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I have been busy the past few days serving on a jury.

Jury duty...ugh! That seemed to be the prevailing sentiment when I mentioned first that I was called to report recently and then when I was seated on a jury for a civil trial that lasted through last week and part of this week. Family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances all had their 2¢ to share with me (whether I asked or not) about what a pain in the butt it was to get called, what to say, do or wear to get out of it, how to rule in the case regardless what it was...frankly calling for drawing and quartering of the defendant just doesn't seem to apply in a civil case much less a criminal case. Think of the mess!

I'll confess I did feel inconvenienced at first. I could think of a million things I would much rather do than calling the courthouse at the appointed times to see if I was to report or to sit in the basement of the Superior Court in the jury room drinking really bad coffee and watching game shows and soap operas. Even doing laundry or cleaning the bathroom seemed more appealing to me. Well, sort of. But, when my group was called to report, report I did. 

I lived for 23 years in Santa Clara County as an adult and never received a jury summons...never...ever. I was registered to vote. I was a licensed California driver. Yet I was never summoned to jury duty while living there. It's probably a good thing since during that time I was a starving student and then busy gestating and lactating for a number of years. My husband, who had been summoned a few times and served once on a jury assured me that I wasn't missing anything. Then we settled our family here in the Central Valley and it seemed less than a month after I changed my voter's registration  and driver's license to my new address I received a jury summons. 

Wow! Jury duty. I thought how cool. But my son was just 18 months old and still medically fragile requiring continuous tube feedings, breathing treatments as well as physical, occupational, speech and feeding therapy. I received an excuse over the phone.I was summoned two more times only to be excused and thanked for my service without ever leaving my workplace or the basement in the courthouse. This time around was different. No sooner had I sat down and opened up the book that I brought to entertain myself with, my name was called and I was ordered with about 50 other people to report to Superior Court Part 42. As the day went on we were weeded down to about 30 people who were seated, 18 at a time in the jury box where we answered questions asked by the judge and the attorneys. People were excused and replaced by others who were excused or remained and so on until there were only 14 people left, 12 jurors and 2 alternates. I was seated in juror chair #1 and remained there for the remainder of last week and this week listening to a civil case brought up due to an act of negligence by the defendant. The plaintiffs were suing for damages for severe emotional distress.

It would have been very easy to complain about what an inconvenience and disruption this was to my life. Quite a few people I sat with in that courtroom had no trouble at all complaining about it...all the time. It was an inconvenience and a disruption. But then again I did not miss a day of work as I was scheduled to work on the weekend. My husband is home at the time collecting unemployment so I knew he would be able to manage life under our Big Top with our family circus while I was sitting in court. Again, I could think of better things to do but I couldn't compare my disrupted life, my inconvenience to the plaintiffs' and the defendant. They all had been waiting for their day in court for THREE YEARS from when the incident occurred. Three years because the court was that backlogged with cases. Three years for the plaintiffs to live with the severe emotional distress they were claiming with no healing, no closure. Three years for the defendant to worry about the mistake that had been made and whether or not the corrections done were enough or would there be more to pay. Honestly, upon hearing what the ccase was about I just could not even compare my inconvenience. What if I was in their shoes? Should I not have a jury of my peers as the law affords me there to hear my complaint and come to a decision according to the law? Of course I should. No, I couldn't complain. Just like exercising my right to vote in every election, I was compelled to this service. This is a duty just as important as voting. And just like voting, I must exercise it and make my voice heard for myself, my family, my peers in this county. Yeah, I'm a bit of a politicalscience and civics geek! I'm not afraid to admit that.

I won't say it was easy because it wasn't. Listening to someone's recollection of such severe grief and emotional pain never is in my opinion. Realizing, as the case unfolded, how my decison would affect the plaintiffs and the defendant made it all the harder. But once we received the case for deliberation with our instructions from the judge on how the law applied to this case, it was fairly easy for the twelve of us come to what we believe is a fair and just conclusion for all parties involved. I left the courthouse and drove home yesterday evening confident that the judgement we rendered was the right one.

It wasn't Law and Order...not by a long shot. But I learned a lot and although I am glad to be back to my day to day life of juggling, I am glad thaat I accepted a little inconvenience for the sake of justice for these people I came to know.

More Adventures in Juggling can be found at http://adventuresinjuggling.wordpress.com