Jury Duty

Once again I was not selected to serve on a jury. (My record is now 3 for 3.) I didn't even get to voir dire. This gave me a chance to read Just Send Me Word.

Aside from a lot of free time filled with the reading of a really good book, I was astonished by the inability of grown people to separate their emotions from their mental capacity. I'm including men here.

I sat in a court room with an alleged drug dealer, his lawyer, lawyers for the state, court officers, the judge's clerk, and the judge. After the judge explained how the case would proceed he filled the seats in the jury box. And then it happened, I watched as adults told the judge that they would not be able to listen to the facts of the case without having what they heard colored by their feelings [about drug abuse]. A couple of people had lost friends to overdose, another few people had strong feelings about the laws around drug use, a couple of people had family members who were struggling with substance abuse. All told the judge excused something like 20 prospective jurors due solely to their feelings.

Folks, here's the deal: in my family there is: an open murder case, rape, alcoholism, child abuse, infidelity, and drug use. I've had friends who were murdered, raped, mugged, and robbed.

I've seen how people destroy their own lives and the lives of those around them. For a period of time I was homeless and abused drugs and alcohol. None of what I've lived, or seen in other people's lives, renders me incapable of listening to the evidence and the "facts" of any case.

I won't say I was disappointed because everyone is at a different place on his or her path, but really? And we didn't get into it but I wondered what the people who couldn't deal with drug abuse were doing to prevent it so that other people wouldn't lose friends or family members.