This week I was able to exercise one of my duties as an American citizen.. I served on a jury in a criminal trial in the Ada County district court.
I received a large amount of unsolicited “advice” on getting out of jury selection, some of it quite amusing. I didn’t use any of it, but thought it’d be funny to pass along. Supposed ways to get out of jury duty:
- Bring “The Prince” by Machiavelli
- Bring a pineapple
- say “I wouldn’t be able to make a decision”
- say you know a lot about DNA
As it goes, I was selected as a jury member for a two day criminal trial. The jury selection took a couple hours, as potential jurors were weeded out due to potential biases and other issues. Opening arguments and the prosecution’s case filled the remainder of the day. After 3 witnesses, the court recessed just shy of 2 pm. We were then instructed by the judge to do nothing related to the case: don’t think about it, read about, talk about it, listen to anyone talking about it ,etc.
Yesterday we all returned to the courtroom just before 9am to resume the trial. We had been told it would only be a two day trial, so we expected to hear the remainder of the prosecution’s presentation of evidence, the defense’s presentation, closing arguments, and deliberate on the charges. After a couple hours and two more witnesses, the prosecution rested. The defense then took up their case, calling their only witness which was the defendant.
The final stages of the case went fairly quickly, with no rebuttal evidence from the prosecution and somewhat succinct closing arguments from both sides (complemented with an atrocious looking powerpoint from the prosecution). Following this, the jury began deliberating around noon.
I was selected as the presiding juror for this particular case. As a result, it was my duty to keep the jury on track during deliberations, facilitate discussions, be the point of contact (if necessary) between the jury and judge, and ultimately fill out and sign the form indicating our verdict to the court. As is typical, we were required to have a unanimous vote to reach a verdict. We ended up spending about 3 hours in deliberation before finding the defendant guilty.
After reassembling the parties in the trial, I handed the judge the verdict (via the bailiff) and it was read out. Following this, the jury was dismissed and we were free to go. Sentencing is to be done at a later date by the judge after further investigation of the circumstances of the case.
I found serving on a jury a very interesting and rewarding experience. It was very insightful to be part of the justice system here. I certainly knew of many aspects, but it was instructive to experience them firsthand. I am glad it was only a 2 day trial though, as I could see a multi-week trial being quite a drawn out process. All in all it was a good experience, and I do recommend people involve themselves in the process if the opportunity presents itself. After all, the system is only as good as the people in it.
