Today was Jury Duty day...

This was a first for me... and just so you know, if you get a summons, GO! Its your responsibility... plus I think you get fined or something. They sent out 700 summons for today and only 200 people showed up. I was there ALL day today.

Showed up and waited for about two hours while they placed us in courts. Mine ended up being for a murder trial. I am so thankful that I wasn't picked... not because it was a waste of my time, but I didn't want to look at the pictures, hear the whole story, and decide on a judgement. Not saying the guy was guilty yet, of course. Its funny how its human nature is to walk into a room and then wonder what the defendent did. Its not "oh that guy is still innocent"... you have to rethink the situation to view him as having innocence. This guy was 25-26 years old and charged with the murder of a 19 year old woman. It really hit me hard today... especially because the woman's mom was on the back row.

I felt horrible for her. Everyone was griping and treating this like it was such a burden or waste of time... when they finally picked the jury, you could tell from the look on a couple of faces that it was a waste and they hated it. Made me feel for the woman... this isn't some inconvience to her. Its justice for her daughter's death. They asked questions today... would you be able to give judgement if the guy ends up guilty which could put him in jail for 5-99/life years. One lady said she would have a hard time with putting the guy in there because he was so young. I was already thinking "If he did it, he deserves a lifetime in jail."

It really made me think today... about how judgemental I can be, what little disregard I have for the justice system, and that I am glad there are people out there trying to make things right. I think one of the reasons I wasn't picked (they say that they always pick the quiet ones) was because I knew the assistant D.A. from my univ. ministry... and I'm glad for that. I don't think I could be fair or impartial when it came to a life being taken.