Jury Duty Part 4

The jury was given an hour for lunch. I spent my lunch hour walking around Fort Wayne and enjoyed the atmosphere. I also took that time to call my fiancee and family to let them know that I was selected to be on the jury, so I wasn't sure when I would be done. After my walk and my phone calls, I returned to the room that was reserved for the jury. After waiting there for five or ten minutes, the rest of the jury arrived and shortly after that, the bailiff walked in and told us there was a delay and that we were free to leave and do whatever we wanted for another fifteen minutes. I, as well as most of the other jurors, chose to stay in the room and just talk or listen to the others talking. There were about nine of us in the room, but four people did all the talking, mostly about the weather in Florida. The rest of us just listened to them talk or read books. After twenty minutes, all the jury was once again in the room and the bailiff then took us into the courtroom. As the first juror entered the courtroom, the bailiff told everyone to rise; once I reached my seat, because I was the last juror, the bailiff told everyone they could again sit down. Once we were all seated, it was time to continue with the trial.

The next witness the Plaintiff presented was the victim, the person who wrote the check that was later stolen and forged. The victim testified that she had placed the check in the mailbox and noticed, on an on-line statement, that the check had been cashed a lot sooner than she expected it to be cashed. She then testified that she had a stop-payment on the check and talked to the bank and asked for a copy of the check. It was then that she realized that her check had been stolen and forged. The Prosecutor then presented her with a copy of the check and asked if it was her signature on the check, to which she said 'yes'. He then asked if the check was different in any way from the way she had written the check, to which she mentioned that the amount the check was made out to and the person it was payable to were changed. The Prosecutor then asked if she knew the defendant at the time she wrote the check, to which she said 'no'. The witness was then excused. The final witness was a police detective investigating the case. He testified that the defendant was involved with the case he was working on. He also testified that the defendant was arrested and charged. The witness was then dismissed.

After the last witness was dismissed, the Prosecutor announced that the Prosecution Rests. After that, the Defense Attorney spoke up and said something that I wasn't able to make out. However, the judge heard him and after a few seconds of thinking, the judged asked that the courtroom be cleared. When this happened, the bailiff quickly stood, asked everyone to rise, and told us, the jury, that we had to go back to our room. While in the room, everyone was confused abut the urgent dismissal and wondered what was going on. After about ten minutes, the judge walked into the room, with his robe in his arms. The judge thanked us for showing up and told us that we were no longer needed and free to leave. He told us that the Prosecutor did not show, beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendant was guilty. Normally, it is the jury who decides this, but in this case, there was absolutely no doubt that the Prosecutor failed to show the defendant was guilty. Specifically, the Prosecutor did not show that the defendant cashed the check. In opening statements, the Defense admitted that the Defendant cashed the check; however, opening statements are not considered evidence. Secondly, the Prosecutor did not show that the defendant had the intent to commit fraud. The only thing that the Prosecutor presented was evidence that showed that a check had been stolen, altered and cashed; he did not present any evidence that the defendant cashed the check or that the defendant had the intent to commit fraud; therefore, the Judge declared that the Prosecutor did not show the defendant was guilty and the Judge declared that the defendant was found to be not guilty of fraud in this case. I'm not sure if the defendant had been charged for other crimes, but in our case, the defendant was found to be not guilty.

Jury Duty Part 3

Once the Jury was selected, it was time for opening statements. The opening statements seemed to be the introduction we were given earlier except with more emotion, firmer words and hand gestures. The Prosecutor claimed that the defendant stole a check from the victim, altered the check and cashed the check with the intention of committing fraud. The Defense claimed that the Defendant was given a check by a stranger and was asked to cash the check in return for thirty dollars; the Defense claimed that the defendant had a good heart but an empty head, and because of that, didn't have the intent to commit fraud.

After the opening statements, the Prosecutor called his witnesses. The first witness was a woman who previously worked for the victim's bank. The worker explained the process the bank goes through when cashing checks: if the customer is not a member of the bank, then two forms of identification are required as well as a thumb print. A copy of the forged check was then given to the worker and she identified the check as being cashed at the bank she worked for. A form was then given to her and she identified it as the form the bank uses to report forgeries. The witness was then excused.

