A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE

When I was in my late 60’s, for the first and only time in my life I was called for jury duty. I showed up at the appointed time and was shown to the courtroom where prospective jurors would be questioned. That’s when we found out that in our room, we would be the one’s selected to serve on the Grand Jury which would handle only capital crimes and it would be necessary to be available one day a month for a full year.

There must have been at least thirty or more people attending and we were each questioned as to whether we had been in jail or had any family in jail, our views on lots of legal issues and whether we would be available for the full year.

Because I had my own car, I could handle that and as an old ambulance chaser, I relished being able to be in the “know” about all sorts of murders in our county. Naturally, I was one of about fifteen chosen. Twelve for the jury and the rest as alternates who must attend all the sessions and hear the same evidence as us, in case one of the regular ones couldn’t make it.

On our first appointed day, we all arrived as scheduled at the Grand Jury Courtroom. Firstly, as on every day we attended, there was an anti-room in which coffee and fresh donuts were available. We socialized for a while and got to know each other. We were all ages of working people as well as retirees. The head court judge welcomed us, explained our duties as we sat in our jury chairs, and we chose as our foreman a young man in his thirties.

Then we were left alone, until a young prosecuting attorney presented a case to us. As a jury in charge of capital crimes, that meant we would only handle murders. The attorney would tell of the circumstances, present evidence and we would hear from the coroner, a police officer, witness or anyone involved with the investigation.  We were encouraged to question them.  After hearing from these persons, we would be left alone to decide if there was enough evidence to indict the suspect or suspects. No one was allowed in the room with us while we made our decision and we were never allowed to reveal what went on in the jury room.

We would decide on three or four cases each month and I will tell you that it was unbelievable how many ways there are to commit murder with a knife. I don’t think we had many murderers that year that even used a gun. In the thirteen years since then it seems that guns are available on every street corner and that every murder is caused by a gun.

One witness had driven in a car with the defendant while the body of her friend, a fellow prostitute was in the trunk. She had strangled her before she had picked him up. I questioned him as to why he did nothing after finding out about the body and he was seemingly stupid, evasive and a druggie to boot. He also said he was horny and the car driver was available for sex. He had known her before. The police found them after the body was dumped in a canal and they were photographed near the scene when they stopped at a gas station.

We returned indictments in all the cases which is what happens in grand jury cases because you are presented with only the prosecution’s evidence and no defense arguments.

We were paid a few dollars for our year’s commitment during which we were able to meet the head judge, all the prosecuting attorneys and learn how not to commit a murder with a knife.  In the next upcoming year, we would be able to read about the trials of all our murderers in the newspaper.

I announced at the end of one of our sessions that I wouldn’t be able to attend the following month because on that day I would be flying home from Paris. No one said anything, so I said to them that I always wanted to say that and no one seemed to be impressed and that I was disappointed at their reaction. So they reacted for me. They were great people. It was a memorable experience!

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