My Own Political Party

After eight days at the courthouse, I am finally done with Jury Duty. I know that there are many of you who try their hardest to get excused from this task, but you do learn a lot about our justice system from serving on a jury. The first thing I learned is that it is slow. Although I was there for eight days, three days were spent with jury selection and of the remaining five days, two were spent in deliberation. Three days were spend hearing witnesses. However, there was only ONE full day that was spent at court. Sometimes witness were not available, or other items had to be argued. In fact, the first day we spent deliberating, we only talked for a total of 1-2 hours.

In the end we found the defendant guilty of two charges and not guilty of two charges. It is very hard having to find someone guilty. Even though you know it is the right thing to do, the other part of you has some compassion for the defendant. I am still not sure I would be up to the task a second time.