A great comedian, Norm Crosby, was reflecting on the perils of being tried for a criminal offense.  “The scariest thing is having your fate decided by twelve people who are too stupid to get out of jury duty.”

Most of us recognize the importance of this civic duty but really hope that we are not called. It is a sudden event in our highly planned lives that is always inconvenient.  

I have been selected for Jury Duty a few times.  The odds are very long that anyone will actually be selected.  First you have to be summoned.  I was randomly chosen as a potential juror four times.  Most of my friends have never even received an initial notice.  I was instructed to call the Court on Friday afternoon to see if my services may be needed the following week.  Three of the four times they cancelled any requirement for my services. 

Once, however, I was asked put on a suit and report to the Court House.  I was given a number and tossed in to a pool of potential jurors for a civil trial in the State of Florida judicial system.  Somebody was badly injured at work and they were suing a large multinational employer and the employer’s insurance company for damages. Tens of millions of dollars were at stake.  All morning, they kept pulling other people’s numbers out of the hat.  Both lawyers were sorting through potential jurors with a lot of detailed personal and professional questions.  One person was eliminated because she had been employed, as an administrative assistant, by an insurance company.  Another was an accountant for a local bank. One of the lawyers did not want any accountants on the jury.

I’ll be out of here in no time.  I was a CPA who primarily audited insurance companies. In fact, I was Controller of a public insurance company for several years.  I now ran a consulting practice and all my clients were insurance companies.  We were down to just one open slot.  There were twenty prospective jurors sitting with me.  I will be home for lunch.  The judge called both lawyers to the bench.  He seemed unhappy about how long this process was taking. 

The bailiff pulled my number out of the hat. I was ready.  I would be completely truthful in all of my answers.  However, I would clearly show that my life experiences may not make me the best jury candidate for this trial. I would dazzle them with my CPA/auditing experience reviewing a lot of bogus injury claims.  As Controller of the insurance company, we were required to safeguard the reserves for our policy holders by culling out claims that clearly did not meet policy requirements.  I had grown to naturally dislike injury attorneys.  Frivolous lawsuits are the primary reason for excessive insurance costs in our state. 

I sat down for the inquisition.  The attorney opened with a softball.  “Is there any reason you cannot be fair if we seat you on the jury?”  My one word response was “No”.  “Okay, we accept this juror.  Let’s go to trial.” 

Wait! Wait! Wait!  You asked everyone else all kinds of questions about their personal life and employment history.  “Did an attorney ever make you cry?”  Are you happy when you write a check for your insurance premiums? Did an insurance agent ever cut in front of you in a concession stand line. Do you like creamy or chunky peanut butter?  Boxers or briefs?”  What?? I only get this one simple question??

One thing you learn about the judicial system is that jurors don’t get to ask any questions.  You get to answer some in the selection process and that is it.  I only got to answer one.  After a one word, two letter response, I am a juror.

Now I was in Norm Crosby’s cultural category of someone being too stupid to avoid jury duty. 

This was not how I intended to spend the next few days.  I had some challenges at work that needed attention.  However, Jury Duty is clearly an important civic duty.  I was legitimately selected and I will work with my fellow jurors to make the fairest possible decision.  As it turns out, this was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

The trial ran for five days.  The six jurors were from very diverse backgrounds.  There was a nurse, a school teacher, a homemaker, a student, a government employee and a business man.  We all followed the judge’s instructions not to discuss the case until it was turned over to us for deliberation. The first few days, I swung back and forth as the attorneys unfurled their cases.  After about three days, it appeared to me that one party was clearly right and the other was not.  I listened carefully until early Friday afternoon and became even more solidified in my position.  I thought, this could be bad.  I am not going to change my mind and it is very likely that some of my fellow jurors are equally entrenched on the other side.  We were a diverse group.  I have consistently found in life that most people don’t think as weirdly as I do.  Deliberations were going to be interesting.

What became very clear, when we were able to discuss the case, was that every single juror had carefully paid attention for the entire trial. There was some confusion about a few key facts. But not many.  We spent some time making sure we all understood them correctly.  Now we had to decide.  Everybody was serious.  We all wanted to get this right. 

We then decided to vote.  There were about five issues to rule on.  In reality, the only issue was “Is the employer liable for injuries suffered by the employee?” Instead of raising hands, we went around the table and asked every juror what their decision was and also asked them to explain why they made that decision.  I was the last person to vote.  At this point the count was 5-0.  Going in to the vote, I was confident enough with my decision to spend a few days in deliberation and hang the jury if others disagreed. My turn. I simply said that I agreed with everyone else.  I don’t need to tell you why because you more than included all of my reasons in yours.    

How did we get a unanimous decision so quickly?  It was not because the case was simple or clear cut.  The jurors were all very different individuals.  Different backgrounds, different political beliefs, different cultures.  What we had in common was a great sense of right and wrong and a very strong desire to reach a responsible verdict. 

This was very encouraging to me.  All six of us paid attention for a full week and made our decisions based on the facts that were presented to us.  No one simply went along with the crowd.  A random group of six people made a terrific effort to ensure that the State of Florida court system was fair and impartial.    

So I have to disagree with Norm Crosby.  There were no stupid people on this jury.  Very likely, all of us would have preferred to not be selected.  But once we were chosen, we did a great job.  I have the sense that this is the way most juries work in America and it is a real tribute to our country.