Comments on: Say hello to Juror #9 http://www.namastemofo.com/2009/05/say-hello-to-juror-9/ Irreverently REVERENT yoga slogans... on shirts. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:15:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Tracy http://www.namastemofo.com/2009/05/say-hello-to-juror-9/comment-page-1/#comment-35 Tracy Wed, 20 May 2009 14:02:16 +0000 http://www.namastemofo.com/?p=196#comment-35 I am glad that you are embracing this "experience". I have served on two juries in the past, one where just as we were about to deliberate I was chosen as the "alternate" and thanked for my service (bummer) and the second was an awesome experience. We (the members of the jury) knew, just KNEW that the guy was guilty as all sin but the prosecution did an extremely poor job of presenting it's side of the case and left a 'reasonable doubt' and thus, according to the law as read to us, we had no choice but to let him go. That SUCKED! In the end however, the Judge came into the deliberation room and told us that we had done the right thing and that we should know that he was going to press charges against the fellow as he had admitted under oath to a felony, cashing someone else's welfare check or something like that. He (the Judge) assured us that the offending scumbag would repay his debt to society one way or the other and that he would not hurt that little girl again... Small consolation but, you take what you can get. The heart of the matter is this, if you feel that it is a burden to serve as a juror, I pray that you are never on the other end of the deal, that you are never accused of something that you didn't do and have to put your life into the hands of 12 people that don't want to be there because they have better things to do... think about it... I'd want the people in the jury box to WANT to be there if it was me. Do let us know how it all turns out, and I want juicy details! Namaste- I am glad that you are embracing this “experience”. I have served on two juries in the past, one where just as we were about to deliberate I was chosen as the “alternate” and thanked for my service (bummer) and the second was an awesome experience. We (the members of the jury) knew, just KNEW that the guy was guilty as all sin but the prosecution did an extremely poor job of presenting it’s side of the case and left a ‘reasonable doubt’ and thus, according to the law as read to us, we had no choice but to let him go. That SUCKED! In the end however, the Judge came into the deliberation room and told us that we had done the right thing and that we should know that he was going to press charges against the fellow as he had admitted under oath to a felony, cashing someone else’s welfare check or something like that. He (the Judge) assured us that the offending scumbag would repay his debt to society one way or the other and that he would not hurt that little girl again… Small consolation but, you take what you can get.

The heart of the matter is this, if you feel that it is a burden to serve as a juror, I pray that you are never on the other end of the deal, that you are never accused of something that you didn’t do and have to put your life into the hands of 12 people that don’t want to be there because they have better things to do… think about it… I’d want the people in the jury box to WANT to be there if it was me.

Do let us know how it all turns out, and I want juicy details!

Namaste-

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