I arrived at the Denton County courthouse much like any good citizen would in order to fulfill my obligation to the State to serve as a juror. Being a libertarian I was a little irked that I had any obligation to the state whatsoever but I at least felt that I had a good opportunity to get out of jury service since I worked for an insurance company. This would eliminate me from any civil trials and most trials involving negligence and compensatory indemnification or rewards. The libertarian in me would get me out of any drug, property, or “victim less” crime trials. The possibility that I would have to serve as a juror was pretty slim. I might as well show up and at least get in some good time with a book.
Apparently in Denton County they send a huge number of summons hoping that at least a certain number will show up. In this case they sent out more than 300 jury summons. The judge that instructed us on jury selection informed us that computer will randomly select approximately 100 of us from the 300+ that were there that day. Of course my name was called.
The number selected for the voir dire was 65 jurors, of which 12 would be asked to remain and serve as the jurors in a murder trial. I had been informed by “sources” that speaking up and being vocal was a sure way to be eliminated as a juror. I had also been informed that keeping your mouth shut was a sure way to be selected. In this process they randomly select the order in which you sit, they then pick the first 12 applicable people after the voir dire. I was sitting within the first 20 people. Essentially, this meant I would need a reason to be excluded, or at the very least 12 people who were sitting ahead of me would need to not have any reason to be excluded. The prosecutor for the case asked a few questions polled the jury and 8-9 hands shot up in the first 2 rows. Believe me, I was vocal, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, I answered almost every question and kept interjecting my thoughts on murder, revenge, vigilante justice, evidence, the need for the state to provide evidence, the constitution, etc … The prosecutor even mentioned capital murder and my hand then shot up so I could launch into a diatribe about the state being able to end human life, but he quickly ended with a “but this isn’t a capital murder case so that doesn’t apply here.” They called my name as one of the 12 out of 65.
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Tags: casey nelson,jeff stealey,jury duty,marshall mashburn,murder trial,santino schraer
Categories: BJ, BJ's Life
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