Jury Duty

Jury Duty
About a month ago, I got a typically dreaded notice in the mail: a jury summons. Actually, I am interested in the legal process, and - somehow dodging it myself to this point - wanted to see it in action.

I left Statesboro at 5:30 a.m. yesterday and headed for the Chatham County Courthouse. I arrived at the courthouse early (very early), and waited to be called in to the Jury Assembly room.

Then I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, at 1:30, we got called to the courtroom for jury selection. It was a Superior Court trial involving a homeless man who stole some tools from a construction site. What a thrill.

The voir dire went by relatively quickly, and, being the son of a retired police officer, the only man in the room with a tie on, and the victim of several instances of theft myself - I was not selected.

I did not get the educational experience of seeing a trial in person, but I still learned something that day about my fellow man.

Americans are the most spoiled rotten people on the planet. Our country asks little of us as citizens: taxes, jury duty, and in the most dire of circumstances, involuntary military service. A comparison of our duties and our rights shows a stark contrast. I liken it to a bag boy at your local grocery store getting paid $1 million a year - the benefits far outweigh the amount of work required to attain them. And yet we still gripe about the little we are asked to do. Everyone expects the benefits of Democracy, but when asked to do what is necessary to secure the rights of ourselves and others, the knee-jerk reaction is to bitch, moan, and avoid.

BUT, if we suspect for even a second that someone else might be considering inhibiting one of our perceived rights (i say "perceived" because my libby friends make up rights on a daily basis), the waterworks start flowing and the hearts start a'bleedin'.
Everyone wants a fair trial to be decided by a jury of their peers, but nobody wants to ever sit on a jury. You should have seen the faces and heard the expletives of the people who were selected. Genuine frustration and disappointment was written on all of their faces.
Consider that out of 40 potential jurors, no less than 10 used the voir dire to refuse to be a part of the trial. When asked if they could be fair or impartial if asked to serve, they replied that they would not even try. Several of them used this important moment to denounce democracy and its processes.

One young lady from UGA used the Assistant D.A.'s blanket question to chastise police for their poor treatment of homeless people. She said that she would not participate in this crucial exercise in Democracy because our country could not live up to her sterling expectations in regards to human rights.

However, there was one problem: she was wearing a red shirt with a hammer and sicle on the front and the crescent and star on the back. She had the gall to sit in on a process by which a defendant (caught in the act by police officers) had the right to help select the people who would decide his guilt or innocence, and chastise the United States of America for its human rights practices, while promoting those of China and the former U.S.S.R. Stalin's secret police killed millions. China has a government controlled media, absolutely no freedom of speech (mentioning the word "Democracy" will get you thrown in prison...look it up), and readily takes political prisoners.

But she, sitting in a courtroom where a person who was caught in the act of theft was on his third appeal - selecting those among his peers who would determine his fate, was appalled by the practices of the U.S.A.

All I ask is that you do one of two things: 1. shut up and do your duty because it's the right thing to do, or, 2. forfeit your rights altogether. If you do not choose option 1, at least don't bitch and moan when option 2 is imposed upon you. You have no right.