{"id":2040,"date":"2022-03-19T15:46:53","date_gmt":"2022-03-19T20:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=2040"},"modified":"2022-03-19T15:46:53","modified_gmt":"2022-03-19T20:46:53","slug":"we-the-jury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=2040","title":{"rendered":"We, The Jury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In many states, and in some federal jurisdictions, you may be excused from jury service if you are over the age of seventy \u2013 no questions asked. \u00a0Jury duty used to be something that many people disliked.\u00a0 Not me.\u00a0 I wanted to be on a jury ever since I was a young man. \u00a0Now, I\u2019m 71 and still have that desire to be empaneled on a jury \u2013 petit or grand \u2013 makes no difference.<\/p>\n

My first opportunity came when I was called for jury duty sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s in Crawford County, Iowa.\u00a0 I remember being excited about sitting in the jury box during voir dire<\/em><\/a> (French word meaning “to speak the truth.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s that period before a trial when lawyers from both sides question potential jurors to wean the larger pool of prospective jurors down to the required amount, twelve jurors in a criminal case.)\u00a0 I sat in the front row.<\/p>\n

One of the attorneys told the entire pool that the case was not a criminal trial, but a civil trial that involved an accident between a truck and a car on Highway 141 west of Denison, Iowa.\u00a0 I remember seeing a young woman at one of the tables, and I had to assume that she was one of the parties to the suit.\u00a0 I don\u2019t recall much more factual information than that about the case.\u00a0 Perhaps I wasn\u2019t informed of any more facts.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, although I was in the middle of the first row, I received the first question. \u201cHow do you feel about insurance companies?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI hate \u2018em,\u201d I replied.\u00a0 The follow up question went something like, \u201cdo you believe that would prejudice your decision?\u201d\u00a0 My answer: \u201cIt has, already.\u201d\u00a0 No more questions for me.\u00a0 I was sent back to work once a jury was assembled and there can be no doubt, I was too blatantly honest to be a juror.<\/p>\n

The next time I was called for jury duty was after living in Des Moines for several years.\u00a0 It was a week in March which included the Iowa Legislature\u2019s first funnel deadline, the busiest week of the session for a lobbyist.\u00a0 It was my belief that I would be out of the courthouse before noon. \u00a0There was no way I was going to sit on a jury since being employed as a paralegal\/lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), especially if the case was one of a criminal nature.\u00a0 Even placing a legal assistant on a jury in a civil case is unusual. \u00a0\u201cMinneapolis lawyer Robert J. Beugen<\/a> told\u00a0Minnesota Lawyer<\/em>, \u201cI would never allow an attorney or even someone with legal training on to a jury panel. Typically you want a clean slate and not someone with preformed impressions.\u201d\u201d\u00a0 Action at the Capitol didn\u2019t begin until 1:00 pm.\u00a0 I shouldn\u2019t miss a thing.<\/p>\n

Ironically, it was Polk County\u2019s busiest court docket for trials that week.\u00a0 Along with a few hundred Polk County residents, I was shuffled into and out of several different court rooms.\u00a0 A single group probably had between 25 and 50 potential jurors.\u00a0 I was not asked a question in any of the voir dire<\/em> proceedings and sat there wondering how long before I would be released.<\/p>\n

Sometime in the afternoon, those of us not chosen for a jury were allowed to leave.\u00a0 However, we were to report back on the following day, a Tuesday, to go through the entire process again.\u00a0 Tuesday was like Monday with one exception.\u00a0 We were shuffled into a court room where I noticed a good friend of mine was sitting at one of the tables.\u00a0 He was a drinking buddy.<\/p>\n

The judge asked if any of us knew the lawyers or parties to this case, which was a contract obligation written on a bar napkin between two drinking buddies.\u00a0 I had to raise my hand.\u00a0 The judge asked me who I knew.\u00a0 \u201cI know the plaintiff,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cHow do you know the plaintiff?\u201d the judge asked.\u00a0 \u2018Shit!\u2019 I thought.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to say we were drinking buddies, so I mentioned that we met occasionally at a restaurant in our hometown (I was living in Martensdale at the time, a village 17 miles from Des Moines).\u00a0 It was a restaurant, but it was also a bar.\u00a0 So, I didn\u2019t lie.\u00a0 However, I think the judge saw right through it.<\/p>\n

Tuesday evening was the same as Monday.\u00a0 Come back on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

