Community Magazine September 2019

42 Community Magazine How Jury Duty Prepared Me for Rosh Hashanah J ury duty is a fact of life when you live in Baltimore, MD. It means sitting all day in a room waiting for your number to be called for possible selection for a jury, along with 700 other people. So many people are called since the attorneys will disqualify most potential jurors for some reason or another. For many years I escaped the jury duty experience, but the day finally came when I got that ill-fated card in the mail. So off I went, not wanting to get fined or, as the card states, serve possible jail time. I got there right on time at 8:30am, without knowing that I could have arrived at 10:00am and no one would have missed me. Waiting and More Waiting My jury duty began and I waited. And waited. And waited. I tried to utilize the time as best as I could, reading and studying Torah, but it was not the best environment in which to learn. I couldn’t concentrate so well. A half hour after the lunch break, for the first time all day, there was an announcement instructing 200 of us to report to a specific courtroom. We followed a court employee like a mini-parade as we ventured outside to a courthouse a couple of blocks away. We finally got to our destination andwere asked to sit down on the benches in the viewers section of the courtroom. Eventually the room fell eerily silent and the judge informed us that we would begin the proceedings shortly. We waited. At that point an attorney approached the judge, and then another attorney who seemed to represent the opposing side also “approached the bench.” The judge conversed with them for 15 minutes while we potential jurors sat quietly. Rabbi Boruch Leff The Story Behind the Court Case Finally, the judge spoke to us. “Ladies and gentleman, I would like to thank you for giving up your day and devoting yourself to the public service of jury duty. I know many of you had to give up a day of work, while others had to find child care for their young ones. Your fellow citizens appreciate your dedication to this important task. “Let me explain the great assistance you just accomplished without you even realizing what you have done. The man standing by the desk to my right has been accused of murder. Throughout the morning we were trying to see if he would plead guilty, agree to a plea-bargain, and avoid a trial. But he kept on maintaining his innocence, despite the heavy and serious evidence gathered against him. Consequently, shortly after the lunch break, I had the 200 of you summoned to this courtroom so as to begin jury selection proceedings. “But now I am pleased to report to you that as you all proceeded into this room, reality began to sink in to the defendant, and he began to truly recognize that a trial against him was actually about to begin. Apparently, the depth of the matter did not really hit home until he saw the 200 of you piling into the room. “He has now chosen to change his plea to guilty. You have all accomplished a great thing for our society by merely being here today and I am pleased to tell you that you may all go home!” The Take Home Lesson As I happily raced out of there, a stark, sobering lesson stared me in the face. The defendant kept pretending that he would somehow get away with it. He didn’t take seriously the possibility of a trial and conviction to a harsh and long sentence. He was in denial. Only when hundreds