Jury Duty; Religious Life

As some of you know, I am serving on a jury trial in Boston this week. The trial will continue next week and possibly even longer. To my dismay, I was called when I was to be on vacation so for the third year in a row, I will not get a break that I need.

I’m also not in a position to preside at two funerals this week. One funeral is for a colleague’s mother and the other is for a childhood friend’s husband. I watch him die last night as he labored to breathe. I kept seeing Christ suspended on the cross unable to gasp for air. Fortunately, for my friend, palliative medicine helped him become comfortable.

I am instructed not to discuss the trial in any way, but I will provide some reflections on the process.

The Call

First of all, I was surprised to be called to jury service. This was my first time ever receiving notice of jury duty. I had been told I would never be called as a priest and I made sure that I spoke about being a Roman Catholic Religious Order priest. Still, prosecution and defense accepted me.

I will write further on the entire process because it is astounding and awe-inspiring.

Nevertheless, I was stunned when I heard that I was accepted. I really was disbelieving. We did hear about the case before we were interviewed as potential jurors and I was relieved because I realized I would not be called. I was wrong.

The Role of the Judge

The judge’s role is fascinating. He is the law. It is his or her job to maintain a respectful, pleasant atmosphere. His job is not to judge the case. His job is to apply the law. The prosecutor has the entire burden to prove the State’s case beyond reasonable doubt, and the defense’s case is easier because the defendant is declared innocent until the jury may decide otherwise.

The Jury is the Judge

The jury’s role is to be fair and impartial and to listen to the two sides of the argument. The jury is to be convinced of the prosecutor’s facts or not be convinced. When it comes time to deliberate, four of the sixteen jurors will be randomly dismissed. Certain points of law will be applied, and the jury will be given instructions.

The function of the jury is not to do research, seek, search for the truth. It is not necessarily to assess guilt. It is to determine if the prosecutor’s proved the case beyond reasonable doubt. The jury is instructed to not include hearsay; we have to suspend our desire to draw conclusions or do additional research. Our job is to hear the case.

A Hearing

The trial is called a hearing because this is the primary role of the jury. The jury does not ask questions or interact with anyone. The jury maintains confidentiality throughout the whole process. We do not talk with each other, except about the weather, break times, or looking forward to the weekend. The jury’s job is merely “to hear” until it is time to deliberate.

Jury Selection

In many ways, jury selection is like discipleship. We are called. We don’t know why. We don’t know why the person next to us was called. We sometimes cannot see any similarities or draw conclusions about the type of persons that we selected. The selection is a mystery.

It is just like religious life. Sometimes we wonder why a certain person was selected. We come from so many diverse backgrounds and yet Christ calls us to the same way of life. Somehow it works.

Equality and Dignity

Every juror has the same dignity. No hierarchy exists. If someone is repeatedly late to service, no one can ask why, and no one can ask that someone try harder to arrive on time. Service depends upon the goodwill of people to honor and respect each other and the common good. We are equal. We take the role seriously. We know it is our honored constitutional civic duty.

Good Table Manners

Just as, in a very basic sense, the Catholic mass is a set of good table manners, the courtroom has a particular set of table manners that is upheld. The presider is respected by the court. Everyone rises when the judge enters or exits the courtroom. Prosecuting and defense attorneys have a particular decorum in the court, always asking permission of the judge to perform certain tasks, such as, “May I approach the witness?,” “May I show the jury this evidence?,” “May I enter this as evidence?” Objections are done according to the discretion of the judge. Good manners are a necessity. It is always kind to use good manners.

As the jury is the judge, the entire courtroom rises when the jurors exit or enter the courtroom. You never see this on television or in the movies.

Biblical Role of the Courtroom

I keep seeing parallels between the Old Testament imagery of legal proceedings and today’s courtroom. God, the just judge, presides over the dispute, and Satan is the adversarial prosecutor that is trying to trip up plaintiff. God is also the jury. Christ, the Advocate, is the defense witness, who declares his defendant’s innocence. This imagery begins with the Book of Job, throughout Hebrew Scripture and Wisdom literature, right up through the Gospel accounts. Christ’s representation will see us through the trial and he has won us eternal life.

The Law versus Mercy

While the legal system has the duty to apply the law and be judged by it, God’s judgment is mercy. Mercy always wins out. It is the defining aspect of Christian life, which is a reason it needs to be given ascendancy. Christians work within the law, but the law of Christ has its primacy. We are freed from the law so we can promote works of mercy. 

Onto Week Two…