Jury Duty

Jury duty has come and gone. I was actually picked for a jury and served a day and a half. Often, people in the legal profession are automatically rejected from the jury for obvious reasons. I was selected along with 6 other people to decide a drunk driving case. The defendant had two charges against him. One being that he was in control of a vehicle while impaired and the other was that he blew a 0.08 on the breathalyzer. When the case was given to us, we deliberated for about an hour and a half. We agreed that he had blown a breath test over the legal limit so found him guilty on that charge but we were hung on whether or not he was "impaired to the slightest degree". I voted guilty on both counts because it seems the two charges really can't be inseperable. If you blow a 0.08 then chances are really good that you were driving while impaired.

I haven't served on a jury for over 20 years so it was interesting to see how "behind the scenes" work. I have prepared for and participated in several jury trials and you know that as soon as your case goes to a jury, it's anybody's guess what's going to happen.