When I first received my jury duty summons, about a month ago, I was put off. “I don’t have time for this,” I thought. “I have too much else going on. I’m busy. Surely, the justice system can manage to get by without me.”
Tuesday was my jury day. I reported to the Sedgwick County Courthouse at 8:30 a.m. and went through the process of jury selection. A little before 5 p.m., I was chosen to be on my first jury. And you know what? It’s exciting. It’s fascinating. It’s daunting. Today, I’m going to hear about a case and help make a decision that could send a person to jail. Or set that person free.
As the day went on Tuesday, I became more and more involved in the process. By the afternoon, I was hoping to get picked for the jury. In fact, I would have been a little bit disappointed if I had been bypassed.
There were 28 of us originally. The attorneys for both sides _ especially the prosecutor _ asked all of us a myriad of questions. Some people were eliminated then and there, especially those who had trouble with English.
I’m missing work for a couple of days. Actually, I’m just re-arranging work and doing some stuff at night instead of during the day. I was put off by the people who told the judge that they just had too much going on to be able to sit on a jury, even though that’s exactly the way I felt.
I’m looking forward to today. I’m in awe of how the process works and honored to be a part of it. You could say I have changed my tune.
2 Comments
I go next Tuesday for jury selection. I’m really excited about it!!
I had jury duty a couple months ago but didn’t get picked for either case. In one of the cases, a guy was released from the jury pool because he knew the prosecuting attorney and swore that he could not be impartial. It would have been one thing to go along with it and let the attorneys make the decision that you couldn’t be impartial. This guy apparently just did not want to be on a jury at all. Lazy jerk!