Jury Duty Adventure

I thought I needed to post something since its been a while. It's been an eventful couple of weeks.

I had jury duty a couple of weeks ago, was selected for a trial (of course), so I'll start with that. This is old news to some of you, but oh well. Here goes my story. So, in Chicago it's apparently a pretty big deal, being a big city and all, I guess that makes sense. I reported to the big criminal court building on for my "day of service" assuming that I was going to be bored out of my mind sitting there all day. It really wasn't anything like that! Not only was it like a major event with bajillions of people there (yes, I said bajillions), it was pretty interesting as well! (or at least I thought it was)

The room we sat in was HUGE. Probably half of an entire floor of this building pretty much filled to the brim with theater type seats. People just plopped down and waited for their "panel" number to be called. Honestly, it was like bingo. Every time the man in the suit would walk up to the mic everyone would listen intently for their "lucky number" to be called. I waited all morning as he called several numbers close to mine, but he didn't call mine until almost noon. When he finally called it I wanted to jump up and yell, "I won, I won!!"....but I had to pretend I was as unexcited as the rest of the people there.

The worst part about it was all the waiting, even once my panel was called. We had to line up, 2 by 2, like we were in prison and wait there forever for the sheriff to escort us over to the courthouse.

I sat in a courtroom briefly for one trial and then we were dismissed right away for lunch. We came back and they let us go because some things about the case had changed. I went back to the bingo room and right away my panel was called again! Woo-hoo! I won again! But, this time it was for real.

We were taken into the courtroom and names were called to go sit in the jury box area. Mine was one of them. We were then "briefed" on the general type of trial, length, etc. It was a murder trial, first degree murder and also another weapons charge, something about firing a weapon with the intent to kill or do some physical harm, I cant remember exactly now. I was nervous yet intrigued! I wanted to see how this whole justice system worked! Plus, this was way cooler than being on some lame civil trial. So after we were picked the entire group of potential jurors was questioned out in the open by the judge, in front of the attorneys, the defendant, and the other people who were in the courtroom. It was not like I had pictured at all. After all the questions and discussion among the attorneys, several people were let go, people with criminal records and people who had family with criminal records and tons of other things. I of course was picked and was a juror for that trial.

The trial didn't start until the following day. This time we had to report directly to the jury room for that courtroom. These rooms were so old and nasty. The bathrooms looked like they were from the 50's or older. The whole place was in serious need of an update! Whew!

Anyway...back to the trial. I found out that I was an "alternate juror" along with one other guy, which meant we would sit and listen to the trial but would not be allowed to deliberate at the end and decide the case. BOO! I was so mad....excited that I got to stay and watch, but mad I didn't get to talk to these people about the case and help make a decision. :-(

The trial went all day one day and part of the next. It was eye opening to see attorneys, witnesses, the judge, all in action. It really opened my eyes to how it all works and how good some lawyers are! The way they got right in our face and the defendants face was rather intimidating, and very convincing. I knew then that I could have never been a lawyer,... I'm not a good liar nor sales person, but it sure was interesting to watch. Interesting enough that for one second I thought, "I could definitely be a professional juror!" Too bad the salary of $17.20 per day isn't quite enough to live on. Ha! ;-)

So the trial ended the second day and I was let go. They sheriff for the case called me at home to let me know the verdict was reached so that I knew I could talk about the case at that point. It was tough not talking about it with Joe or Cathy or anyone I talk to on a regular basis! I did it though! I followed the "order" of the judge and didn't tell.

It was a guilty verdict and I was glad to hear it because that's what I would've said as well. It was a sad case, but pretty easy to decide based on the witnesses testimonies.

All in all, what I took away from this experience was more than getting to see the inner workings of a trial and courthouse, but really seeing,...seeing up close and personal the people who are affected by and who involve themselves in this kind of crime. You know, probably almost every night on the news here in Chicago, we hear about this type of gun violence mainly on the far South side of the city and some other areas. However, it doesn't really register when you live so separated from it and you only see a two line story in the paper or hear a 1 minute story on the news. It is real when you are forced to see it on the jury for the trial of a kid who was probably 18 at the time that he pulled out a gun and shot multiple times at 2 other kids who were in front of their own home. He killed one of them, left him dead on the street, like it was no big deal. It was sad to see photos of the dead boy and hear his family members testify. I felt bad for them as well as the defendant. What a sad life to live, thinking that at 18 years old its OK to kill someone, or to think you are not going to get caught doing it. How sad. I will probably never forget the story that I heard and those faces that I saw that day. How truly sad that this goes on everyday, probably SO much more than we will ever know.