Jury Duty

I had to report yesterday for jury duty. After signing in and being sworn in half a dozen times, (really, isn't once enough?) we all recieved an orientation on how it would work, who the court officials were, and what it ment to be a juror. It was all kind of interesting.

I knew from a few days before when I had called the courthouse that they were calling 450 people. I had been warned to show up early or I wouldn't have a seat. I took her advice seriously and boy am I glad I did. Out of 450 only a little over 100 people showed up. If you say that 100 people were excused, (and that is being genorous because they are pretty strict about who can be excused,) that would mean that over 200 people chose not to show up. If they had I'm not sure how they would have all fit into the room.

I was in group B so I should have been sent home after the orrientation but because there were two cases that day and not enough people in group A to cover both trials my group was held over for one of the cases. Twenty-three names were picked at random to start with. As it happened the lawers were happy enough with the initial selection that I didn't have to serve that day and was released after the lawers anounced that they were pleased with the present panel.

What I don't understand is why certain people were alowed to stay on the pannel. I was sure that two and possably four of the 23 initial pannel would be released. It was a burglary trial and two of the people said that they had been burglarized in the past and didn't feel that they could be impatial. Were the defendant was concerned. I can understand why the D. A. was okay with that; it made his job easier. Why though would the Defense Attorny allow that to happen? I don't know about you but if I was on trial for burglary I wouldn't be too happy with that. Maybe in the end I'll be allowed to ask someone.

This is a learning experiance not only for me but for my children as well. They asked all kinds of questions when I came home. We talked about the responsability of citizens, how we would want the best chance possible if we were on trial, and how the court system worked. It makes me feel a little better because, though we made it through the school day ok yesterday, I can see where this will cause us to fall behind some. On the other had being a homeschooling parent is a valid excuse for avoiding jury duty, so learning experience or not, we'll deal with it.

The last case on the docket while I'm on jury duty is a murder case that starts on March 12th. I have mixed feelings about that one. On one hand I would like to experiance a trial like that to see our justice system in action. On the other hand, in Oklahoma not only does the jury decide guilt or innocence, they also decide on sentencing. To hold a man's life in my hands is a fearful responcability. It's not one I would enjoy acting upon.

It may be much todo about nothing. There are two groups and that trial may fall in the responsability of Group A. Not only that but, as proven yesterday, even if it is my group's trial, just because I'm in Group B doesn't mean that I will be picked to be on that case. Around here, most people picked for jury duty never even have to sit a trial. As Christ says "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."