A Jury

May 30th, 2024

In comparison to citizens of many other countries, Americans are not required to do much. We are not forced to serve in the military. We are not obligated to vote. It is not usually necessary for us to perform any duties outside of paying taxes and serving on a jury if called to do so.

Serving on a jury is a curious requirement. Only countries whose histories are strongly influenced by English law have juries. Other countries have judges who decide court cases. It is only in countries like the United States where the legal fate of a citizen is decided by a jury of their peers. That is an extraordinary thing.

I have been on two juries. I served as foreman on both of them. Neither trial was about anything dramatic. Both cases were civil suits, and probably could have been settled out of court if the parties involved had been a bit less stubborn. However, the lawsuits went to trial and twelve ordinary people were selected to decide on the issues. The experiences were very educational, at least they were for me.

I bring all this up because Donald Trump has just been convicted of 34 criminal offenses by a jury in New York. The public response to this verdict has been deafening. Some people have shouted that justice has finally been done. Others have loudly decried Trump’s trial as a kangaroo court and said that it was a travesty of justice. I am not going to attempt to second guess the members of the jury in Trump’s trial. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what kind of discussions they had during their deliberations. I only know what I did when I was a juror.

There is a plethora of films about courts and juries. Almost all of the videos are overly dramatic, and many of them are inaccurate. For a person who has never been on a jury, probably the best film to watch would be an old, black and white film called “12 Angry Men”. The show is from 1957 and it is somewhat outdated. All the jurors are white men in the movie. However, the film does a good job of showing how the jurors deliberate. There are often differences of opinion, and sometimes emotional outbursts. People disagree, but they work toward a consensus. The process really is work.

A jury trial is the direct descendent of the old medieval trials by combat. Instead of champions fighting with the swords, we have lawyers stabbing with sharp words. The idea is the same. One side will win it all, and the other side will lose. The court system does not like cases to go to trial. Trials are expensive in time, energy, and money. If a case does go to trial, that means there is no longer any possibility of compromise. It’s all or nothing.

I remember as foreman of the jury having to announce the verdict to the court. After I stated our decision, I could see members of one party visibly relax. When I looked across the aisle, I only saw shock and utter loathing. Oh well.

That’s the system. That’s how things work. As Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Buy the ticket. Take the ride.” If you have gone to trial, you bought the ticket, and you can’t get off the legal rollercoaster until the ride comes to a complete stop. Deal with it. As Thompson also said, “if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well…maybe chalk it off to forced consciousness expansion.” That’s good advice if you lose the case.

One thing I noticed as foreman was how intensely serious all the members of the jury were about the trial. Everybody was well aware that the trial was no joke. We had the responsibility to reach a verdict, and our verdict would undoubtedly put somebody in a world of hurt. That knowledge weighed on our minds.

Both times that I was on a jury there was an eclectic number of people serving along with me. We came from different races and ethnicities, different parts of the county, different economic levels, different political viewpoints. This diversity was helpful to us during our deliberations. A variety of backgrounds prevents group think. We saw things from different angles.

No human being is total objective. Therefore, no jury can be completely impartial. The goal is to have a jury that relies on the evidence and follows the instructions of the judge. It is possible that our decisions were incorrect, but we treated our work as jurors as a sacred duty. We gave it our all.

There are many parts of our judicial system that I don’t like. However, I have faith in tradition of trial by jury. If I ever have to go to trial, I will respect the work of the jury. I am confident that they will try to do the right thing.