Oh No! Not a Jury Summons

I recently received one of those dreaded jury summonses for a trial in Cape May Court House, and thought, “Oh no, who’s got the time for this? Springtime in Cape May County is so very demanding, with everyone preparing for the onslaught of hundreds of thousands of people.”
My inappropriate instant reaction was quickly overcome by the notion that juries are important, and I should not push back. But the fact is, the lawyers don’t want me anyway, as soon as they find out I’m with the media.
So I went up on the date and time I was to be there, and of the 70 prospective jurors to be interviewed for the 14 positions, they included me…much to my surprise. We had houseguests at the time who own a metro daily in central Pennsylvania, and when I told them I was put on the jury, they, too, were shocked; their experience with jury duty had always been like mine.
The case was about two young girls who had accused an older man of molesting them, and to quote one of the jurors, “If you were to put this old guy in a line-up of 20 people and were asked which one was a child molester, you would have picked him.” But, as we listened to the evidence against him, we all came to feel it was just too thin.
Anything is possible, and it is possible that he did the things the girls said, but a man is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and we all had doubts.
I asked myself, “Why did the grand jury allow this case to go to trial? Most of the incidences took place when other adults were nearby. He was alone with the girls every morning ‘til noon; wouldn’t a perverted mind want to get them alone to himself?”
As I mentioned, 70 people had their lives disrupted for a couple of days, and 14 of us for an entire week. On top of this, the Prosecutor’s Office spent a lot of time preparing the case, and the court costs had to be quite high: there was the competent, applied, fair-minded Judge Ray Batten, friendly, professional jury management people, a court reporter and three to five amiable sheriff’s officers in the courtroom every day for a week.
In my judgment, all of this expense might have been spared if the grand jury had taken a more critical look at the evidence. Given that we are all trying to spend our tax dollars more carefully, if you and I are called to serve on a grand jury, let’s be sure to use a tight filter on what we allow to get through. And if you are called for a trial, I say, welcome the opportunity. I believe that you will go away with enhanced pride in our country.
Art Hall, publisher