Weekend
After serving on jury duty down in Topeka all last week and being away from home, I finally returned Friday evening. It had rained twice while I was away and everything looked green and lush. And after being in town all week with no grass, stale air, and noise noise noise, I couldn’t believe how quiet home was. I took a deep breath of fresh clean air, and listened to the birds in the shade trees. My heart soared. Friday evening I took it easy. Harland was away from home and would return the next morning. I ate a bowl of cereal for supper and watched a movie. I had a hard time sleeping that night with Harland being away and thinking about the trial and all the evidence we’d seen. I finally got out of bed and got a book to read.
Slept late Saturday morning. I never thought jury duty would be tiring, but I was exhausted. Harland returned home Saturday morning, and we spent the day mowing the lawn and cleaning house. We went to church Saturday evening and then grilled some steaks(our own raised meat), and had them for supper along with some new potatoes and sweet corn fresh out of our garden. An entire meal grown by us – very satisfying. Then we watched a movie and went to bed. We were both exhausted. Harland had had trouble sleeping the night before too.
This morning we slept late, then breakfasted. It was cloudy and cool so we dug up the potatoes and pulled the onions spreading them over the garage floor to dry/cure.
The garden soil was damp from the rains this week and with the cool temps and loose soil, we’ve never had an easier time digging potatoes.
Usually digging potatoes is an endurance trial with 100 degree+ temps and concrete drought soil.
After lunch I started a beef stroganoff with our own beef and onions. I’ll be making some homemade egg noodles later to go with it.
Back to court for more deliberation tomorrow morning. Will be so glad to be done, and despite my reluctance to be chosen last Monday, I’m very pleased I was. It’s been a fascinating process to be involved in a jury trial. To be part of the process and responsible for making a decision that will affect people’s lives is humbling.
Have you ever served on a jury and if so, what did you take away from the experience?
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
I have had jury duty so many times, I have lost count. I have served on numerous cases – welfare fraud, burglary and possession of a deadly weapon, robbery, competency hearing. I feel I have done my duty. I no longer want to be called. I think they have a database of people that are available and keep calling those same people. I am in CA.
P.S. I love your blog. I read it, at least, once a week. You do a great job!
I have had jury duty once and was the last member selected for the jury. The trial, deliberation, and our decision lasted one day (accusation was assault with a deadly weapon). We were unanimous in our decision. I took being a jury member very seriously and, like you, I felt the weight of making a decision that affected the lives of people I did not know.
I’m glad that you had the opportunity to serve on a jury. I think so many people are afraid of jury duty – sitting for weeks on end sequestered from family; threats on jurors; angry arguing in the jury room. Unfortunately the movies and TV have fostered those fears which are mostly unreal. I had been working as a Judicial Assistant in Circuit Court for 1 year when I was called for jury duty in District Court (different Court, different Judge than I worked for). I was actually seated on the jury so got to see the workings of a jury trial from the inside. It was a valuable experience! It helped me understand the process which helped me over the 27 years I worked in Circuit Court which included handling jurors, the attorneys, and crafting the jury instructions used. I am now retired and would welcome the chance to serve as a juror again! Thank you for taking your civic duty as a juror seriously and not grumbling about it!!! It is really such a short time out of your life.
I’ve been called numerous times, but was chosen for a jury only once. It was an attempted murder case and very interesting. But when it came time to make a decision, I was scared I would make the wrong one and could be putting an innocent man in jail or letting a guilty one go free. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards. When I am called but not chosen, I end up sitting in a room for an entire day doing nothing and get $9 for my time. Well, really I get nothing because I work for the municipal government and they consider it just another work day.
I am glad, however, for the people who do serve. It is a huge and very important part of our judicial system.
I was chosen for a jury one time, and it really was an interesting experience. It was a sexual assault trial, and to think that the decisions that we made affected someone’s life for a very long time, is very heavy! I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, or that I want to do it again, but I’m glad I did it.
I was selected once and took it seriously. We made the right decision, everyone agreed afterward, and it was a rewarding experience.
I have NEVER been called for jury duty! I am 60 yrs. old, own my home, pay taxes (real and unreal), have a drivers license, never been arrested – yet I’ve never been called. My husband has been called many times. I don’t know if this is a blessing or not. It is just very curious to me. I think it would be interesting to serve, I’m not going to volunteer though.
Once the trial is over you can share the details with us!
I have been chosen once. It was a federal trial and was very intense with stories about it in the paper as well as protesters that were removed from the courtroom. We had to listen to FBI wiretaps and testimonies by agents. It lasted a week and I loved it. My friends tell me that is just because it was an exciting case and was Federal that the civil cases are tamer. I took it very seriously and believe everyone should serve at least once. The hardest part was not being able to read a newspaper or watch the news for a whole week but the judge told us not to and I did not want to go against the rules.
Yes, I was chosen for jury duty and like you, realized the very real impact your decision will have on the lives of those in the court room. It happened to be a murder trial and unfortunately, a horrific case. I am grateful for all that I learned and have a new found respect for both the judges, police, and court personnel. It had quite an effect on me and my peers on the jury.
So far, I have been called for jury duty only once in my life. That was after I had moved from one Kansas couty to a different KS county, and the summons was from the county I had moved out of (but I hadn’t yet changed my voter registration or driver’s license), so I just called that county and told them I no longer lived in said county.
Now I live in Michigan. I hope and pray that I do not ever get called for jury duty in THIS county, because that would mean driving into DETROIT (the county seat) all by myself. I do not ever ever ever want to have to go there alone! Even in broad daylight. If we lived in a different county I would not mind being called.
Hey looks like a good potato harvest.