Jury Duty

I was selected for jury duty today.  I was prepared, as I have done this before, and brought a book to help me with the waiting.  I have been called for Federal jury duty, and was dismissed, city jury duty, and dismissed, county jury duty, and was either dismissed or went to voir dire and was dismissed.  I did serve on a grand jury in 2003, and found that to be a very interesting and educational experience.

Today they needed only 14 people for the jury panel for a Justice of the Peace criminal trial. I was one of the 14 selected.  Interestingly, one of the bailiffs was also selected.  So, we went through voir dire.  If you do not know, this is the part of the process where the prosecution explains the law to the prospective jury members, and the defense discounts what the prosecution said, sets their own spin on the law, and otherwise tries to find out about potential jurists to decide if they might be favorable to the defendant.

The attorney for the district attorney said the way to not be selected for the jury was to speak up, and say what was on your mind. So, I did. 

The American way is that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. The accused is allowed a fair and impartial trial, and does not have to testify on their own behalf; if the accused does not testify, that is not supposed to be considered as an admission of guilt. Conversely, if the accused does testify, that is not suppose to be used to assume they are doing so because they are innocent.

Also, the decision for the jury is not guilty or innocent, but guilty or not guilty. I was asked the question if there is a difference, and I was able to say there is:  Innocence is that the alleged crime did not happen; not  guilty is that the person did not violate the stated law.

I was amused as the young assistant district attorney, who several times said he was new at this, said that voir dire is a Latin term.  Well, it may be, but I thought it is a French term.  And my old dictionary says it is a French term.

As I have heard in the past when I was summoned for jury duty, we were exhorted over and over again today to consider that we were fulfilling an important civic function. As always, we were treated with respect and dignity. I like the idea of being able to perform an important civic function. I did not mind doing jury duty.  I was glad, however, to get to work and meet the needs of my patients.