I, too, was called for jury duty a couple years ago in spite of the fact
that I'm not only a law librarian but am also married to a corporate
lawyer whose primary focus is litigation. I was elected to be the foreman
by my fellow jurors which enhanced the experience even more.
When the trial was over, the judge even allowed me to take pictures of all
the parties, himself and his clerk, and all of the jurors. It was almost a
reenactment of Thomas Hart Benton's painting "Trial by Jury," the original
of which hangs in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,
Missouri. Two of the subjects in that painting were previously my bosses
(Judge Anthony Nugent and Lyman Field) so it was particularly memorable
that this judge would allow me to recreate this scenario from my first
(and perhaps only) jury experience. (There is a story that goes with the
painting that relates to one of the jurors who had asked the judge if she
could take a picture at the end of the trial and he agreed but she forgot
her camera on the last day. Several years later, the jury held a reunion
but the juror once again forgot her camera. Fortunately, another
photographer captured the reunited jury in the courtroom the second time
around.)
I can't help but feel like an "expert" now when commentators are
predicting what the jury thinks or will do. I recommend jury duty to
everyone who is given the opportunity to serve.
Linda Gingrich, MLS
Missouri Court of Appeals, W.D.
1300 Oak
Kansas City, MO 64106
e-mail: lgingric@johnco.cc.ks.us
On Tue, 3 Jun 1997, Laura Orr wrote:
> Trying to send this message again. Laura
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:35 PST