The second witness was a police officer. The prosecutor asked how she was involved with the case. The officer stated that she was called to the victims house when the victim found out the check had been stolen.

The third witness was postal investigator. She testified that the Defendant's name appeared when investigating a series of forged checks that resulted from mail thefts. She also testified that she located the defendant and asked him to make arrangements for an interview. She also testified that the defendant tried to say some things to her about the check but she cut him off because she didn't want the defendant saying anything to her without something to record the conversation with and someone to witness the conversation.

It took about forty minute to question those three witnesses and by that time, it was lunch time, so the judge decided to take a break for lunch and allow the rest of the witnesses be questioned after lunch.

Jury Duty Part 2

I walked in the courtroom and the first thing I noticed was how empty it appeared to be. There were a total of seven people in the entire room: the judge, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, the defendant, the court recorder and three people would would testify during the case. After entering the courtroom, I made my way over to my seat, seat one of the jury box. Once we were all seated, the judge thanked us for showing up at court and explained to us why it is so important that we participate in the Jury selection process. The judge then told us that case about to be presented was for Forgery, a Class C Felony, and in order to find the defendant guilty, the Prosecutor would have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Defendant 1) cashed a check signed by the victim 2) that was not written to Defendant, 3) with the intend to commit fraud. The Prosecutor and Defense were then allowed to introduce themselves and the people they intended to call to be witnesses. Once everyone was introduced, the Prosecutor and Defense gave the background of the case.

The Prosecutor explained to us that a woman had placed some checks was made out to pay bills in her mailbox to be picked up by the mailman the next day. However, during the night, her mail, including the check, had been stolen from her mailbox and the following day the check was altered and the Defendant cashed the check. The check, which was originally made out to the electric company for thirty two dollars, was altered so that the amount was three thousand dollars and so that it was payable to the defendant.

The Defense then explained its side of the story. The Defense agreed that the Defendant cashed the check and that the amount of the check and who the check was payable to was altered. However, the Defense claimed that the Defendant was given the check by a stranger and was asked to cash the check because the stranger had scars over much of his body and was not comfortable with others seeing him; in return the stranger offered to pay the defendant thirty dollars. The defense claimed that, because of this, the defendant did not have the intent to commit fraud; he just didn't have the brains to refuse to cash the check.

After the introduction of the case, the jury had to be selected. Since it is important that the jury doesn't have any bias for or against the defendant, the judge then proceeded to ask us questions to determine if we would be able to serve on the Jury. Among the questions he asked were 'Do you know the Defendant or Prosecutor', 'Have you ever been a victim of a crime; if so, are you still able to be impartial' and 'Do you personally know anyone with ties to law enforcement; if so, are you still able to remain impartial'. The Prosecutor and Defense were then allowed to ask us questions to see if they wanted us to be on the jury. After each of them asked us questions, they both met with the judge to discuss who would be dismissed. When they were done talking, the judged dismissed four potential jurors. The bailiff then called four other potential jurors to sit where those dismissed had previous sat. The Prosecutor and Defense then asked the new people questions. Afterward, all four of the new people were dismissed and four others selected. Out of those four, one was dismissed. Them last person was then asked questions by the Prosecutor and Defense again. After talking to the Judge, the judge announced that the Jury had been selected. I was no longer a potential juror, but instead an actual juror.

Jury Duty Part 1

Yesterday, I had to report to the County Courthouse because of a Summons for Jury Duty I had received a few weeks ago. Yesterday morning, I was happy that I was able to sleep in for about ten minutes because, instead of being at work at 8:00 am, I had to be at the County Courthouse at 8:30 am. I know, ten minutes doesn't sound like much time to sleep in, but at 6:30 am, every minute feels like ten. After I had cleaned up and gotten dressed, I remembered that I had never been to the courthouse before and that I didn't know how to get there. At first, this didn't bother me at all, because I thought I would just use my GPS receiver. But then I remembered that I had recently gone to St. Louis and that my GPS receiver had the maps for St. Louis on it and not the maps for Fort Wayne. Again, I thought that it wouldn't be a big deal since I could just download the maps onto the receiver. After hooking the receiver up to my computer and starting the transfer, I realized that it was going to take a good 30 minutes to download the maps I needed. It was then, 7:30 am, that I started panicking.

