My Experience on Jury Duty

This is my Op-Ed originally printed in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle - May 2012

My Experience on Jury Duty by Ella Dean

On Saturday, May 5th, I attended a community leaders meeting geared to improve minority participation on jury’s.  The meeting was coordinated by City Council President Lovely Warren along with local court and jury officials.  I was very happy to see this forum put together, as I recently experienced first hand the need for it.

I have lived in Rochester for my entire life, minus 5 years and had never been called to serve jury duty, until last month that is.  I was called to serve on the Grand Jury, which is a month long commitment.  I never could have imagined how my time served would affect my life forever….

The first thing I noticed on my first day that included mainly orientation type activities was that I was only one of two minorities out of the 23 jurors.  During our breaks, I had done an unofficial poll of my fellow jurors, asking them where they lived.  There were only three people on the jury who lived in the City of Rochester.  The majority of them wouldn’t even leave the courthouse during our lunch break, because they were afraid to venture out in downtown.

Where are you?

At first, it really wasn’t a factor.  Most of the cases we reviewed were pretty much “slam dunk” cases.  The ADA’s presented their cases, the evidence and asked us to rule.  For the first week, it was smooth sailing and we all agreed on the decisions we made.  And then it happened….All hell broke loose!

Due to the fact that I have been sworn not to discuss the details of any of the 65 cases I heard, I can’t be too specific.  But, we were presented with a case that included a defendant and the police.  It was very clear to me that there were too many holes in the story for me to vote in favor of an indictment.  I based this on the instructions I had been given during orientation and MY life experience.  I felt it necessary to share my feelings and thoughts with the other jurors during the deliberation process.  I explained that racial profiling was not an urban myth and it did happen on occasion.  The very long deliberations got very heated and split the 23 jurors that day and the rest of our term.  The friendly atmosphere that originally existed in the room was gone forever.  BTW, the defendant wasn’t indicted on all of the charges.  The ADA was shocked!  A usually “slam dunk” case was questioned – something that does not normally happen.  I wonder what the outcome would have been if I wasn’t there to plead the defendants case.

Unless you are involved in the process, don’t complain about the outcome.  Volunteer to be a juror today.  It will change your life.  At least it did for me!

Jury Duty has made the Dean's List


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