Thursday, April 2, 2009

proud to be...

today i had to report to the courthouse for jury duty. this is the 4th time i've been called to serve and i must say that i am very impressed with the system in this country. i'm sure there are ways to improve our judicial system, but when you are sitting amongst several hundred citizens- all there for the same purpose, you can't help but feel proud to live here.
i was randomly chosen to be one of 40 prospective jurors for a criminal trial being held in 2 weeks. the accused was sitting next to his lawyer and i tried not to stare at him- especially when i heard what he had been charged with. the questioning lasted for several hours- lots of side-bars -(wow(!) i have learned some legal terms! ) i am thankful that i wasn't chosen in the final count as i was not really wanting to hear all the gory details about his "incident" with a 12 year old at a local fair last summer.
to see the system working and know that any of us and all of us ARE the system , is an overwhelmingly awesome responsibility. i have been on 2 juries in the past 8 years- it changes your life, it did mine. we take so many things for granted and sometimes that is how we lose them. i have a friend who is almost 80 years old and told me that she has never voted. my father-in-law didn't vote - just drove my mother-in-law to the poles. when i think of the founding fathers and how our country began, i want to do all that I can to "hold these truths to be..."today i am proud to be an American . i hope each of you will have the opportunity to serve your community and country in this way.

5 comments:

  1. Why is it that I'm suddenly hoping that I will get picked for jury duty?--Very inspiring post!

    I'm proud of this country, too...I don't know how in the world I got so lucky to live here...

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  2. I have never been called to Jury Duty, and probably won't have the chance any time soon. It sounds like a really neat experience! So, are you still just a prospective juror, or will you be on the jury for sure in 2 weeks?

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  3. they already chose 12 plus 2 alternate jurors for that trial. we were told that we would not be called again for 3 years. they have a new system now- they pay everyone who has been summoned (there were about 200 or so) cash on the morning that you get there before any selection . you fill out a questionaire, then they call you up front and give you cash- $9.00 plus mileage money (i received $10.51).the judge comes in and talks to everyone- explaining what will happen and then 40 names are chosen randomly for the first trial(that's when i was chosen). after we left to go to a trial room, another 40 were chosen for another trial. the remaining people were free to leave. you see just about every kind of person there- amazing (!) but they are all willing to serve.

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  4. i still have never been picked. that is the only reason I registered to vote - so i could do jury duty! (too many john grisham books, i guess...) also, to vote. but initially for jury duty.
    :)

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  5. wow, you're getting some deep thoughts there, Sher---- heh. You should've saved this one for the 4th of July. Very patriotic! Good jarb

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