Call of Duty - my date with the justice system.
The Year of the Dog sure has started off with a woof-woof and a thorough exercising of my Canadian citizenry. After voting in the somewhat disappointing election (Citizen Right and Responsibility #1), I received notice of a call for jury duty (Citizen Right and Responsibility #2). This being the second time I have been called for jury duty, the first being 12 years ago, I willingly showed up at court among the huge group of people for the endless waiting. For the record, there were about 320 people called in order to select a jury of 12. Of the 300+, 6 groups of 20 are randomly chosen. Out of the 6 groups, one group of 12 makes the final selection to sit as a jury member.
I sat outside the courtroom and observed the anxious people. Funny how much you can just tell by looking at them: Most simply just don’t want to be there, some know the drill and are patient, some are just frustrated at having to wait. Most were female and most were in their 40s or 50s (boomer demographic, I guess).
With such a large group, we had to be split into two courtrooms and so the all the instructions and charges had to be read twice. Once all the charges were read, then began the slow process of choosing names at random in order to select potential jurors. If you had a good excuse and if participating as a juror would cause you “undue hardship”, you could then ask the judge to be excused for the trial. All of this takes place in front of the accused, all the lawyers, the judge, the court services staff and clerks.
Note; being an “important person” at work with a high position does NOT qualify as an excuse to be excused from jury duty. As the judge put it, “I’m sure the business will carry on just fine without you.” If one appears overly emotional and start to cry while explaining why you can’t serve, the judge will probably excuse you.
I sat in the courtroom curiously placed right beside the accused box (Lord knows how I ended up in that seat) listening patiently as each name and number was randomly drawn from a tumbling box and anxiously awaiting for mine to be drawn. As I sat waiting, many thoughts ran through my mind about our criminal justice system. It has been three years since the incident took place and the case is just now coming to trial. Gosh, what a backlog there must be. I had a bit of sympathy for the accused for having to wait that long. Innocent people shouldn’t have to wait that long but what of the guilty people? I think we should have a right to speedy trial as long as it is thorough. I thought about how disappointing and sad it is that so many lives were ruined or lost because of this crime. The accused (if guilty) not only ruined their own lives forever but also inflicted so much pain and suffering on the family and loved ones of victim, not to mention the young life lost forever.
I thought about the fairness of our system compared to a country like Singapore, for example, where a young fellow was caught, charged, tried, sentenced and executed in 40 days! Some of the potential jurors whined and complained about how inconvenient and cumbersome our system is and how disruptive it is on THEIR lives. Excuse me, but I wish they would put things in perspective and think about the fact that someone was killed and the future of the accused is in our hands. Punish them to the full extent of the law if guilty but afford them at least a small shred of humanity.
I thought about the two accused. They “look” like your typical clean cut guys who could easily have been a friend or acquaintance. They bore no resemblance to what one would expect a cold killer to look like. For a fleeting moment, one of them happened to catch my eye and offered up a half smile. It was a look that I had grown accustomed to in completely different environments but would no doubt qualify as a very awkward moment for me. In a large courtroom full of non-Asians (by that I mean ‘white folks’), me and the two accused were the only young Asian males there (and if you count the Filipina woman that makes 4 Asians). Accused number 2 and I exchanged that glance of recognition that minorities sometimes share in big crowds. Minorities know the look to which I am referring. How odd it was to occur at that moment.
In the end, after being selected in the first group of 20, I did not get chosen to sit on the jury because I no longer live in that area. My only hope is that those guys get a fair trial whatever the outcome might be.
I sat outside the courtroom and observed the anxious people. Funny how much you can just tell by looking at them: Most simply just don’t want to be there, some know the drill and are patient, some are just frustrated at having to wait. Most were female and most were in their 40s or 50s (boomer demographic, I guess).
With such a large group, we had to be split into two courtrooms and so the all the instructions and charges had to be read twice. Once all the charges were read, then began the slow process of choosing names at random in order to select potential jurors. If you had a good excuse and if participating as a juror would cause you “undue hardship”, you could then ask the judge to be excused for the trial. All of this takes place in front of the accused, all the lawyers, the judge, the court services staff and clerks.
Note; being an “important person” at work with a high position does NOT qualify as an excuse to be excused from jury duty. As the judge put it, “I’m sure the business will carry on just fine without you.” If one appears overly emotional and start to cry while explaining why you can’t serve, the judge will probably excuse you.
I sat in the courtroom curiously placed right beside the accused box (Lord knows how I ended up in that seat) listening patiently as each name and number was randomly drawn from a tumbling box and anxiously awaiting for mine to be drawn. As I sat waiting, many thoughts ran through my mind about our criminal justice system. It has been three years since the incident took place and the case is just now coming to trial. Gosh, what a backlog there must be. I had a bit of sympathy for the accused for having to wait that long. Innocent people shouldn’t have to wait that long but what of the guilty people? I think we should have a right to speedy trial as long as it is thorough. I thought about how disappointing and sad it is that so many lives were ruined or lost because of this crime. The accused (if guilty) not only ruined their own lives forever but also inflicted so much pain and suffering on the family and loved ones of victim, not to mention the young life lost forever.
I thought about the fairness of our system compared to a country like Singapore, for example, where a young fellow was caught, charged, tried, sentenced and executed in 40 days! Some of the potential jurors whined and complained about how inconvenient and cumbersome our system is and how disruptive it is on THEIR lives. Excuse me, but I wish they would put things in perspective and think about the fact that someone was killed and the future of the accused is in our hands. Punish them to the full extent of the law if guilty but afford them at least a small shred of humanity.
I thought about the two accused. They “look” like your typical clean cut guys who could easily have been a friend or acquaintance. They bore no resemblance to what one would expect a cold killer to look like. For a fleeting moment, one of them happened to catch my eye and offered up a half smile. It was a look that I had grown accustomed to in completely different environments but would no doubt qualify as a very awkward moment for me. In a large courtroom full of non-Asians (by that I mean ‘white folks’), me and the two accused were the only young Asian males there (and if you count the Filipina woman that makes 4 Asians). Accused number 2 and I exchanged that glance of recognition that minorities sometimes share in big crowds. Minorities know the look to which I am referring. How odd it was to occur at that moment.
In the end, after being selected in the first group of 20, I did not get chosen to sit on the jury because I no longer live in that area. My only hope is that those guys get a fair trial whatever the outcome might be.
posted by jadedmonkey at 5:48 p.m.
2 Comments:
dang, such a harrowing xperience. im not envious chiggah.
I know the look too Jaded Monkey. Despite the clearly different positions both you and the accused had in that court room, the look is still one that illicits a certain understanding.
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