Jury Duty

Monday May 22nd - I went to downtown Fort Worth to report for jury duty. This was my first time to ever be called to go, so I had no idea what to expect. As I am going through the metal detectors, I realize I still have my nice pocket knife on my key chain. The cop looks at me and tells me to get it out of there. Not having time to go all the way back to my car, I stashed it under a trash can out front. (However, 2 hours later when I had a break, my pocket knife was already gone.)

Anyway, back to what happened next. I went into a room packed with people, every chair was full and people were standing in the aisles. After watching a cheesy inspirational video on jury duty, they started calling names for each jury panel. (We had to be there at 8am, they started calling names about 9am.) At 10am, my name was called. It is the closest thing I will ever get to a sports draft. (I was the 43rd selection out of 60 for the 371st District Court.) We each filled out a questionnaire, and then they told us to report to the 371st at 1:30pm. Since it was just slightly past 10:30, I decided to wander around downtown FW. (This is when I discovered my knife was gone.) I ventured to the Barnes and Noble, looked through an assortment of books, headed over to Billy Miners, ate lunch, back to BN, then finally back to the courthouse. From 1:30 to 2:30, all 60 of us were just standing in the hallway. Then finally they file us in.

Voir Dire begins. Prosecution asks questions to us as a group, questions looking for bias. This is where many people, in order to get out of jury duty, began saying "Yes, I think everybody is guilty... I cannot follow the law here... I am biased... The Mavs game is tonight and I want to be out of here..." This process was quite frightening. Not the questions asked, but the answers given. I don't ever plan on being on trial, but if I were, I worry about the number of complete and total, for lack of a better word, morons who are roaming our streets, waiting to be selected for jury duty. Anyway, at number 43, and with no questions asked directly to me, I thought there would be no way that I would be selected. Plus, I always heard they never pick ministers, so I was just listening, observing all the peculiar people filling this room. Then they send us back into the hallway again.

5:00pm - they call all 60 of us back in and make their selections. And for the final juror spot, spot number 12, they call my name. I was shocked and I think I said audibly, "Oh geez." 48 people relieved, 12 of us wondering what in the world happens next. The judge tells the 12 of us to be back at the court room by 9am the next morning.

Tuesday May 23 - 9am - the bailiffs lead us through a side entrance to the very cozy jury room. It barely fit the 12 of us - and this is where we spent most of our time. A very nice selection of people. My earlier fears were relieved when I got to know the 11 other people in the room with me. A wide variety of people - as young as 20 and as old as 65. 8 men, 4 women, 7 whites, 4 blacks, 1 Hispanic. Successful career people, waiters, blue collar, educators, etc. It truly was a good segment of the population. It was fun going to lunch with them, all wearing our juror badges, walking around FW.

The case - SP was charged with a felony for knowingly attacking his wife by hitting her and/or choking her. SP was a 35 year old Vietnamese male, who, according to the lawyers, spoke little english and was illiterate. He was married to RA., who had called 911 April 2005 to report the attack. However, now, a year later, she was saying how much she loved SP and that he didn't attack her, she attacked herself. So here was the prosecution's obstacle, convincing the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that SP had attacked his wife on April 7, even though now she was saying otherwise. 2 days of testimony - police officers, RA, social worker, RA's father, plus numerous pieces of evidence, the 911 recording, pictures of RA's neck after the attack, and a previous attack, letters SP wrote her from prison saying such things as "If you know what's good for you and your children, you will drop the charges." "I will never hit you again." Anyway, after two days of the hearing (most of which was spent in the jury room, while the lawyers argued over what evidence was allowed) we were handed the case to make a verdict at 5pm on Wednesday. It did not take us long. We asked to hear the 911 call again, we each examined the photos, and we read through the letters SP had written. 30 minutes later, we found SP guilty 12-0. The judge, Judge James R. Wilson, sets the punishment at a later date, but we were told he will probably get 10 years and then be held due to immigration issues after that.

After the trial was over, the Judge came back and spoke to us briefly, thanking us for our service. We each got a coffee mug with his name and court number on it. And, because he was defeated in the last primary, it is now a collector's item. He said one time a bailiff saw a mug at a garage sale for 20 cents. He was a very nice man and after the trial, I looked him up on google. (This was the judge of the infamous case of the homeless man stuck in a woman's windshield for days.)

Then the prosecution and defense team came into the jury room and spoke with us, asking us to evaluate their arguments for them. After two days of avoiding them in the hallway and elevators, it was nice to get to hear from both sides away from the courtroom. Anyway, it was a great experience and has strengthened my confidence in the legal system. As annoying as it was to spend three days on jury duty while work piled up at the office, I was still proud to have done my civic duty and helped justice be carried out.

Everyone always tries to get out of jury duty, and I understand why - it is inconvenient, but I think we all, especially Christians, should do our part to serve on a jury. So next time you are summoned, don't try to get out of it, but instead answer your questionnaires honestly and pray that God will allow you to serve. Besides, one day you might be on trial and I promise you, you will want the best jurors, not the 48 cast-offs in our jury pool. (Actually I am sure that many of them were very nice people, just the ones who spoke seemed to lack sense.)

By the way, for my jury duty time, I was paid $6 for Monday, $40 for Tuesday, and $40 for Wednesday for a whopping $86. Take away $15 for parking, $25 for lunches, another $5 for snacks, and some more for gas money. Cheap labor if you ask me... But worth it.