February 8, 2011: Jury Duty

Hola, All! This morning I was at the municipal court in Carrollton to attend jury duty. I had mixed feelings about performing this service since I have been trying to reduce/eliminate judgment in my life. This was a paradox for me since being on a jury requires one to give a verdict on another person's behavior. There was nothing on the summons that I could use as a legal reason not to go, so I went trusting that I would not be picked. (Warning: if you go for jury duty, wear warm clothes; I wore a long sleeve shirt, a very light sweatshirt, and a light leather jacket along with socks and boots, and still was cold. Also, and I know this is selffish, but I wanted to see Kerri before she went out of town at 10:30am, so I set my goal to be home by then.) While we were waiting for the bailiff, we watched an interesting short clip about the history and purpose of jury duty. After some time, the bailiff arrived calling out 20 names of people in the room who would go to the first court room, some of whom would be picked to serve on that jury. I was not on his list. Then, a second bailiff called out 18 names, mine being the 7th name. In the courtroom, the prosecuting attorney told us she was going to ask us questions and we should verbally respond yes or no. As she was going through her routine, about half the people would answer, the rest remaining silent. I was listening to her when she asked the following question: If there is a city law that you don't agree with, and the defendant broke this law, could you uphold it? Some people answered yes, and she went on to the next question. But, inside me, something started churning and making me real nervous. I asked myself, could I do that, knowing the answer was no. So, I raised my hand, and asked to return to that question. I told her that I didn't think I could uphold a law that I didn't agree with. She said, OK, and moved to her next point. Shortly thereafter, we were dismissed to the next room while the proseceutor and the defendant (who decided to be her own lawyer) each picked 3 people to serve on the 6 person jury. When we returned to the courtroom around 10:15am, my name was not called, and I made it home in time to take Kerri to the airport. I want to close by saying that if you feel proud to serve your country on a jury, wonderful! I am not knocking jury duty at all. But, for me, when my insides were in a knot, I knew that I had to be true to myself and speak up about my feelings. It was the right thing for me to do.
I am Love, You are Love,
Dawnie