Guilty on all counts

As Niki mentioned earlier, I was on jury duty last week. Here is a little run-down of my first jury experience from jury selection to post-trial.

I was a juror in an attempted murder case.

First, a real-life trial is nothing like what you see on Law and Order. The attorneys are much more genuine and don’t have all those cleverly-worded persuasive monologues. Sometimes things got a little tense, but the Deputy DA and the client’s defense attorney were professional and amicable to each other.

After the testimony, closing arguments took almost a full day. If you have ever read John Grisham, or watched any of the movies made from his books, you might think that the closing argument is some witty, tear-jerking, or justice-inspiring speech to send us to reach judicial conclusions. They were more like he-said, she-said comparisons of each side of the case.

There are no fancy accommodations in the jury room. If you have ever seen trial movies like Twelve Angry Men or The Last Juror, the real deal is much different. There were several mismatched chairs, including a psychiatrist’s couch, one very small window, bathrooms, and a coffee pot that hasn’t been used in 3 years. The dorm-sized refrigerator hummed in the background of our discussions, but made no other comment.

I volunteered to be the jury foreman, just for the experience of it all. Once I was in the jury, I knew that I really wanted to be the foreman. I assumed that other people would want to be the foreman, but Niki told me most people would be more than happy to let me. She was right. It was cool. We deliberated for a little more than a day, and we reached a consensus on all counts.

We found the defendant guilty on 3 charges- Attempted Murder, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, and Leaving the scene of an accident. We thought that yes, the defendant had left a fight outside of a bar, and used his truck to threaten the nearby crowd, then ran over the guy he was fighting with.

At the end of the trial, I was reflecting about the important role parenting has in the direction of a child’s decisions far in the future. Not the least of which were the number of passages in Proverbs admonishing the listener to seek for wisdom, search for wisdom, hold on to wisdom. I was also reminded that a child that fails to heed his parents’ instruction is a shame to them.

I also feel a little more American, having performed my civic duty. So, the next time you get a Jury Summons, don’t groan. You might get to be the foreman!