jury experience

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ok i am now done with my trial and can talk about it all i want. i was called for jury and actually had to sit on a murder trial. the most stressful part of jury duty is the silence. i mean, here we are just thrown into a court room, this being a new experience for all of us and we have to hear testimony of a horrific crime, we have to view pictures and try to decipher what is truth and what is lie. we are told we have to come up with a verdict for this young boy who was 17 when he committed this crime with a friend. as another juror stated, these guys are bad news. they are classic, grew up in the projects, got into trouble all through elementary and junior high school, were sent to juvie to try to straighten them up, quit school, one was a daddy by the time he was 17 and both drug dealers dealing crack cocaine. they killed a couple of junkies and we had to decide if it was self defense, was it just cold blooded murder, was it a botched robbery, we know it was a drug deal gone awry. we came back with a verdict of 2nd degree murder but the process of the trial was unbelievably heavy for us 12 jurors who are just your average joes on the street. i never want the experience again, yet at the same time i do feel honored that i was able to partake in the judicial system. i now have an appreciation as to why they choose 12 jurors. someones fate must be decided, everyone sees a story differently. making 12 people from various backgrounds not including law come to an unanimous decision was very thoughtful for trying to keep things fair for all involved. we all felt pity for the victims, their families, and even these boys and their families. we all felt anger and fear. in the end we feel that we have provided justice for all involved, at least to the best that is humanly possible. i just wanted to share this experience with all on mylot :) thanx for reading