I was called to do my civic duty a couple of weeks ago . . . JURY DUTY! Here is my story.
I was secretly kind of excited to do it. I had never been called to jury duty before and I was interested to learn about the process. I called the phone number the night before and I was told to report the next morning. I was secretly relieved that I actually got to go because I'd spent some significant time putting sub plans together and I didn't want that time to be wasted. I was also secretly hoping to be done by lunchtime and have a few hours to chill before going to pick up my kids. Ha! Never my luck.
The process started by putting 22 of us in a small room while we read about the jury selection process and prepared our statements to 17 different questions ranging from job description, names of children, sources of news, and favorite movie.
We all gave our statements while we sat and stared at the attorneys, the defendant, and the judge. It was a bit high-pressure.
After all 22 of us spoke, the attorneys slid a piece of paper back and forth, crossing out names. This took a few minutes and then they handed the paper to the judge to read the 5 jurors (4 plus an alternate) who would actually stay and listen to the case.
I was chosen along with another school teacher, a single mom who works as a bookkeeper for a small contracting company, and this crazy brawless hippy lady who homeschools her kids and used the phrase, "birth is my passion." Ug.
The case was really dumb and painful. It was a domestic violence dispute. There was drinking involved. Calls from a baby daddy in jail. Children were present. Stories changed.
When it was all said and done, we took about 45 minutes to deliberate. We had so many questions that couldn't be answered that we had to find the defendant not guilty despite the fact that all of the parties involved should have been found guilty of being idiots and nuisances on society.
