"A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer." - Robert Frost

Last year I was chosen to do jury duty. It was a really interesting learning experience. As soon as I turned 18 I was sent a letter saying I was on the list of people to be called for the year and then in about May, I got a letter to say that I was required for jury duty for criminal jurisdiction and may be required to be in court for up to 3 weeks.

This was while my Mum and Stepfather were over in Europe and my sister and I were home alone for 6 weeks. My Mum was so jealous that I got to do jury duty coz she has always wanted to for the experience.

Anyway, I had to take time off work and went to the courthouse with about 30 other ppl. We were all given numbers and were called by the numbers not names. No one wanted to be there, but I was exited, I thought it would be really interesting. We had to watch a video and then they randomly pulled out our numbers from a box. "Number 112" etc. Once 12 ppl were up in the jury box the two sides had a chance to say "No I dont want that person" etc and also people with a good enough reason could be excused after talking to the judge and swearing on the bible etc. It was all very formal. I was the very last person called after a few guys were rejected by the dudes with wigs on...

Then after the 12 of us in the jury swore on the bible they prosecutor told us the story... It was a MURDER case!!!...
The case was very complicated, interesting and LONG.... We had to listen to 20 witnesses from each side, and the accused sat in the accused box the whole time. It was kinda creepy.. All 12 of us in the jury were given copies of all the exhibits.. 40 coloured photos, a tape etc... At lunch times we were locked up in our little room (at least we were provided with lunch). The smokers in the jury werent happy about it though... Later during the trial the Sheriff let us out for some air so they could smoke.. But we all had to stay together.. We werent allowed to speak of the trial at all when we werent all together (so when we went home etc no mentioning). We were told to leave the court room so many times.. In the beginning everyone was just complaining about the stuff they could be doing, but after a while we all thought ok we have to be here so lets do it..

After I think 2 and a half weeks of listening, taking notes and discussing we had to come to our verdict... We all had to agree on the same thing.. We could take as long as we wanted, and even though everyone just wanted to leave, we still had to make sure everyone was happy with the final decision.. We said he wasnt guilty of murder or man slaughter, but of dangerous driving occasioning death... Because of inconclusive evidence about brakes... They had 2 different mechanics up on the stand talking about brakes... That was the boring bit, I didnt understand any of it.. A whole day of them talking and in the end I was like so did the brakes work or not!!

Anyway I think it defiantly was a great experience.. I learnt a lot about how the court works.. I love experiencing things and want to experience everything I can.. so now I can cross off jury duty..