A call to duty... Jury Duty
A few weeks ago, I had the distinct honor of not being deselected for jury duty. For all of you who may have wondered, apparently Mrs. Palmer (our former English teacher) does not a good juror make.
When I reported to the Sedgwick County Courthouse that first Monday morning, I started my usual game of people watching and saw a few familiar faces though I couldn't have placed any names. When my number was called to begin the jury selection process, imagine my surprise when I saw not only Mrs. Palmer sitting within the 36 of us to be questioned but also Mrs. Glen Crum. It seems to happen regularly around here. I end up in the most unlikely places to run into a former acquaintance and smack there someone will be. Forget about seeing someone at Walmart. No, I run into people from my childhood at Jury Duty and in D.C. (Sarah Burke's mom and dad).
Anyway, after 6 hours of odd questioning by the prosecutor and defense attorney, Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Crum were eventually cut from our jury pool and I found myself one of of 12 left sitting there wondering what I was in for.
Our case ended up being an interesting one as the defendant was being charged with 2nd degree murder. Both sides believed we would be done by that Friday at the latest, but low and behold, closing statements were not made until the following Tuesday (Labor Day fell in the middle). After approximately 8 hours of deliberations, we all agreed that there was only one verdict that fit the evidence as presented... not guilty. And afterward, we had the pleasure of visiting with the judge in our case as well as both attorneys. It was interesting to learn their respective thoughts on the case and other tidbits that were not admitted into evidence. In the end, I believe we all felt even more strongly we had made the correct judgment.
I've just summarized what happened for you leaving out so many of the details (I'm proud of myself); but as I'm sure you can imagine, I gave the details to my mother and aunt the weekend following as they could not fathom how we had let a man walk who had shot another in the back (a very long story). It demonstrated once again the fallacies reported by our news organizations or at least the half truths. You have to take everything with a grain of salt and determine what is true and, of course, what is not.
Well Ella is pulling at me so I'd better sign off. Thanks for "listening".
When I reported to the Sedgwick County Courthouse that first Monday morning, I started my usual game of people watching and saw a few familiar faces though I couldn't have placed any names. When my number was called to begin the jury selection process, imagine my surprise when I saw not only Mrs. Palmer sitting within the 36 of us to be questioned but also Mrs. Glen Crum. It seems to happen regularly around here. I end up in the most unlikely places to run into a former acquaintance and smack there someone will be. Forget about seeing someone at Walmart. No, I run into people from my childhood at Jury Duty and in D.C. (Sarah Burke's mom and dad).
Anyway, after 6 hours of odd questioning by the prosecutor and defense attorney, Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Crum were eventually cut from our jury pool and I found myself one of of 12 left sitting there wondering what I was in for.
Our case ended up being an interesting one as the defendant was being charged with 2nd degree murder. Both sides believed we would be done by that Friday at the latest, but low and behold, closing statements were not made until the following Tuesday (Labor Day fell in the middle). After approximately 8 hours of deliberations, we all agreed that there was only one verdict that fit the evidence as presented... not guilty. And afterward, we had the pleasure of visiting with the judge in our case as well as both attorneys. It was interesting to learn their respective thoughts on the case and other tidbits that were not admitted into evidence. In the end, I believe we all felt even more strongly we had made the correct judgment.
I've just summarized what happened for you leaving out so many of the details (I'm proud of myself); but as I'm sure you can imagine, I gave the details to my mother and aunt the weekend following as they could not fathom how we had let a man walk who had shot another in the back (a very long story). It demonstrated once again the fallacies reported by our news organizations or at least the half truths. You have to take everything with a grain of salt and determine what is true and, of course, what is not.
Well Ella is pulling at me so I'd better sign off. Thanks for "listening".