Faith Renewed

No this is not some super spiritual encounter, but in a way it is.

Last week I had the privilege to serve on a jury. The case was a criminal case involving 38 year old man who has been in trouble with the law for most of his adult life. He was accused of possession of a controlled substance.

Like most I was not thrilled when I received the notice for jury duty in the mail. I am busy like everyone else. The county court house is about 35 minutes drive from home, and there seems to always be more important things than jury duty.

Day 1, I show up just to find out I get to come back in the morning for jury selection.

Day 2, things get interesting. I am potential jury #25. The prosecution gets to strike 10 and the defense gets to strike 10. Then the next 12 potential jurors will be the seated jurors. The attorneys asked question of most everyone in front of me, but only asked me 1 direct question and it was simply tell me something about myself. I answered very generic and that was it. After a break for lunch, we come back and I find out I am on the jury. Yippee!

The rest of Day 2, we got to hear the trial which lasted all of 2 hours. We then deliberated to come up with a verdict. Up until deliberation, we were not able to discuss the trial with anyone including other jurors. The prosecution was the only side that brought in witnesses and submitted evidence. The defendant, never took the stand. The prosecution's case was pretty much a slam dunk. The defendant was caught on video and the evidence was pretty cut and dry.

The funny thing was, as a jury, we knew nothing else about the defendant. At this point we did not know this guy had a record. We knew nothing of his past. For 10 of us, the guy was guilty. The 2 hold outs were struggling with sending someone to prison. They kept going on about the reasons why this guy did what he did, but it was all on speculation. The 10 of use found this very frustrating because our decision was to be based solely on the evidence presented and then it was to be only beyond a reasonable doubt. After about a 20 minute discussion we all agreed, guilty.

Day 3. In this trial, the jury was to hand out the sentence. The sentence guidelines were 2 - 10 years and $0 - $10,000 fine. Before the sentencing phase of the trial the 2 hold out jurors were still struggling somewhat that they found this guy guilty. During this day of the trial, we got to hear much more of the story about this guy. He had several chances to do the right thing. He had over 10+ other convictions and each time had got the minimum sentences. To cut a long story short, the defendant took the stand and gave a sob story, but the prosecutor ripped it to shreds. We the jury felt the defendant really was trying to manipulate us and the system so we came back and gave him the maximum time and fine.

I say all this, not because I am proud of sending a man away for a minimum of 2.5 years (eligible for parole when 1/4 of sentence is served). That part is very sobering and is heavy to weigh on my conscience. I am proud of our justice system and that I got to play a small part in it. The judge was very fair in his instructions, the attorneys were very respectful while doing their jobs, the discussions in the jury room were very civil and thought provoking. All parties took there jobs, seriously. I am impressed how fair the system was towards this guy who really has spent the majority of his life trying to cheat and steal from society.

This entire process restored my faith in our judicial system. It is an honor to be apart of this system. It has convinced me that this system with all its flaws, with all the bad press and media, is still the greatest system in the world. A jury of peers gets to decide someones fate, not some beaurocrat, not some government official, not some bully, or some corrupt force. A common person, my neighbor, someone who is only concerned with doing something fair and just. That is what I am most proud of.

The next time you receive your jury summons, remember, if it was you on trial, would you want someone like you on the jury or someone else. It is a great experience.

Kudos to Judge Lee Shipman of the 211th District Court of Denton County, Texas. He is an impressive example of a judge. God Bless him and God Bless America. God HAS Blessed America!