Justice System

On Valentine's Day this week (Monday), I was to report for jury duty at the Clarence Mitchell Courthouse. When I had a "real job", I always looked forward to this because it meant getting out of the office and having time to read my book or watch a movie. But, having two kids to figure out what to do with is another story. As I kept saying, "It takes a village" to raise kids sometimes, especially when it comes to finding coverage all day. Luckily, I have a great support group and I came up with a nice confusing plan, but one that worked very well. So, I have three people cover on Monday. Then, the dread. I got picked to be on a jury! So, I sat there wracking my brain for coverage on Tuesday. And it worked out just fine then too. Ahh, thanks everyone.

Anyway, the case was a worker's compensation case. The moment I heard that, I figured I would be picked. I had absolutely no bias or way to get out of it. And again, had it not been for my kids, I would have gladly jumped at the opportunity. I do think the justice system is very interesting. And since this wasn't criminal, I didn't have a bias toward either party.

So, there I sat until it was time to call out the members of the jury. Sure enough, my number was the first one called. And I took my seat as Juror #1. Yes, right in front of the microphone. I soon realized what this meant. Yes, I was the foreperson.

We listened carefully to the testimony, despite juror #3 who was falling asleep. Boy, that made me mad. Anyway, this was an appeal. The mayor and city council were the plaintiff and the estate of a retired police officer was the defendant. This man had died and his widow was there. Our job as a jury was to determine if he died as a result of his occupational disease (in this case, coronary artery disease and hypertension) or if he died from the pneumonia that put him in the hospital on the day before he died. It was very sad and heavy. Little old us....a jury of only 6 were to determine how this man died?

There was never any mention of money or WHY we needed to determine his cause of death, so I'm not sure what the overriding issue was. And in that sense, I was sort of grateful for that. We just had to determine one thing as a jury. That didn't make it any easier.

During the trial, it hit me like a ton of bricks that this man died of pneumonia which would have meant that the mayor won and the widow lost. But, to my shock, the majority of the other people didn't feel that way. Mind you, this is Baltimore City and it is hard for any plaintiff to win a case here, so I had to take that with a grain of salt. It seemed that me and two other guys were the level headed ones. I was the ONLY one to consult my notes during deliberation. One guy had me submit a note to the judge and ask an intelligent question. But, no one else was using their intellect it seemed. It was pure emotion.

After deliberating for a while (but not too terribly long) and reviewing the documents we were given, I was willing to relax my stance. And so was the other guy. I had caved, but I think I had to because of what some of the documents said. It was like we couldn't come to a definitive answer as to his ailments, therefore, we had to let the workers comp decision stand.

So, back into the courtroom we march. I'm a nervous wreck because I have to be the one to state the decision and I know I'm going to make one side mad. Luckily, in this case, it wasn't the widow that I had to upset. Blah, blah says the judge. My heart is beating. Will the foreperson please stand? I do. The clerk reads the verdict form and I say my line, "We find the decision is correct." I'm shaking, nervous, sick to my stomach. The widow is crying. I just need to get out of this courthouse and breathe. I don't know what I would ever do if I had a more "difficult" case. I'm such a wuss.

The whole experience was very interesting. I'm glad I did it (not that I had a choice) and I hope more people can see the benefit of jury duty because as the judge said, "Our system of justice would not work without you."