Jury duty

Today I finished serving as a juror in a criminal trial. I got the notice for jury duty in the mail a couple months ago and on June 2 I showed up for jury selection. I was selected for two juries (fortunately while I was serving today my wife received a phone call letting me know that the other one, scheduled for mid-July, has been canceled). Oh, how easy it would have been to get out of it. You are given multiple opportunities to back out if you're selected. It could be a serious schedule conflict, or an admission that you don't feel you could be fair or impartial on the case. No questions asked. But, alas, I had no such schedule or moral conflicts.

It was a two-day trial. Evidence was presented last Friday, and today we heard closing statements and the judge's instructions regarding the charges and our deliberation. We deliberated for over four hours before reaching a verdict on about forty counts. It was a long, exhausting day.

Yes, it was inconvenient. I missed two days of work. Yes, it was unpleasant. But it was important and in some ways I'm glad to have served. I thought we did a good job as a jury and reached a fair verdict.

It was all really interesting to be part of. The defendant was an 18-year-old guy that was accused of sexually molesting his sister, her friend, and a cousin at different times between 2003 and 2006. The charges varied significantly in severity, as did the quality of the evidence, which ultimately made our decision more complicated.

To be honest, I was really surprised by how poor each side's case was. Really. I think all the jurors were. The defense attorney offered little of a coherent defense. And the DA really seemed to be stretching on what charges they thought they could get away with. Evidence was pretty paltry, and ultimately we acquitted him of most of the counts against him, particularly the more serious ones for which there was little evidence. It was frustrating, and sometimes heart-wrenching, because while we certainly wanted to be fair to the girls, it was the burden of the state to convince us. And, with the exception of a handful of the charges, we were unconvinced.

The toughest thing, perhaps, is that we felt like it was by no means all this poor kid's fault. He grew up in an absolutely lousy environment, with all kinds of problems with communication, trust, and healthy sexuality. All this became obvious very quickly. This family had many serious issues. I felt grateful for my own parents, and for my own beautiful little family. It was a reminder that we have a lot of work to do to help families like these.

Even though I'm glad to have served, I certainly don't want to see another jury summons in my mail anytime soon.