Civic duty

There's something about the word "duty" that naturally makes a person want the run the other direction (that's "duty", not "doody", though doody has the same effect).  So, naturally, I groaned when I got called for jury duty a couple months back.  I had no idea what jury duty entailed, but I knew that no one wants to get called, so it must be bad. 

What a relief it was when I called in to find out whether I needed to report the following Monday, and my court number was listed as released.  Whew, got out of that one!

Perhaps if I had read the pamphlet that came in the mail, then I would have known that I would likely get called again.  Of course, I didn't read the pamphlet, so I was caught off guard when I received another summons a few weeks ago.  Only this time my court did not get dismissed, so I was stuck.

On Monday, I drove to the courthouse to report for duty with a few hundred other people.  It's situations like this that I think about where I grew up, and how different jury duty in Johnson County must be from jury duty in Graham County.  If 300 people had to report on a Monday morning for jury duty at the Graham County courthouse in Hill City, it would meant that only a handful of people would actually be going to work that day.  The screening process would be much different, too.  When the judge asks if anyone knows the defendent, the prosecutor or the defense attorney, I would imagine every hand in the jury pool would go up.  And the rest of the day would be spent describing how each potential juror is either related to or went to school with or lives down the street from each of the individuals.  And undoubtedly, the purported crime would be common gossip knowledge among the entire group as it was sure to be a hot topic in beauty salons, coffee shops and probably even Sunday School.

Back to Johnson County.  My name didn't get drawn for the jury pool, but I had to stick around for the rest of the day just in case they needed someone else.  As the day went on, I became hopeful that I would have to step in and was fascinated with the process and the case.  Prior to Monday, I never had a clue that the DA and defense attorney actually choose the jury, and that the defendent is present for the entire process.

I obviously did not get picked for jury, but am thankful to have experienced the process and I actually look forward to receiving my next summons in the mail!