About 2 months ago I received a jury duty questionnaire in the mail. I wasn't given much choice, but to fill it out and send it in. I'm all about following the rules.
In the meantime, I scheduled a week of annual leave off from work to be a chaperone for Josh and Tanner's marching band camp in Delta, Utah this past week. We left on August 4th......and they will be home August 9th. A full 6 days!
About 3 weeks ago I received my jury duty summons in the mail for August 5th! YEP, right smack dab in the middle of band camp. .......OF ALL WEEKS! So I made the necessary preparations to travel home Tuesday.
It was a quick trip to Delta and back, as I ended up driving back and forth on Monday. My plan was to drive back on Tuesday night after the jury selection, as I was 99.9% sure that I would not be selected. I was feeling pretty confident.
I had to open my mouth and insert my foot, as I was the 5th juror selected out of 10 jurors.
Believe me it took about a whole hour for it to sink in, that this was really happening to me.
As we were released for lunch and given strick instructions to:
- do not listen to the radio
- do not read the newspaper
- do not discuss the details of the case with ANYONE, even our spouses.
- do not associate with the defense or prosecuting attorneys
- do not associate with any of the families members of the defense or prosecution.
- We couldn't even discuss the case amongst each other in the jury room.
I hopped in my van and started to make the humble phone calls that I needed to - to take care of business at home, at band camp, as work, and so forth......
Matt's first words were.........." COOOOOOOOOL!"
I drove to Subway to get a sandwich. I sat in the van for a few minutes, took a big breath and just thought to myself. My first thought is WHY DO THEY WANT ME ON THIS JURY? Of all people in that room, I honestly thought I would be excused for my law enforcement associations and especially because of Matt's history with the Sheriff's department.
The next feeling that really amazed me was.....a overwhelming feeling of humility, pride in country, and a feeling of importance. I had a duty to do.
When I first walked in those doors my feeling was "
please don't choose me", but once my name was read and I knew I would be with these 10 jurors for at least 4 days.....that feeling immediately left. I quickly changed my attitude.
To have someone else's life in your hands, is monumental and overwhelming feeling that I cannot discribe.
What impressed me the most about this whole experience was the RESPECT that the judge (he always had the audience stand for us when we exited and entered the room) gave us. Next to serving in the military, being on a jury is another form of public service that we show our country.
The other 9 juror's and I quickly became acquainted. Everyone brought unique piece to the puzzle. It was difficult for us to not discuss the case amongst each other as we became good friends and we wanted to discuss our feelings of what was happening day by day. We hated to admit (in light of the court situation) we were having such a great time, as much laughter was behind our door. =)
Every morning we would assemble in a room and then a bailiff would escort us to the jury waiting room. We would put on our "jury" pin, find our notebooks and wait to be invited into the courtroom. This became a routine...and there was a lot of waiting involved.
We had some interesting things happen along the process:
- A witness list was read to us prior to jury selection, none of us recognized any names. However, the very first witness called to the stand -- one of the juror's knew her and had to write a note to the judge. We were dismissed immediately. Not sure of the particulars, but he was able to stay as a juror.
- about 1 hour later, one of the jurors wrote a note to the judge that he needed to make a quick trip to the bathroom to throw up! He struggled through the rest of the day, but felt better directly afterwards.
- One of the jurors was pulled over for swerving on the road. She told the officer that was concentrating on the case and she was a juror...he let her go!
- This story is a classic! One of the jurors was late one morning. When he finally arrived he told us that he had been rear-ended!!! But the best part of the story was that he was rear-ended by the defendants father....and the defendant was in the CAR! Oh man, we got a kick out of that one for some time.
There is much to discuss about the details of the case, but I don't feel like this is the proper forum for it...I feel that I need to be sensitive to the defendant, alleged parties or anyone related to them. I would be happy to discuss the story in person or by email if your interested.
The jury was a bit disappointed that we never were able to deliberate the case, as the Judge found the presentation of state's prosecution case to lack enough evidence to move forward. It's what they call a "direct verdict". They just didn't meet their burden of proof. The judge said that this hasn't happened in our valley for over 20 years! The defendant was found "not guilty."
As I worked through the case day by day in my head......I definitely would have came to the same conclusion. How this case ever made it through a pre-trial is beyond me!???
I have to say - this was an
amazing opportunity. I would do it again in a heart beat!
