From the Inside...
The hardest thing about this trial and jury duty is sitting there for an hour or two, some of it involving extremely in depth testimony, and then we walk out unable to say a thing about it, to anyone.
While watching movies, live court TV, and even various stories I’ve read, it’s not the juries you typically hear about. It’s usually the lawyers, the defendants, the petitioners, and sometimes even the judge. The main reason is probably that in most live TV situations, it’s usually not allowable to film the jury. Beyond that it’s probably that the real story is behind the rest of the parties involved, not those people randomly selected because the can drive or vote.
It sure feels different being in the real thing. The entire court (the judge too) rises until we are seated. They stand until we leave. Everyone is constantly watching us, eyeing us, I’m sure wondering what we are thinking. We are huddled around the courthouse like a group of kindergartners on a field trip with our bailiff making sure no one gets lost. We even have our badges to make sure that if we are approached we can just point to our little round fashion accessory and walk away.
The most difficult part of all is the nature of this particular trial. It’s been over two years since the event we are considering happened. The various witnesses, the friends, and especially the family are the hardest to see. The parents of the deceased look like people with bodies in their late 40’s or early 50’s. Their faces however look easily 60 or 70, and I know they are not that old. The father can hardly sit through any of it, he is constantly breaking down and leaving the courtroom.
As for the 15 of us, we lost one today, we are an interesting group. We are quite diverse in age, sex, race and profession. I think it’s about 8 women and 7 men. A few “cliques” have already developed and for the most part we all get along fine. I only say for the most part because we won’t really know until the deliberations begin.
On a lighter side, we take the shorter breaks in the Juror room, the same room we will eventually be deliberating in. At first, I thought having two bathrooms in this one little room was a little over the top. Now I realize that as we all freely drink all the coffee, soda, and water they offer us, it takes just about the entire 15 minutes for everyone to take their turn.
One of the older guys popped his head out of one of the bathrooms this morning and asked, “So, do I leave the toilet seat up or down?”
Laughing really helps ease the tension.
Fej
While watching movies, live court TV, and even various stories I’ve read, it’s not the juries you typically hear about. It’s usually the lawyers, the defendants, the petitioners, and sometimes even the judge. The main reason is probably that in most live TV situations, it’s usually not allowable to film the jury. Beyond that it’s probably that the real story is behind the rest of the parties involved, not those people randomly selected because the can drive or vote.
It sure feels different being in the real thing. The entire court (the judge too) rises until we are seated. They stand until we leave. Everyone is constantly watching us, eyeing us, I’m sure wondering what we are thinking. We are huddled around the courthouse like a group of kindergartners on a field trip with our bailiff making sure no one gets lost. We even have our badges to make sure that if we are approached we can just point to our little round fashion accessory and walk away.
The most difficult part of all is the nature of this particular trial. It’s been over two years since the event we are considering happened. The various witnesses, the friends, and especially the family are the hardest to see. The parents of the deceased look like people with bodies in their late 40’s or early 50’s. Their faces however look easily 60 or 70, and I know they are not that old. The father can hardly sit through any of it, he is constantly breaking down and leaving the courtroom.
As for the 15 of us, we lost one today, we are an interesting group. We are quite diverse in age, sex, race and profession. I think it’s about 8 women and 7 men. A few “cliques” have already developed and for the most part we all get along fine. I only say for the most part because we won’t really know until the deliberations begin.
On a lighter side, we take the shorter breaks in the Juror room, the same room we will eventually be deliberating in. At first, I thought having two bathrooms in this one little room was a little over the top. Now I realize that as we all freely drink all the coffee, soda, and water they offer us, it takes just about the entire 15 minutes for everyone to take their turn.
One of the older guys popped his head out of one of the bathrooms this morning and asked, “So, do I leave the toilet seat up or down?”
Laughing really helps ease the tension.
Fej
posted by Fej at 9:52 PM
4 Comments:
I can totally sympathisize with the fact that you can't say anything to anyone. I have the same problem every morning when I finish work. If I've had a particularly bad night, I can't tell anyone because it's a breach of confidentiality on the patient's behalf. So sometimes particularly emotional or stressful situations are often internalized and I come home exhausted and spent. And not just physically. But mentally and spiritually. It can make a particularly trying situation more difficult. I think that's where the nurses sick sense of humour comes from. The ability to cope. Good luck!!
I've never been selected for jury duty, although now that i've typed that i've probably just cursed myself and will be called upon next week. It must be difficult not to talk about it with anyone, but it sounds like you're doing ok. hang in there.
It sounds like a very interesting experience. You are right, we never see nor hear much about the jury until after the verdict. I had never thought about that.
I'm bummed that I've never done jury duty. I got called last year for the first time in my life, but the night before they said I didn't need to go. I think I would like the experience (unless of course it was a horrific case. Hope yours isn't too bad.)
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