A few years ago, I served on a jury for my first and, to this point, only time. I had been in the pool of potential jurors before but had never even had my name called to screened out by the attorneys. This day felt different. I already knew that this was an attempted 2nd degree murder case. I think they pulled in all potential jurors that day, not just my part of the alphabet in anticipation of jurors not showing up and multiple potential rejections. I just had a feeling that my name would be called. I was not surprised when I heard my name. I was juror number 10. The judge and the attorneys started asking everyone about their backgrounds and opinions. I knew there was nothing that would disqualify me. With my background and the way I look, I would seem to everyone to be the ideal juror. My best chance would be if I knew one of the attorneys, which was not the case here. Several of the jurors were replaced but the challenges came to an end soon and we were allowed to contact people to let them know where we would be.
I didn’t mind the idea of serving on a jury. I had no intention of trying to get out of it. I would want responsible people on the jury if I had a case before the court. I feel it’s my responsibility to do the best job I can to make our court system work as well as it can.
The basics of the case were that a young man went to the neighborhood store to buy cigars. I think he was old enough to buy them, but he didn’t bring his ID. He argued with the clerk and left the store. The young man’s girlfriend started talking smack to him about not standing up to the clerk. The man went back to the store and there was gunfire. One of the bullets from someone hit the girlfriend. She was not hurt bad. The young man was charged with attempted 2nd degree murder.
We heard testimony until late in the day from a variety of people involved. The most noteworthy thing that happened was the jury being asked to leave the courtroom twice because of outbursts from the defendant’s family. This didn’t have any impact on the jury because most of us didn’t even notice it. It’s been long enough since the trial that I don’t remember many details or testimony. We were exhausted when the judge asked if we wanted to continue or break until the next day. We all wanted a break.
The next morning, neither attorney had anyone to call and made their closing arguments. The judge also gave us our instructions and we were dismissed to start deliberating. When we got to the jury room, we took a few minutes for people to get drinks and go to the restroom. I was one of the last people to visit the restroom. While I was there, thoughts started going through my mind that the rest of the jurors were in the main room plotting to make the foreman. It seems like the odds were stack against me getting out of this. Two of the other jurors knew me. One had gone to school with one of my daughters. The other was the mother of a young man that had gone to school with her too. I thought they would be the ones to suggest me to the others. The other thing going against me was the same thing that would make the attorneys and judge think I would be the ideal juror. The way I look and carry myself would make people think I needed to be the foreman. I understand this completely. We were a small group of people who didn’t know each other. We were making judgements about each other based on how people looked and how they made us feel making small talk. I’m good at small talk. Sometimes at church, I’ve been asked if I was the minister. I at least look the part of a smart, responsible, and capable person. I also thought about how the other people in the room looked and decided that I would probably be the best one for the job. I didn’t see anyone else in the room that I thought was up to the task.
Went I went back in the main room, the people that knew me immediately said that everyone had decided that I should be foreman. I told them that I was willing to do it. That would help get us through that part of the process quicker. We were given a book with the jury instructions that we referred to quite often. Everyone in the room felt the defendant was guilty except for three people. The prosecutor made a statement in his closing argument about something that was said during the testimony that made everyone feel that the defendant was guilty. Our problem was that no one could remember it during the testimony. We weren’t allowed to look at any transcripts of the testimony, so we had to rely on our notes. If anyone in the room had remembered hearing this information during the testimony, we would have finished quicker. But no one remembered and we treated the prosecutor’s statement like it was something he made up.
My job as foreman became more difficult. How to get 12 people to agree on a verdict without anyone feeling they weren’t making the right call. I spent a lot of time reviewing the instructions from the judge, looking a wording of the charges and legal definitions of the terms. In the end, everyone decided that the defendant was guilty. I felt an obligation after our last vote to ask each person if they felt we had made the right decision. I didn’t want anyone to feel coerced into voting in a way that was right. Based on discussions before we went back into the courtroom, everyone appeared to think that the store clerk could have been found guilty if he had been charged.
I was nervous in the courtroom because I didn’t want to do anything that didn’t respect the seriousness of the situation. I was afraid of blundering over my words. Mispronouncing the few words I had to say. Coming across as trying to be too serious nor not serious enough. Things went off without a hitch. They dismissed us before sentencing. On my way home, I drove by the store where the shooting took place. I never followed up to see what kind of sentence he received.