I received my first-ever summons to serve on jury duty in The Common Pleas Court of Franklin County, OH about a month ago. First reaction - yikes, two whole weeks gone out of my life-you've got to be kidding me! Second reaction - yikes, I really have no good excuse not to go!
Fast-forward to today, June 12th. I'm happy to report that I survived and actually enjoyed/appreciated the whole experience. I'm now affectionately known by the jury commission girls as a "first-weeker." I've been oriented, sent up to a courtroom, questioned by attorneys, selected by same attorneys, served on their criminal case, deliberated said case, determined a verdict, delivered a verdict to a defendant, and then released back to the jury pool to do it all over again next week, when I then become affectionately known as a "second-weeker." (yikes, my brain hurts from all the legalize!)
A couple of the things I've learned:
Jurors don't get to hear the whole story in a case, just the parts that the judge and attorneys think you should hear.
I've learned to differentiate between fact and heresay.
I've learned that taking an oath doesn't necessarily mean the person is telling the truth.
I've learned that 12 complete strangers can indeed come together, review the evidence, and make a determination that will impact another complete stranger's life.
As a second-weeker, I hope to do it all over again starting next Monday. In my book, that's affectionately known as "my civil duty."
2 comments:
Wow, I have never been either...and I thought "rookie" was an appropriate term, but I guess when you are dealing with people's livelihoods "first-weeker" sounds much more professional :) Wait, people lie on the stand??? Why I never!
What was really interesting is that after the trial was officially over, the judge invited us jurors to talk and ask questions with him and both attorneys afterwards. That's where we learned so much more about the case. We learned that the defendant had been offered several plea bargains/offers of a lesser charge over the course of the last two years but she kept maintaining her innocence, against the advice of counsel. Now she's facing being a convicted felon over a $900 insurance fraud. Amazing.
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