Juror in the Court

Sitting in the juror box I was beaming on the inside.  I wanted to smile. I was so excited to be a part of this.  But on the outside I managed to contain myself and look serious.

I almost couldn't believe they had called my name.  I was now sitting in the curved wooden juror seat. After twelve of us had been selected, the judge excused the unselected.  He gave us a speech about how we are the judge.  He was only there to tell us the law and see to it that the case was presented fairly for both sides.  It would be us to make the decision on who was right.  He let us know that we would be taking breaks frequently so that we were comfortable.  It was important that we were good listeners.

I started thinking that I should have a notepad to take notes, but I wasn't going to raise my hand.  A foreman was selected by the judge.  After we were randomly placed in the juror box, the foreman was selected purely based on the chair you sat in.  The front right seat was the "foreman position" so that lucky man got the job and it wasn't me.

During our first break in the jury room we were told that any requests we had - for anything - had to be written on paper, signed by the foreman, and given to the bailiff.  That was the biggest responsibility of the foreman at this point.

The trial started by each lawyer getting in front of us and giving their opening statements.  These statements were to tell us what each side expected to present to us and was a brief summary of their case.

This was just like I had seen court on TV.  It seems TV does reflect real life sometimes.

Sitting in the juror box is, in some ways, stressful.  The judge started out by telling us how critical our jobs were. He emphasized that point multiple times and told us to be good listeners and to be fair to both sides.  I wanted to be sure I did the right thing and I remained focus on what the lawyers were saying.

One thing that was immediately clear about court is that everything moves slowly.  It was nearly lunch time by the time the jury was selected and we got started with opening statements.  Every time a lawyer submitted a document into official evidence it had to be verified by three people and then logged by the court reporter.  Everything is done very carefully.  Everything is done very slowly.  I liked that about court.  I like the ceremony and the importance of every move.

Just before lunch we were sent back to the jury room while the lawyers had a meeting with the judge.  The jury room is small.  Maybe the size of your dining room with a large conference table in the middle.  There was just enough room to walk along each wall as you tried to get to the drinks and snacks in the corner.

I didn't want to drink too much because I was afraid I'd need to use the bathroom in the middle of testimony and I wasn't going to be the one asking for a potty break.

I quietly observed my co-jurors.  Some were very chatty.  Some were opinionated about EVERYTHING, and some were silently keeping to themselves.  We sat there for thirty minutes and near the end people were starting to relax around each other a bit.

We were told not to discuss the case with anyone, not even each other, and nobody did.  It was awkward a bit because everyone was thinking about the case and everyone wanted to discuss it, but nobody broke the rule.

We were allowed to leave for lunch and were told to be back in an hour.  When I arrived back at the court house I noticed one of the lawyers leaving.  Then I saw the defendant walking toward the parking lot.  I thought lunch was over.   It turns out that the two sides settled while we were at lunch.

The judge called us back in to the empty court room and he thanked us for our service.  He told us the sides had come to an agreement and couldn't of done it without us.  He said sometimes it takes getting in front of a jury and starting the process to make the two sides talk to each other and that is what happened this day.

I was disappointed that I missed the debate in the jury room, I was disappointed that it was over so quickly.  But I was thrilled to have been in the court and been a part of the process.

Being a juror was awesome!