(Out of town tomorrow
so here’s Friday’s blog in advance.)
What interests people
is amazing. I received more comments about the jury duty blog than from
anything else in awhile.
If you’ve done jury
duty you have one of two opinions: It can be like being poked in the eye with a sharp stick...or, it can be an interesting and educational experience if you don’t
let yourself spend the whole time agonizing about being there and wishing you
were somewhere else.
I took some books and
work to the jury lounge where we waited to be called. Our jury wrangler (I’m
sure she had a more official title but that’s kinda how I saw her) was Nancy Vann, a
smart, perceptive and funny woman, and she gave us the welcome speech at 9 am.
After we watched an instructional video she announced that we were “free to
move about the cabin” until we were called for a trial.
At about 10 am we got
a call to head to the courtroom. It was an alleged armed robbery trial and the
judge did a great job of prepping our group of 42 to serve as jurors. His best
line was, “there are Americans losing their limbs and lives in Iraq and
Afghanistan so being inconvenienced for a few days seems a small price to pay
for the privilege of being an American.” Amen.
I was Juror #2. So,
when the initial seating started I was the second juror questioned about my
ability to serve as a juror. That’s when it happened.
The prosecutor, an
assistant DA, asked if any of us knew police officers or had any law enforcement
experiences that might keep us from making an impartial decision based on the
facts of the case.
I raised my hand and
explained that the first job I’d had right out of college was with the NC
Department of Corrections. I explained that I was a public information officer
who, among other duties, had to go into prisons to interview people at all
levels about the corrections experience.
The asst. DA asked, “Did
you have contact with inmates, corrections officials and officers, and police
officers?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Do you believe your
experiences would keep you from making an impartial judgment about the facts of
this case.”
“Yes, that is likely.”
And that was it…I was
off the jury.
Believing you can make
an impartial judgment in different areas of life is a wonderfully self-indulgent
assumption. But, we all have prejudices and some aren’t very flattering.
For instance, I
believe that 99.9 percent of the people in prisons deserve to be there. Yep,
there are mistakes made. Brian Banks, the kid who just signed with the Atlanta
Falcons is an example of someone imprisoned for something he didn’t do. And I’m
sorry about something like that happening and we need to do all we can to
prevent it. But, I believe the majority of people in prison deserve to be there
and that belief keeps me from being objective.
Now, put me in a
traffic case, or personal injury or white collar crime and I’ll sit there all
day and listen to the facts. Armed robbery though…no.
I was back on the street
at 11 am. Thinking that I should volunteer for jury duty to make up for this
time, to do my duty.