Jury Duty
My number came up. I can't complain as this was my first time ever being chosen for jury duty. I was concerned though about being in General Sessions and Common Pleas. I didn't mind being called for traffic court, but the thought of sitting on the jury for criminal trials made me nervous.
I ended up finding the experience interesting. Many of my fellow jurors commented on how many pleas there were. The other part of our observations were that many young people need to come to court and observe this process. Sitting there for four days showed many of us that if illegal drugs and alcohol were taken out of the equation, the court dockets would have a lot less cases. Very few cases did not involve one or the other of these two components.
I am out of the courtroom now and back to work and breathing a sigh of relief. I didn't get pulled for the worst cases and was able to feel ok about the cases I did hear and have to contribute to a verdict. So my best advice, it is much better to be on the juror side of circuit court than the victim or defendant. As the judge put it, he hopes none of us ever have to sit on the other side of the rail.
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Kim, I am SO thankful I've never been called. As far as I'm concerned, I'd be too afraid to convict someone who may be innocent and too afraid to let someone go who may be guilty! If I wasn't there to see it, I'd be the one that resulted in a hung jury :(