Jury Duty

This week I performed my civic duty to Orange County, Florida by reporting for my very first jury duty. I was summoned to report to the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida at the Orange County Courthouse in downtown Orlando. I arrived at 8am. There were 11 cases scheduled for the day. The first group was called around 10:00. At around 11, I was finally called (just as I got a seat at one of the computer stations). Thirty of us (one of the largest groups) took the elevators up to the 12th floor to Courtroom 12D. We all filed in to sit in the hard benches. I struck up a conversation with one of the potential jurors sitting next to me and found out that she is one of the DJs of my favorite radio station, Z88.3 (the Christian radio station).

Once we were all seated, the Honorable Judge Thomas W. Hunter explained the whole jury selection (voi duir) process. He introduced the lawyers and the defendant, the announced the charges "sexual battery on someone under the age of twelve." A few of the jurors were released right away because they felt they could not handle the case.

We broke for lunch around 12:30. It stopped pouring rain just in time. I took a walk to Subway (about 3 blocks), to return with blisters on my feet. I ate my sandwich in the front courtyard. After lunch, I took the elevator up to the 23rd floor (the top). The Orange County Courthouse is the tallest building in Orlando at 416 feet. From the women's restroom, you can get quite a view of Trinity Lutheran's Campus.

We were to report back at 1:45, but we didn't resume until after 2:00. When we rejourned, the lawyers then began their questioning. They asked whether or not we could convict someone only on the basis of a child's testimony. They asked the mother's if they could put aside their "motherly instinct" to protect the child. They asked if anyone has been a victom of a crime. They asked who had ever been arrested. And so on and so on. I was never asked as single direct question. I did get singled out, however, by the judge inbetween questioning because he noticed that I went to Ball State just like him (he graduated with David Letterman). After about an hour or so, they told us to go out in the hall while they made their choices. After a half-hour we returned to the courtroom. The judge called off seven names and they were to go up into the jury box and the rest were released. My name was the fifth one to be called. I was to report back to the courthouse at 9:30 on Wednesday.

Wednesday, the day of the trial. The deputy escorted us back to the deliberation room where I met up with the other 6 jurors. Around 10, the trial actually began. The lawyers both gave their opening statements and the prosecution called it's first witness, a detective in charge of the case. He then called two more witnesses, the mother and the child herself. We broke for lunch the came back to have the defense begin their case. The defense only called the grandmother, the defendant's wife. Yes, the child accused her step-grandfather of sexual battery. After all the questioning, cross-examination, objections, closing arguments and rebuttals we, the jury, adjourned to the deliberation room. It was about 4:30 by now. We deliberated for about an hour. We were pretty sure of our decision, but some of us wanted to sleep on it (and get the next day off of work). We decided to adjourn for the day and return in the morning. It's a good thing that church is right next to the courthouse because I was late for The Way.

We met again on Thursday morning and finished our deliberation. After about a half-hour we all agreed that we thought the defendant was "probably" guilty, but with the little and poor evidence we were given, we couldn't find enough proof to convict him. We voted on a not guilty verdict. After court adjourned, the judge met us back in the deliberation to thank us and help answer any questions we may have had. He also informed us that the defendant had been tried on a similar charge a few months ago and was found guilty. He is currently serving a life sentence without paroll. So really, it wouldn't have made much of a difference no matter which way we voted. The judge also assured us not to feel bad about our verdict. He agreed that our decision was very logical with what we were given. While he probably did commit the crime, there just wasn't enough convincing evidence.

This was a very difficult case for a first-time jury experience. In fact, all of us were first-timers. While this was a very good experience and I'm glad I was able to participate, I'm glad I won't have to do it again for a while.