Recently I had the ‘pleasure’ of being selected for jury duty. A couple of years ago I got the same invite but postponed due to work commitments. This time I entered into the process with an initial enthusiasm. The first day consisted of being packed into a large room with 400 people where we were spoken to by a court clerk, watched a video describing the process in brief, and thanked and sworn in by a judge.
Thereafter a select group of 90 was called into the court room on one of the upper floors of the court house. We were greeted by judge, given a sheet of paper with a calendar of expected dates would be needed, and then given the opportunity to speak at the side with the judge, defense, and prosecutor as to why we couldn’t be a juror for the length of time in the calendar which happened to span over Memorial day. Out of the 90 I’d estimate that close to 60 lined up, told there stories and were dismissed. I’m sure most had legitimate excuses but I wonder how many said anything possible to be excused. From my observations over the course of my eight day stay, a large number of people are called because so many have reasons why they can’t serve. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “but I thought it was just for one day”.
After the initial bulk of people in my court room were let go we proceeded to reviewing a questionnaire and being called to set one of fourteen jury box chairs. As the people were called they were again asked to come to the side and whisper why they answered a question yes on the questionnaire. Again many were dismissed. Finally the fourteen chairs were filled. Next the judge asked a series of questions which appeared to provide the lawyers more information which allowed them to determine if they needed to exclude any jurors. Any exclusions caused another round of reviewing the questionnaire and the verbal questions. Soon there were only ten of us left that weren’t sitting in the jury box. It looked like for sure that I wasn’t going to get a chance to be a juror. But with a few more exclusions my name was finally called. The lawyers all said they were satisfied and we took a break before opening statements.
The same day as jury selection completed the opening statements were also completed. It was obvious from the opening statements that the prosecutor was cool, collected and professional and that the defense was ill-prepared, nervous, inexperienced, and a bit of an actor. They both summarized the case as they would like you to perceive it. In this criminal case the burden of proof is on the prosecution and the defendant must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecution would be presenting first and the defense would follow.
After the opening statements there was four days of testimony from both sides. Most of the testimony and evidence was interesting and easy to follow. I and the rest of the jurors were attentive during the process so that we could understand the case. As we were not allowed to take notes of any kind, we had to rely mostly on our memories of what we heard and saw in the court room for a our later deliberations. Lawyers are technically challenged. One couldn’t find a volume control on their computer in order to mute some video testimony. Anther couldn’t see that their presentation on a projector was horribly out of focus for 4 days.
Finally the testimony concluded and closing statements were given. Defense went first and Prosecution went second. The inexperience of the defense was again apparent in some of the theatrics on display. Thankfully the closing statements concluded and were were verbally read the charges. Up to this point the process of jury duty had been interesting and I was looking forward to reaching a fair verdict on the charges.
First half day of deliberations was a disaster. To many people talking at once, cross conversations, and nothing being accomplished. Thankfully on the next day we all agreed to a single person talking with everyone raising hands. We went around the table and talked about each charge. We voted openly with people raising hands. Unfortunately it became quickly apparent that a few jurors felt strongly that no charges should be applied. On juror went so far to say on several occasions that the defendant had already been in jail for six months (couldn’t make bail?) and we should be punishing him with any more time. She simply wouldn’t listen to reason that it was not our job to worry how much time the person would get but be fair and focus on the charges. Another juror kept focusing on a single word in the charges as to why she didn’t want to convict of any charges. There was a willingness to believe any testimony by the defendant and dismiss every piece of evidence and all the testimony from the prosecution.
After a total of two and a half days, with even viewing and hearing some testimony a second time it looked for sure that the jury would be deadlocked. So how did we finally reach a conclusion? Wiggle room. More than on juror would say “I may have some wiggle room on this charge if we vote this way on another charge” This was out and out vote trading. I feel horrible that was the only way we could conclude the process. One of the two hold outs finally said I’ll vote which ever way you want cause I don’t want you all to gang up on me.
We ended up with a total of two convictions out of the fourteen charges. While it may be true that the prosecution had more charges listed than necessary but I felt strongly that on at least one charge we did not find guilty and should have. We presented our charges to the court room where there was absolutely no readable reaction from either the prosecution or the defense. We went back to the deliberation room for a few minutes and the judge came and and thanked us for our service, answered a couple of questions and we were dismissed. We quickly left the building and with barely a goodbye went our separate ways as quickly as possible.
Now I’m left with concern that I didn’t convict on more charges. So every day for the next six weeks because that’s what the judge said it would take for sentencing, I’m daily checking the Middlesex courts convictions page for information on the defendant as to what sentencing was given. If there is one thing that I wish the court system would improve it would be letting jurors know the results of their actions. I’m sure I’m not the only juror who is torn with thoughts as to if they did the right thing. I’m especially sure that the two jurors that didn’t want to convict the defendant of any crime are suffering the most right now.
Wish more would try to serve instead of being so proud of some of the excuses they’ve used to get out of jury duty. And I wish more business could be considerate of people who serve and could somehow support the system better.
Yes, I’ll participate in jury duty again in a heart beat. Focusing on testimony over many days without any note taking and recalling that information to make decisions is an interesting challenge.
Tim Hitchings 