Miasmatic Review

It's my turn.

Last week I received notice that I have been selected for jury duty. This has made me as giddy as a boy going out on a date with a girl that is a “sure thing”. For years, I have wanted to serve on a jury. It is something that I have always wanted to do, and I’m hoping that this will be my turn. At this point, I’m pretty sure most of you are thinking I’m rather insane. Most of the people that I have talked to about this don’t understand either. They would do just about anything to avoid jury duty. To them it is a burden and waste of time.

To me jury duty gives me a chance to see something I love in action and to be a part of it, the American legal system. When I worked in Law Enforcement, I loved court days. Sitting in the courtroom, hearing the cases, listening to the lawyers fight for their clients by presenting or spinning facts, just being a part of the legal system. Watching the judge and jury listen to everything and mull over the evidence. Seeing the beauty of years of defining constitutional rights and to see them applied to an individual case, was their fourth amendment rights violated, where they denied due process, etc.

Too many people I have talked to either view it as a waste of their time or, in a couple of occasions, a way to get out of work. I’ve even heard people telling each other what to do to get out of jury duty. This really pisses me off. As a citizen of the United States it is your duty to serve on a jury, it is an obligation and a way to uphold our way of life. How? When you sit in the jury box, and the lawyers present their cases, you are helping to enforce our laws and constitution. If Slick Johnny gets off on a technicality because Officer Jones performed an illegal search of his vehicle, hopefully Officer Jones learned from his mistake so next time someone’s constitutional rights aren’t violated. If Scary Bob is convicted of a crime due to overwhelming evidence, then you just helped uphold the laws of our country.

Think of it this way. If you ever had to go to court (innocent or guilty) who would you rather have on the jury, someone that is there wishing they where somewhere else or someone that is actually interested and excited to be part of the system? I know I would rather have someone that is paying attention to the case. That way I don’t have to worry about my fate being determined by someone with a “gut feeling”.

Now I have to sit and wait to find out if they will actually pick me to serve on the jury. The last two times I was called up I was dismissed. Once when I was in college, because I was studying law and the second time I was working in Law Enforcement. What I really would like to do is serve on the Grand Jury. In Illinois, it is a six-month assignment every other Wednesday. I’d be in heaven. To hear that many cases and to decide if there is enough to indict would rock!