Pages

Thursday, March 7, 2013

{My 3 Days as Juror for a Criminal Case}


  • Wow, I'm finally FREE again... after 3 days in Superior Court as one of 12 Jurors for a Criminal Case. I'd been summoned several times before, once by the District Court in Augusta, Georgia which is a two hour drive away from where we live. That was on April 25, 2005 and luckily I got out of it. We had booked our 3 free nights at the Cypress Gardens Hyatt hotel in Orlando, Florida and we did not like to miss that! Previously to that, I'd been summoned a few times here in Laurens County but never had to actually serve; neither has Pieter. 
  • Monday it turned out that I was on, together with 11 others and 1 alternate. Very lengthy procedure and kind of hard to sit through without any window; neither in our juror room, nor the court room. But today we got to the deliberation of this criminal case and I performed as foreperson. We came to a unanimous decision for the verdict of  the person being tried; being guilty on one of two counts. Glad it is over with! 
  • Knowing the language is one thing but it is very hard to listen to all evidence, witnesses, audio and video in a language other than your mother tongue. Especially on subjects that are not your daily routine. But I did it and gained some experience for maybe future jury duty. 
  • Certainly I will be catching up on blog reading but for now I'm really tired...

The pay for such Jury Duty is by law US $ 25.00 per day; that's IT.



11 comments:

  1. I have always wanted to be picked for jury duty. Been called several times, but never on a case. No,w I am too old. No you will not get rich on jury duty.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thank you for serving, mariette!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Mariette,

    I know exactly what you are saying about being glad that it is all over.
    It is a good experience doing your duty - I sat on a case for two weeks and was happy when that was all over.
    Hope you are having a lovely week
    hugs
    Carolyn

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good for you, Mariette! My daughter recently served on a two week trial. She found it an interesting experience. Get some rest and thank you for performing this civic duty! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Liebste Mariette,
    das waren bestimmt aufregende Tage, oder?
    Ich wünsch Dir einen wunderschönen Donnerstag!
    ♥ Allerliebste Grüße Claudia ♥

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, da hab' ich nun einiges verpaßt bei Dir, liebe Mariette. Was ist passiert?

    Liebe Grüße
    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  7. Liebe Mariette,
    das ist ein harter Job. Kann ich mir denken.
    Nochmal zu den Bienen.
    Ich habe den Post bei Dir im Nachhinein gelesen. Es ist
    schon interessant, was diese keleinen Wesen alles können.
    Sag Pieter Danke für diesen Post.
    Einen schönen Tag wünscht
    Irmi

    ReplyDelete
  8. I understand it is difficult with all the legal terms but it must have been an experience.

    Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hallo Mariette,
    das ist eine ehrenvolle Aufgabe, auch wenn sie schlecht bezahlt wird. Aber sicher gut fürs Karma.
    Ich wünsche dir eine gute Erholung und hoffentlich gute Träume.
    Schöne Grüße, Johanna

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm not an American citizen so I'm always able to get out of jury duty! My husband got called up a couple of years ago, it was for a child molestation case...he didn't get picked and he was really happy about that because it was not a pleasant subject at all! Glad you got yours over with:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dearest Mariette, I did serve on a jury once. It was an interesting experience.
    Love to you, Ginger

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your visit and comment.

Mariette...