Composing this piece is a delicate exercise-one intended to be both humorous and informative yet oh so careful not to offend. In what seemed like a much shorter period of time than six months, I found myself sitting among potential jurors for a case that will take place some time next month. The Fourth Circuit Court of Mississippi, Washington County Courthouse to be more exact, was where 104 of us sat with our attention spans ebbing and flowing waiting to hear our names assigned to a number.
This is one of the most visible outcomes of being a registered voter. There are four judges in the Fourth Circuit and ironically just like back in December the Honorable Carol White-Richard was presiding over the court. I have no idea what the case was back in December nor did I get selected this time where the likelihood was greater because there was both a jury and grand jury needing to be named. Circuit court has its share of serious cases regarding serious crimes and relies on the impartiality of hard-working citizens. Judge Richard is one magistrate who understands the seriousness of her duties while providing much needed levity and humor during the selection process. I remember during my attempt to be excused back in December, I tried to use the fact that the Enterprise-Tocsin was such a small operation and my absence on the day before deadline would be detrimental. As I returned to my seat shaking my head in disappointment, I remember clearly how the courtroom burst into laughter led by Nate Watkins and Wanda Johnson. So, this time around, there was no way I would attempt to do the same.
When the judge read all of the qualifications and legal requirements for being a juror, the next phase of trying to be excused from serving was that each individual come before the bench and give the judge a reason they could not serve. Let’s say 40 jurors went before the bench and only about four or five provided sufficient enough reason to be excused. Honestly, most of us never want to be selected because it means that work and family life will be upended for a little while.
The task on Monday, July 10 was to select 25 individuals for both juries and with a little more than 100 jurors present, there was about a 25 percent chance of being selected. When we returned from break Judge Richard called out a set of numbers and I could see the people’s eyes begin to beam with excitement. Surely, most of them thought that they would be among the excused. But in a twist of fate, these were the 25 selected to serve. By 11 a.m. most of us breathed a sigh of relief after being dismissed and got on about our day.
Personally, as a journalist jury duty is always a dilemma. Do you want to get selected and miss days of work? Or do you prefer being picked where a jury trial is tremendous fodder for newspaper pages? I surmise that the latter is one reason I never get picked after attorneys review the client information cards. Anyhow, the important part for me and any other registered voter is to show up and serve because the circuit court system cannot function without willing jurors. There were more than 30 names read aloud by the court clerk at the start of the day before juror number one said, “present.” Some people no longer live here and others may have changed addresses and those are valid excuses for not appearing in court when summoned. However, if no extenuating circumstances prohibit you showing up, then by all means please do so. Had I chosen to ignore my jury summons, I would have missed seeing my former student at Solomon Middle School now attorney Laura Cooper being sworn in as Assistant District Attorney.
Patrick Ervin is editor for the Delta Democrat Times. Writer him at patrickervin@ddtonline.com
