called - once we were in the courtroom for jury selection things really were more interesting. It was neat to see the various people that are called at one time to serve on a jury and hear answers about what other people in the community have experienced.

Next - the trial was very interesting. While it took awhile to get started, our trial had a fairly unique and interesting twist at the get-go. One of the other jurors was dismissed from the jury immediately after we were called into the courtroom. He had been in an elevator riding up to the courtroom when he overheard a conversation between a police officer and another person regarding the trial. He did ask them to stop and was honest and told the judge immediately.

After that situation was resolved, opening statements started and witnesses were called. As far as the procedure of the trial went - it seemed pretty standard. While the defendent was quite animated and vocal about what questions he wanted his lawyer to ask, for the most part questioning was pretty tame. Also, hearing the defendent testify was interesting. I was not expecting to hear him testify - it's my understanding that a in most cases the defendents do not testify.

We had 3 breaks - one in the morning, one for lunch and one in the afternoon. At about 4pm we got the case and started deliberating. While it was a fairly cut and dry case - there was one stipulation in the jury instructions that did raise a few questions. As a whole, we discussed the evidence and our interpretation of the testimony and were able to come to a unanimous decision (which is required in a criminal case like the one we were deciding). That decision was "guilty" - but like I said, it was a pretty cut and dry case. I really enjoyed hearing everyone debate in the jury room and see how the process worked and how each person came to a conclusion about the various issues at hand.

After we delivered our verdict, the judge came into the jury room to answer questions we might have and talk to us about the process. Talking to Judge McNamara was incredibly interesting. He shared several insights with us and was able to answer questions we had about the process and the case. He was honest and open and answered all of our questions. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to learn from him.

All in all I think it was a good experience. I think I understand a little more about the judicial process now and I think we made a good decision in our deliberations and coming to a verdict.

Plus, I'm all done with my civil duty for the next 4 years.