Dismissed from Jury Duty— Murder Trial!
Jun. 21st, 2023 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerI went back to the courthouse today for jury duty. Technically it was Day 3 of jury duty but also my second day at the courthouse. Recall that Day 1 was waiting at home 2.5 weeks ago, Day 2 was being summoned to the courthouse to be attached to a trial and asked to fill out a lengthy questionnaire asking about potential biases.
Today the court was conducting voir dire, the process in which lawyers for both sides ask more in-depth questions of prospective jurors and can "challenge" them for dismissal. I didn't even get as far as questioning. At 3pm, after I'd been sitting in the juror assembly room pretty much all day, an announcement came over the loudspeaker that a full jury had been selected and the rest of us were dismissed.
Previously I'd estimated the jury pool at 50 people and hence my mathematical odds of being selected as a juror or alternate at about 1/3. Today I found the pool was actually more than twice that size. There were other days when they brought in whole other sets of people to be informed of the trial, given written questionnaires, and interviewed.
Now that my involvement with the case is concluded I can discuss public information about it. It is a murder trial. 😨
Am I happy to avoid being on a murder-trial jury? Yes and no. Yes, because I consider it an enormous responsibility to have to judge the facts in such as significant case— with significant punishment awaiting the defendants if convicted. (It at least wasn't a death penalty case.) Not to mention it would have cost me 3 weeks of work. (I'd get paid but my team would struggle to pick up what I'd drop.) On the other hand, someone has to judge the facts in those cases, and I'd rather it be someone intelligent enough to weigh the evidence and its credibility appropriately, be conscious of bias, and reason within the law. I.e., why not me. It's a responsibility I was ready to take on.
Today the court was conducting voir dire, the process in which lawyers for both sides ask more in-depth questions of prospective jurors and can "challenge" them for dismissal. I didn't even get as far as questioning. At 3pm, after I'd been sitting in the juror assembly room pretty much all day, an announcement came over the loudspeaker that a full jury had been selected and the rest of us were dismissed.
Previously I'd estimated the jury pool at 50 people and hence my mathematical odds of being selected as a juror or alternate at about 1/3. Today I found the pool was actually more than twice that size. There were other days when they brought in whole other sets of people to be informed of the trial, given written questionnaires, and interviewed.
Now that my involvement with the case is concluded I can discuss public information about it. It is a murder trial. 😨
Am I happy to avoid being on a murder-trial jury? Yes and no. Yes, because I consider it an enormous responsibility to have to judge the facts in such as significant case— with significant punishment awaiting the defendants if convicted. (It at least wasn't a death penalty case.) Not to mention it would have cost me 3 weeks of work. (I'd get paid but my team would struggle to pick up what I'd drop.) On the other hand, someone has to judge the facts in those cases, and I'd rather it be someone intelligent enough to weigh the evidence and its credibility appropriately, be conscious of bias, and reason within the law. I.e., why not me. It's a responsibility I was ready to take on.
