Be careful what you wish for

I had never been on jury duty in my entire life and always wanted to know what it would be like to serve on an actual jury. One of my favorite movies was the old version of Twelve Angry Men with Henry Fonda and of course, there were the old lawyer shows I grew up watching reruns of like Ironside and Perry Mason. So needless to say, I was sort of excited to receive my notice in May that I was going to be on jury duty for the next 4 months.

Well, the first case that went to trial was this past Monday and I, along with 11 of my peers, was chosen for the jury. However, the excitement of the being on this jury was short-lived as it became apparent that Hollywood had taken quite a few liberties with how a trial really works and just how mundane the proceedings and lawyers can really be. Adding to my disappointment was the fact that the content of this case was far from the stuff of a John Grisham novel.

Then it came time to adjourn and deliberate the facts (or at least I thought)of the case behind closed doors. What a nightmare! Opinions replaced facts; the feelings of the jurors carried more weight than testimonies of the witnesses. I was appalled, disgusted, and praying my life would never be placed in the hands of a jury of my peers. Not that I can think of a better or more fair system on the planet, but serving on a jury in and of itself ought to be a deterrent to crime. I survived leaving disillusioned and with a migraine and with the instructions to call back Wednesday night to see if I needed to report back on Thursday for another case, which I did and I was.

So I reported this morning to court no longer wanting to be chosen from the pool of jurors. Twelve people were chosen from the 70 in the pool and I was not among them. I was elated and ready to go home. However, the lawyers exercised their challenges and 5 of the original 12 were rejected. A second drawing was done and (you guessed it) I was chosen! I was asked a few questions to which I thought my answers would possibly get me rejected from the jury, but it did not. Two in a row! At least the case wrapped up in one day and it is behind me now. How many more cases can there be between now and the end of August? How many more times will my name be drawn? All I can say is be careful what you wish for and compared to the service others are rendering for this country, what do I really have to gripe about if I serve in 20 in a row?