At first I was planning to leave at 8:00 am, knowing that I can get to anywhere in downtown Fort Wayne in half an hour. But then I started thinking... I do want to be a little early; I don't want to give a bad impression... what if I get lost on the way... what if the traffic lights aren't in my favor and I have to stop for every light on the way... what if the morning traffic is awful... what if a road is closed... I'm going to be late!! By this time it's 7:45 and I'm worried sick. The map won't be done downloading for another 15 minutes, 10 minutes if I'm lucky, and I don't want to wait until then to leave. So, instead of waiting, I look on-line at a map of Fort Wayne. I typed in the address of the Courthouse and tried to find a road I knew how to get to. Once I did that, I left, hoping that I would know where I was going. Once I got in the area of the Courthouse, I used the map on the back of the Summons I received and realized that it was actually very easy to find. I then parked in one of the parking lots near the Courthouse and make my way over.

The Courthouse has doors on all four of its sides, but all of them are locked, except for one set of doors, which just so happens to be on the other side of the building. After walking around the building and finding the doors, I go inside and have to go through security. Just on the other side of security, I find a sign, which says 'Jury' and has an arrow pointing to the left. I follow the sign and come to a window that I have to check in at.

After checking in, I had to sit in a waiting area while all the other potential jurors arrived. After waiting for about fifteen minutes, all the jurors had arrived and one of the workers in the Courthouse come out and showed us a video about being a juror. The video was just a little introduction to what we would be expected to do and I think it also tried to help potential jurors relax in case they were nervous and also to make them feel proud to be a potential juror... that's what the video did for me at least. Once the video was over, the Courthouse worker came out again and told us that the bailiff would be coming soon to show us where to go, what to do and just take care of us. I was very impressed with the people I interacted with at the Courthouse. The Courthouse worker I had mentioned was wonderful; she was very polite, very easy-going and just helped things go very smoothly. The bailiff was also wonderful. The bailiff was very friendly, made sure everyone did okay and did a good job of just watching over all of us; he made sure we had everything we needed, answered all the questions we had, recommended where we should eat, gave us little tips and just made sure we were all okay.

Once the bailiff arrived, he explained to us how everything would work. First, twelve potential jurors were selected to sit in the jury box while everyone else would sit in the 'audience' seats. The Judge and lawyers would then ask the potential jurors in the box questions and decide if they wanted to excuse anyone. If a potential juror was excused, that person was free to leave and go; the bailiff would then call out one of the potential jurors in the 'audience' seats to replace the excused person.

Once the bailiff explained the process to us, he told us where the courtroom we would go to was. However, before we left, the bailiff told us who would be the first people in the box. Now, everyone had juror numbers (mine was 54) and that was all that was used once we were in the courtroom. However, the bailiff told us that he would call off our names, instead of our numbers, to tell us who would be the first people in the box, but that this would be the only time and that after that all that would be used would be our numbers. Well, I was sitting there, looking around... quite a lot of people. I was number 54 and I assumed that meant there were at least 53 other potential jurors (which looked about right). I was thinking... 12 out of 53... not much chance he's going to call my name. Realizing this, I decide to listen, just in case, but not with any hope of being called. So, he looks at his list, and as it just happens to turn out, he calls my name... not only so I start off in the jury box, but I'm the first person called! Once he calls off all the others who start off in the box, we all head up to the courtroom, which is on the top floor, giving us an excellent opportunity to look at how beautiful the courthouse is.

Once we are at the top, we quickly find the courtroom and line up, with me in front, ready to enter the courtroom. Once we are lined up, we walk to the doors. As I get closer, not knowing what to expect, I lifted my chin, put on a blank face, straighten my back and confidently approach the doors, ready for anything.