Guilty as charged

Well today I concluded my Jury Duty service. I was juror number four on a criminal felony case involving drug possession charges (large quantity of marijuana). I felt lucky. It could have been a more upsetting, difficult case like a rape or manslaughter or murder. Even the judge says this was a walk in the park. I don't have to serve for at least another six years.

All and all the experience was very interesting. The people on the jury were so nice. We had a woman make lowfat brownies, a man buying cookies and another woman bringing in a coffee pot, milk and coffee from home! We did deliberate carefully and reached a unimous verdict. It was wierd when we walked back into the courtroom for the verdict to be read. I tried not to let it show on my face, but I could not look at the defendent. His case was so weak, even the judge told us later that he was suprised this made it to trial-it should have been plea bargained. We found him guilty of two charges of drug possession. His defense attorney really had no defense and the prosecution met their burden of proof.

The judge talked to us afterward and we later found out the defendent had other drug charges as well as an assault charge against him and was looking at five years in prison in Maryland. It made us feel better about find him guilty, because we really tried to be fair and give him the benefit of the doubt. He also had some interesting stories to tell us about the process and the law. How his bench is made to be bullet proof and how it can protect him if shots are fired, that he keeps a gun when on the bench for serious crimes, how 92% of criminal cases are pleaded and never make it to court, etc. I found him to be good looking too! That did not hurt! He acted differently when talking to us then when he was in the courtroom.

All in all, it was a good experience and I do recommend everyone be a juror on a case at least once in their lifetime. Everyone hopes to get off jury duty, but sometimes being on a case can be a good thing. I feel good tonight. I feel like for once my opinion did matter. I feel like the justice system does work. I feel proud to live in a country with such an advanced system of justice. Juror number four has done her civic duty.