First an update on my tenure on the PGI board of directors which leads into this current blog post.
My term expired this year so I was up for election and won another term. I did have a much younger person run against me which was both encouraging and challenging. I am really encouraging younger members of our organization to get involved and one of the ways to step up is by running for a board position.
While at our annual convention I was up for Jury Duty and actually got notified to report,
fortunately, post convention. On Tuesday Aug 25 I reported and was selected to be on a 12
person jury. It was a criminal case involving battery by a woman on her boyfriend.
This jury unlike 'Twelve Angry Men' was 6 males and 6 females purposely drawn up this way
due to the matter we would be considering. I was also very pleased to see the diversity in age, background and work status in our group. The youngest member just made the minimum of 18 and was finishing up high school on-line.
He did a stellar job as a member of the jury and was enjoyable to be around. One of our
oldest jurors was in his seventies so a wide age range among us.
Right from the start we clicked as a group- partially due to daily challenges. Just as the trial
began one member of the jury raised his hand to tell the Judge he was about to be sick. He
felt both physically ill and mentally he was very chagrin to hold things up for all of us. The
Judge was compassionate and gave him time to leave and then took a recess. The juror
hung in there and we eventually dismissed early that day to give him time to recuperate.
He was very apologetic to all of us and we rallied around him to not worry about it and get
better. He was fine rest of the trial and gave and took a fair amount of teasing about his not
feeling well. We already had a good number of times we were sent out of the courtroom
which made things seems to go slower. As we groused about the delays and how long it was
taking it was mentioned that if was not for all the commercials this program would not be
too bad. We laughed together on this one and continued as an entire group, by the judge's
directions, to discuss evidence that had been presented.
Jurors are not to talk to anyone about the case nor let anyone talk to them. On one of our
trips back to the jury room a young man disguised a statement to several of the jury. As he
fake coughed he said. "Put her in jail". Those involved informed the bailiff and he then told
the judge. Through use of security cameras the jurors that heard this were able to identify
this person. We then again went for a recess and the judge worked on this matter.
Interesting now how a recess is not nearly as positive a concept as when I was in elementary school.
I was given the nod to be the foreperson as this was my third time on a jury. We deliberated about an hour and through a hearty but very respectful discussion time reached our verdicts. Guilty on two misdemeanor charges and not guilty on a felony charge for battery. The felony charge required that the prosecution prove the victim was disfigured, permanently injured, or seriously impaired for a length of time post the battery. We did not see evidence that caused us to find her guilty on this charge.
At the conclusion of the trail we were dismissed and the judge came by along with the prosecutor and defense attorney. This was to answer any questions we had and accept any input from us. The judge then let us know the defendant was now returning to prison for other charges she had already been found guilty of in past trials. He also now knew the identity of the young man who tried to influence the jury and sadly it was the defendant's son who was angry with his mother.
Now find myself catching up from 3 days away from work but my staff did a great job keeping
things going so will not be too difficult. Probably will never work again with any of my fellow
jury members but I will remember our time together and know we exercised our civic duty
and thus allowed the defendant to remain innocent until found guilty by a jury of her peers.
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