A jury summons addressed to me.
My first words were not “oh joy.”
Every
time I looked at that letter, I’d grit my teeth in frustration.
I was to report to the Fort Bend County Courthouse at
12:30 p.m.; and as I maneuvered down Golfview, which is a construction nightmare,
I became even more aggravated.
I pulled into the parking lot of the Fort Bend County
Justice Center, though, and was quite impressed. The graceful building fronts a
spacious parking area and the entrance is grand and modern.
The line to get into the building never slowed, thanks to
deputies who politely moved us along to the jury waiting area.
I expected
to wait in a cramped room with metal folding chairs, but I was pleasantly
surprised to find a comfortable waiting area with plenty of padded chairs.
Playing
on a big television screen was a video of what to expect from jury duty. The film
featured judges and lawyers who explained most of the questions jurors might
have. The room filled quickly, and soon the judge came in and asked anyone who
couldn’t serve to see him.
After
the last person had their excuse signed, the judge thanked everyone for their time.
An easy-going clerk explained the afternoon’s process to us, traded a few jokes
and made the waiting time pass quickly.
Soon a deputy began calling names with instructions to
line up in the waiting area. I think everyone in that room was silently praying
“please don’t call my name.”
Then my name was called, so I sighed, picked up my purse
and got in the line. When we entered a courtroom, five well-dressed people were
silently facing us – two prosecutors and two attorneys flanking a nervous young
man.
No one spoke a word as we took our seats and listened to another
set of instructions from the judge. As the attorneys visually sized us up, I
glanced at the people sitting around me. They came from all walks of life –
young, old, middle-aged – and all had a similar look of trepidation on their
faces.
The prosecutors went first, showing us a PowerPoint to
explain voire dire, the process by which jurors are selected. People were
encouraged to speak freely to questions I’m sure had been carefully chosen.
Then the defense team took the podium, asking if we could
honestly say the person at the defendant’s table was innocent until proven
guilty. I looked at that man and wondered what he was thinking.
He
was putting his fate in the hands of six people he’d never met before, and I
realized it was true what the first judge had told us – jury duty is not a
chore to be taken lightly.
A
juror decides whether or not a person goes to jail that day or walks out into
the sunshine a free man or woman. At that moment, I realized the seriousness of
what we’d been asked to do.
Later
that afternoon while heading back to my car, I noticed a walking path to a
covered swing. I wondered if jurors who are charged with determining the fate
of defendants sit there and mentally prepare for what they’re being asked to do.
After what I’d heard that afternoon, I believed the six
strangers I saw in that courtroom would come together as a team and justice
would be served.
This article was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.