Jury Duty

One of the honors of voting or having a driver’s license in the U.S. is that you can get called in for courtroom jury duty. Yes, the DMV also provides a database used by courthouses to find potential jurors when not enough names can be pulled from voter registration lists. I recently spent time at a local courthouse where I met several other upbeat, highly engaging people who were doing the same thing – that is, hoping we wouldn’t be placed on a jury.
 
You would think that someone who spends a part of each day writing murder mysteries would find jury duty fascinating. You imagine me being eager to sit in on a case because where else can you come face-to-face with a real live criminal? No. It is a dreaded duty for all of those I spoke with, myself included. Perhaps our hesitancy is a result of how juries are portrayed on film:  a group of strangers who are stuck with each other for days on end, unable to go home if sequestered, always with one bully in the deliberation room, or enough doubt that everyone can’t agree on the verdict. Did you know that in criminal cases you must have total jury member consensus on a verdict here in the states?
 
During the voir dire – when the judge and lawyers choose jury members from a larger group – I found myself already deciding if the accused was guilty or not. That is not how it is supposed to work. We are supposed to decide guilt or innocence after the trial, but the mentioned evidence was rock solid, extensive, the victims many, and all were minors. An adult taking sexual advantage of multiple minors and filming it? Guilt was pretty clear to me. So, should I excuse myself? Or do I keep my hand down and mouth shut so that I can say “guilty” when I strongly believe in that verdict? Fortunately, I didn’t have to make any decision as I wasn’t among the thirteen chosen to sit on that case.
 
I returned to the waiting room. After two more voir dires, I was sent home. On the pavement, I listened to others who were leaving. Those who had to return the next day to serve on a jury were not happy; very vocal about the dreaded task. Those who were not chosen expressed profound relief. It’s an odd phenomenon, no?
 
Perhaps we all dread deciding someone’s fate when we only know that person for this one moment in time, this one act. As DCI Tremaine says in The Tide Turns, “A man is more than the sum of one deed.” We are all imperfect. Pretty hard to pass judgement unless that one deed is truly immoral. And that is why they call us down to the courthouse in the first place – because someone has done something either immoral or illegal or perhaps both. Yes, criminals need to be held accountable. It’s just not easy to take on that mantle of judgement. But then, the profoundly important things in life are never easy.