Jury Duty

I've been called to Jury Duty once again. Really this is my second time with being called and actually able to go. I've been called 4 times total. I'm glad that being called for Federal you absolutely can't get out of it unless you have a very, very good excuse. I had such a wonderful experience and I love doing it now. I had to go out to Portland, stay at a hotel, and then go to the Federal building. I was actually called to be on the actual jury which was so nerve wracking at first. It was a civil case that was an insurance claim. I learned so much about mold that it was creeped me out. I have shut off my brain and have tried to forget the information since then. The trial was very interesting though it was completely different then they show on TV. So many different behind the scenes events that I have never known. It's amazing and so powerful feeling being on a jury. You get to decide someones fate. You get to make decisions about what happens to them.

Recently I'm in the county's pool for the month of May. I was called in this week earlier to maybe serve on a trial that was about to take place. Before getting started the judge gave all of us the definition between Civil and a Criminal case. I never really thought of the difference between cases that people serve on. I also thought that it was the proof that you had to have to make a decision but it is really how much proof is presented in what kind of case you are on.

Civil - You just have to have a preponderance of the evidence to make a decision. You just have to have some proof to make a decision.

Criminal - You have to have to be absolutely positive that a person did the crime. No reasonable doubt what so ever with the evidence that was presented.

The case that I was just at the beginning apart of was a criminal case. It was an attempted strangulation. As I was sitting there I could feel my mouth drop open and my eyes go wide. I've always just heard about crimes and scene crimes on TV but this became very real to me. This was looking at the guy in the eyes and knowing that he might have done something so horrible. He had to turn around and look at everyone in the room to make sure that we didn't know him. It was, for a moment extremely ill feeling as his eyes went past me. I don't know if he did it or not I was excused before the trial started but I'm definitely wondering if he was guilty or not. It was a very surreal experience. I'm hoping to get called a few more times so that I get to have even more experiences but you never know whats going to happen in the next month.