Jury Duty
January 15, 2009 by Julia King
I know the line I’m supposed to tow: The system sucks! Tear the whole thing down and start over! (Etc. etc.)
And yet… here I sit with a full heart and a satisfied mind having just completed the most famous (or is it the most infamous?) of civic duties. For two days this week, I was a juror. Technically, I was the alternate, an understudy of sorts, watching and waiting in the jury box just in case someone was struck with appendicitis before the verdict was rendered. With no medical emergencies to speak of, I remained an observer during the final deliberations.
It was both simple and difficult, the trial. Simple in that when all was said and done it was apparent that the accused was guilty; but difficult in that the case — and therefore all the testimony — was about child molestation. It was not a light-hearted two days.
But at the end of our task, one man summed up all our feelings when he said, “You know, if I’m ever accused of anything — I want you all to be the jury. You guys are great.”
Of course, the truth is that — as individuals — we were probably much closer to “average” than to “great,” but together, with the help of an ideal, maybe we did achieve “great.”
More later….
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