Jury duty

I was summoned to jury duty a few days ago. I thought I might be exempt because I served on a jury not too long ago and a person is exempt from jury duty for a year after serving. After some hunting around for my old summons I found out that “not too long ago” was actually almost 2 years ago, my how time flies.

The trial I served on then dealt with a man accused of 2 counts of pimping, 2 counts of pandering, 2 counts of assault, and 1 count of grand theft. The DA’s main witness was a young girl who was claiming to have worked for the defendant as a prostitute and was also the victim of the assaults and theft. The trial was thoroughly depressing as day after day we learned great many details about the sex industry in San Francisco.

In the end we found the defendant guilty of all but 1 count of pimping and 1 count of pandering, and that was because not everybody felt the evidence was sufficient “beyond a reasonable doubt” on those two counts. To be honest, I felt otherwise.

Have you been on a jury?