I completed my 2-week term of jury service on Wednesday afternoon, and thankfully it ended much better than it began. My first week was a joke! I went and either sat around all day or was sent home. Beginning on Monday, however, they actually put me to work!
The trial in which I served was for the case of a 57-year-old white woman who allegedly tried to mow down a 6-year-old black boy with her car. I somehow successfully passed jury selection, even though I was questioned often due to the facts that I am childless and live on a dead-end street (both of which were relevant to the case). As the testimonies progressed, it became fairly obvious to me that the older woman was lying, and her only character witness, a black "friend", was also caught in a blatant lie on the witness stand. In spite of all of this, it still took over 8 hours for us to deliberate and agree on a verdict! We finally convicted her of felony reckless endangerment. Personally, I thought felony aggravated assault was more appropriate, but we could not prove her actions were intentional.
I was amazed that out of a room of 12 fairly randomly selected people with different backgrounds, that there was not one truly unreasonable or obnoxious person in the bunch. Everyone was very respectful of each other! There was no yelling, interrupting, or drama, even though most of us were passionate about our beliefs and we were all a bit stressed out, and tired of being cooped up. Imagine trying to get that many people to agree unanimously on anything... geez, I remember trying to get my singles group to agree on where to go out to eat and we had a hard enough time! It was fascinating to me to be a part of the evolving debate and watch how people's views changed. On Wednesday morning, we had 8 guilty's, 2 not-guilty's, and 2 undecided. By late that afternoon, we were unanimous.
I also loved how the juries are BABIED! We went out to lunch every day and ordered whatever we wanted on the state's tab... Calhouns, Aubrey's, the Lunchbox... and we always ordered extra dessert to-go to bring back to the courthouse. The bailiffs were downright hilarious and were also very attentive to taking good care of us. And I had never been in a courtroom before or therefore personally witnessed a trial, but I never realized how everything that happens in the courtroom is directed toward the jury. I guess from what I'd seen on TV, I expected to be tense and made to feel uncomfortable by the attorneys and witnesses. But the lawyers totally kiss up to you... they WANT you to like them and trust them.
I have a lot more faith in our justice system now. I see how it is slanted to let a guilty man walk away than to lock up someone innocent, but that is the price we collectively pay for our rights and freedom.
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