Jury Duty

[LostMyMap]

Being self-employed, the state of California graciously allowed me a more or less permanent exemption from jury duty. The Federal government, not so much. They were only willing to cut it down from being on call for a month to one week.

This was last week. I had to call in every evening for reporting instructions. I thought being the end of the month, there wouldn't be any trials. And by Wed. they hadn't asked me to come in, so I thought it was done. Then Wed. night the recording told me to show up Thurs. morning.

Argh. I have always thought I would like to be on a jury someday. But even one day away from my desk is very costly. I've never made it past the selection process so I thought the odds were that they wouldn't pick me anyway. Well they did.

The trial was fortunately short. The defendant was accused of drug related crimes. Most of the govt. witnesses were federal agents. You would have thought this guy was toast before we even started.

The jury was selected and we heard the case, then set about to deliberate. There were twelve of us. Some women, some men, ranging in age from early 20s to at least 60s. At least three ethnic groups were represented. People came from various places across two very large counties. A pretty good cross section.

The govt's case was weak. It really came down to what the defendant may have known or intended. We had feelings that he was possibly guilty. But we had to weigh the evidence, and it just wasn't there. They just didn't give us enough to be convinced. It was difficult, but in the end, we found him not guilty on both charges.

I still think it is possible that he was guilty. But after the verdict was read, and he broke down in tears, I studied his face. I did not see a guilty man who got away with something, I saw a man who looked like a good guy who got in a bad situation. That was my intuition. I will never really know.

In the US, the burden is on the govt. to prove the case. The defendant is presumed to be not guilty. The govt. must convince twelve people beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty. The defense does not have a burden to prove anything. The defendant does not have to testify. The judge has no say in the verdict and was very clear to us that we could not use anything that he said or did as a reason to vote one way or another. They jury instructions were pretty thorough on what we could do or not do, and what we could consider in our decision.

Our system is not perfect by any means. But in this case, I believe the system worked exactly as it is supposed to work. The govt. doesn't just get to hammer people because they have some evidence and the case seems at the outset to be pretty strong. They still have to make their case. If they had, I would have had no problem voting guilty.

So why am I writing about this? Contribution. Even though it had a big impact on me, I believe I owed it to the defendant, and to our society to do my best possible job. We are all part of a big system, and that system only works to the extent that we are involved. Even when it isn't convenient. I hope none of us is ever a defendant in a criminal case. But if that were to happen, you would want to know that the people on the jury would work hard, and listen to you, and not just accept what the govt. tells them without thorough consideration.

I believe sitting on a jury is a very powerful contribution to a civilized and just society. It felt more powerful than voting in an election, I guess because our decision had an immediate and visible impact. Again, I know it isn't perfect, but it is a powerful check-and-balance system that navigates between chaos on one side, and a police state on the other. It keeps ordinary citizens involved in the workings of our govt. That is something we will always need.

[ssandra]

Thanks for sharing. That was an interesting read!!

[russianrocket]

Sucks that no one bothered to reply to this. Good post

[Angela]

Originally Posted by russianrocket

Sucks that no one bothered to reply to this.

There goes your credibility as a witness -- someone DID bother to reply!

[russianrocket]

She's a mod, it's her job : D

[ssandra]

Originally Posted by russianrocket

Sucks that no one bothered to reply to this. Good post

I'm invisible...