Law & Order Part Two

On the second day of jury selection, all prospective jurors returned to the jury assembly area of the courthouse. I was surprised to see only the same faces I had seen the day before. I thought there would be a fresh new batch of citizens, waiting to find out if they would be sent home, or sit in a court room for the rest of the day. It turns out juries are not selected every day. The only people in the jury assembly room were the group of us who were asked to return.

While we waited, I spotted another co-worker of mine. I said hello and we caught up. We both work from home, so we don’t see each other very often. After a brief wait, the bailiff came to lead us back into the courtroom.  As we walked in and sat down in the gallery area, I noticed there some people already seated in the gallery. I figured a couple of them must be family members of the victim and defendant, and pegged a couple of guys as being from the media as they had notebooks in their hands.

The questioninng of prospective jurors continued. I figured I would be out of there by noon. I was trying to figure out if I could get away with taking the rest of the day off or not when all of a sudden I heard a familiar phrase…my NAME! Yes, my first and last name were called. NO WAY, I thought. My mouth got dry. I got nervous as I walked to the jury box. It was so surreal. I knew I could be impartial. I was also counting on some pretty significant evidence too. I mean, the prosecution can’t even bring a case to trial without sufficient evidence, right? That’s what I thought, anyway!

When it was my turn to be examined, the defense attorney was curious as to how I could determine if someone was lying. I said some stuff about body language and did their testimony seem consistent, etc. I added that I would probably rely more heavily on evidence than testimony. I am not making this up, the defense attorney told me “This isn’t CSI…” He was also concerned about how I felt about the fact that the defendant might not testify on his own behalf. I said, “Well, he’s plead not guilty, so I guess he’s said all he wants to say.” That was apparently enough to satisfy him.