Summoned

Well, it’s been a roller coaster of a couple of days.  A few weeks ago I received one of the most dreaded pieces of mail a person can get.  Jury summons.  I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal.  Every other time I’ve received my jury summons, I’ve called the night before and I didn’t have to go.  So, imagine my surprise when I called Monday night and I found out I had to report the the county courthouse at 8:30 yesterday morning.  Well…ok, I guess I was due and besides….how long could it really take?

After a really long day of jury selections, I was selected to be on a jury.  For a case that was expected to last for two weeks.  The defendant had over 30 charges against him, and it looked like it was going to be a very mentally and emotionally draining case.  There was a huge part of me that wished that I didn’t have to do it.  I admit, I didn’t have the best attitude about the situation.  I was going to have to dive head first into a world that was extremely unfamiliar to me. 

Today,  after sitting in the jury deliberation room for 3 hours, the judge finally called us into the courtroom.  He spoke to us for a few minutes and then announced that he was declaring a mistrial.  One of the jurors had shared too many of the details about the case with someone and the judge found out about it.  He thanked the rest of us and then excused us all to go home.  And all of a sudden, before we could really process what had happened, it was over.

As we were leaving the courtroom, we had to walk by all the victims that were there to testify against the defendant.  It was at that moment that I realized that I was really sad to be leaving.  Now that I don’t have to do it anymore, I really wish we had the opportunity to finish the trial….to give everyone involved a chance to share their side of the story and to be done with this process. 

It’s funny how, in a matter of moments, you can go from not really wanting to do something to wishing and wanting to see it through to the end….you know?