Yesterday I had the opportunity to fulfill my civic responsibility as a sitizen of the United States of America. Yes, I am talking about what you are thinking about----jury duty. Weren't thinking that? What were you thinking? It was a very stressful day. I love being able to serve my country any way I can right now. I just wish it had been over summer when I had time and didn't have to worry about the poor teacher that had to watch 50 kids for an hour and a half. So I get there really early in the morning and wait in line to be let in the central jury room. Then I sit there and wait. and wait, and wait some more. I had a great time catching up on some reading that I had been wanting to do for a while, so it was a winner of a situation. It's almost 11am and I keep thinking just a few more minutes and they will send us to lunch and then no one else will be in court so they will dismiss us. A few minutes later the girl goes to the microphone and says that the next court needs a panel of 75 jurors. So we are getting higher in the numbers and my name has not been called. Then it happens, number 48. We are escorted to the courytoom where we are told the case we may be on a jury for a murder case. The sent chills up my spine and made me a bit nervous. Maybe more than a bit nervous, I was shaking a little. What would I say about being a juror on a murder trial if I was picked? What games and activities would I need to prepare for my classes? Thoughts just kept entering my head. It took four hours to choose a final 12 jurors. It was a long process and some of the people that were in that room were really scary. How many times and in how many ways can a person describe the same thing for people to understand? There are some people that if I were on trial I would never want on my jury. Those people sitting in the room are not my peers. If I were the defendent I would have been really worried about some of the people there. I wasn't picked, so that was a relief. I don't know what I would do for a murder trial. It's a really scary thought that somene else's future is in your hands. It's a scary thought to put your future in someone else's hands.
The crazy thing is that I could not keep from looking at the defendent and now, every time I hear about shooting a gun, murder, killing or anything like that I see his face, the face of an indicted murderer. I just keep thinking the man looked like someone who would walk down the street and I would say hi to him. Many people like to think that murderers are crazed people with a scary look in their eye and some wierd hair-do or something else crazy (like Phil Specter, remember him?). I know the defense attorneys coach their client and tell them how to dress and how to look to look as innocent as possible. I get that. It was just a strange thing to look at someone who looks like every other person on the street and know that he has been indicted for such a serious crime and is facing 5-life in prison. I don't know, I just can't get that face out of my head. I hope it goes away soon, but I don't know. It's a sad situation really. Sad for the families involved. Sad for those that have to go through the trial, the hurt and the heartache.
I am grateful that I am not on that jury, but even more grateful to have been able to serve my country the best way I can right now.