Wednesday morning, a group of us who somehow were never good enough for any of the other trials, were led into yet another courtroom to go through the motions.\u00a0 This trial was a criminal trial, and the prosecutor, a young man, asked if anyone knew what \u201cbeyond a reasonable doubt\u201d meant.\u00a0 I raised my hand.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t going to choose an ACLU employee in a criminal matter, anyway.\u00a0 I gave him the definition as close to Black\u2019s Law Dictionary\u2019s as I could.\u00a0 \u201cCorrect,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Next thing I knew I was one of the jurors in this trial where a man was charged with the crime of \u201ccarrying weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before I go into the trial, I must segue into a matter that disturbed me deeply.\u00a0 Those of us jurors who were chosen had to be sworn in (when others said \u201cswear\u201d I said \u201caffirm\u201d).\u00a0 The judge began with \u201crepeat after me . . ..\u201d\u00a0 And at the end he said: \u201cSo help me God.\u201d\u00a0 I must have had my mouth wide open in shock.\u00a0 No, I didn\u2019t repeat that after him.\u00a0 Years later, I ran into the district\u2019s chief judge and asked him why that archaic swearing was still used.\u00a0 I am not a Jehovah\u2019s Witness, but I am not going to have the wrath of God hanging over my head because I may have made a mistake.\u00a0 The chief judge said, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 Truly, I thought they did away with that.<\/p>\n

Back to the trial.\u00a0 A woman bought a pair of boots for her brother (the defendant) and her boyfriend.\u00a0 The boots for her brother did not fit, so he took them back to the store to exchange them for a pair that did fit.\u00a0 When he arrived at the store, he picked the box up out of the trunk of the car and brought it into the store.\u00a0 He sat the box on the counter and said he wanted to exchange the boots.\u00a0 What he didn\u2019t know was that the box was not the box with the undersized boots, but the boyfriend\u2019s box with a broken, non-functioning .22 caliber pistol.\u00a0 The clerk saw the gun and called the police.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the defendant was looking at boots.\u00a0 When the police arrived, he was arrested for \u201ccarrying weapons.[1]<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 Only 3 people testified, the clerk, the policeman, and the woman who bought the boots.\u00a0 The defendant did not take the stand.<\/p>\n

We elected a man who was an assistant manager at a Hy-Vee grocery store to be the jury foreman.\u00a0 He had been on a jury once before.\u00a0 I never said a word during deliberations but let everyone else have their say.\u00a0 It was a sensible, rational, logical, and civil discussion.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take long to come up with the decision that the man was not guilty.\u00a0 That\u2019s when I raised my hand.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s almost noon.\u00a0 I think we should not rush into this decision but have them buy us lunch and come back to make sure everyone is okay with this verdict.\u201d\u00a0 My recommendation was accepted unanimously.\u00a0 We went to lunch at Johnny\u2019s Caf\u00e9 in the Court Avenue District.\u00a0 We were marched back to the jury deliberation room, and I had one more suggestion.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s wait at least fifteen minutes before we inform them that we have reached a verdict.\u00a0 We shouldn\u2019t make anyone feel that we went to lunch just because we could.\u201d\u00a0 Another unanimous decision.<\/p>\n

The defendant was found \u201cnot guilty,\u201d and the jury was dismissed.\u00a0 It was too late to go back to the Capitol.\u00a0 I deserved to have the rest of the week off, and so I did.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been summoned for jury duty four times since.\u00a0 Two times were for Polk County.\u00a0 The two summonses came back-to-back.\u00a0 I called the courthouse when I received the subsequent one because I knew you shouldn\u2019t have to serve twice in a two-year period.\u00a0 In my call, I discovered that the first time they summoned Martin Ryan and the second time they summoned Marty Ryan.\u00a0 I was not called either time.<\/p>\n

The other two times I was summoned it was the federal district court.\u00a0 I never had the chance to even walk into the federal courthouse for either of the two.\u00a0 Evidently, cases were settled out of court.<\/p>\n

My thoughts on jury duty were brought about because of a bill in the Iowa Senate.\u00a0 Senate File 2235<\/a> was a bill on the Iowa Senate Calendar that would allow a person to \u201cbe excused from Jury service if the person is a least seventy-two years of age and notified the court that the person is at least seventy-two years of age and wishes to be exempted from jury service.\u201d\u00a0 The bill is dead for the year, but if it was enacted, the courts will not hear from me.\u00a0 If called, I will serve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> 724.4 Carrying weapons. 1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person who goes armed with a dangerous weapon concealed on or about the person, or who, within the limits of any city, goes armed with a pistol or revolver, or any loaded firearm of any kind, whether concealed or not, or who knowingly carries or transports in a vehicle a pistol or revolver, commits an aggravated misdemeanor.\u00a0 [Aggravated misdemeanors are the most serious class of misdemeanors, generally punishable by up to two years in jail and a fine of between $625 and $6,250. For example, carrying a gun without a permit is an aggravated misdemeanor.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many states, and in some federal jurisdictions, you may be excused from jury service if you are over the age of seventy \u2013 no questions asked. \u00a0Jury duty used to be something that many people disliked.\u00a0 Not me.\u00a0 I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264,17],"tags":[958,330,956,957,955,959,954],"class_list":["post-2040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fairness","category-issues","tag-carrying-weapons","tag-iowa","tag-minnesota-lawyer","tag-polk-county","tag-robert-j-beugen","tag-senate-file-2235","tag-voir-dire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2041,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040\/revisions\/2041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}