My Week as Juror: The Jury --Who Are These People?

Continuing with my thoughts about serving on jury duty last week...

For our jury, 14 people were selected--12 jurors and 2 alternates.  The alternates do not know who they are until the deliberations begin on the last day.  That way, they are able to hear all the evidence in case one of them needs to step in for another juror in the event of sickness, accidents, etc.  Our final group of twelve jurors consisted of 5 women and 7 men.


To help us remember each other's names I brought in index cards which we folded in half to make name plates for ourselves.  This really helped us get to know each other better throughout the week by calling each other by name.

Who are we?  It was quite interesting that we were a group with a variety of ages (25-60+), ethnic groups, interests, jobs, married, unmarried, kids, no kids, college students... Everyone was courteous, thoughtful and kind to each other. There was no arguing, teasing or flirting going on.  We often ate lunch together and were with each other generally from 9-5 each day, one day from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. and the last day from 9:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m.   We were all conscious that our decisions could change the defendant's life and took our juror job very seriously.  We were not allowed to talk about the case until the very last day so we covered a myriad of other topics when we had breaks or returned to the jury room for some other reason.

There was an incident during this trial in which one of us was questioned separately from the others.  When the person returned, obviously shaken up, everyone rallied to the rescue to comfort and reaffirm that the person had done the right thing and certainly had done nothing wrong.  The level of concern for each other and what we were each going through was very obvious and heartwarming to me.

As in any "crisis" situation, the 12 of us became quite bonded together during the 5-6 days we served.  When the trial was over and sentencing pronounced by the judge, we all hugged each other as we separated and headed toward our homes.  Most exchanged emails to keep in touch with each other via email or Facebook. I hope that continues, particularly if there are more aftereffects from this trial which was a homicide case.

TOMORROW:  Courtroom Procedures