Not Like TV...

This is a pretty long one...just so you're aware

So last week was "different" for me. Last week I was called to jury selection, and of course as my luck would have it, I was selected as a juror. Yes, I had jury duty. But before I go on about what it was like to serve on jury let me give you a little preface. Some time at the end of March or the beginning of April I received a letter in the mail from Federal 3rd District court informing me that I had been chosen as an on call juror for the months of May through August. That means that I could be called for jury selection at anytime from May to August. And if I was called but not selected my name would go "back into the hat." I was a little irked by this. That means I was on call all summer long. If wanted to plan a trip or even a doctor's appointment I would have to contact the court and ask if I could be excused for which ever days I needed. Then it was at their discretion as to whether I was actually excused or not.

That being said, the end of April I received another letter in the mail telling me to report for jury selection at 9:00 am on May 11th. I let my employer know. I checked train schedules. And prepared to go to court. There were probably 40 of us there for selection and when that group was whittled down to 12 I was one of the people sitting in the jury box. All I could think was, at least this means I get my summer back (once you have served on a jury you are pulled out of the pool and exempt from serving again in that particular court for 2 years).

All in all I was not necessarily opposed to jury duty. It is an experience that no one I know has had before. I was hoping it would be an interesting insight to something new. And it was. Not to mention that it was a nice reprieve from work even though I am feeling it in the pocket book now.

The case I sat on was a civil one. It was a negligence lawsuit. That right there made the chances of a it being like a TV court room drama very slim. With a lawsuit like this one, there is no guilty or not guilty, reasonable doubt, or any of the other phrases that the media has helped us learn over the years. I spent 4 days listening to the plaintiff, the representative defendant, 4 doctors, 2 other employees, and a smattering of read and video deposition. I feel I learned a thing or two about construction equipment, various back injuries and tests on how to distinguish back injuries, how to read an MRI, how to calculate present value of money, and a few other somewhat boring things.

The quick and dirty is this. One gentleman claimed that he received a debilitating back injury that had caused him to, in essence, no longer be able provide for his family. The back injury was received when another gentleman towed him out of a sand pit, supposedly unsafely.

After four days of testimony I was really concerned that we were going to have to decide if the injury was real, and extensive it really was. If the towing incident really happened the way it had been said to and involving everyone proposed. But in the end after all the medical jargon and your word versus mine, all we really had to decide was if the defendant (which was a corporation) was negligent in anyway regarding the towing incident.

So after going over the evidence and talking to my fellow jurors for about two hours we came to the conclusion that there was no negligence. We sided with the defendant and no damages were awarded.

Even that wasn't like you see on TV. They give you packet with questions. "Do you believe this? Yes or No. If yes, then continue to the next question, if no, sign the document and report to the court." We had four questions in our packet. We only answered two of them.

I hope this is the only way I ever have to see the inside of a court room. That being said, I really did learn a lot. Most importantly, I would have never made it as a lawyer. And now I know why lawyers get such a bad wrap. I hate to say it, but some of it is deserved. I probably wouldn't trade the experience for anything. And even though I don't want to run out and have to do this again tomorrow. I wouldn't be opposed to doing it again sometime down the road.

I feel like I skipped so much about this. There are details I remember wanting to talk about, and yet, can't find when I skim back over the post. Perhaps this won't be my only jury post. Last week was and interesting week for a lot reasons, not all jury related. We'll have to see how this week goes.

Alright...I am done rambling for now.