Saturday, 10 November 2007

• thoughts on being a grand juror

  i am now officially a grand juror for the district court of brown county

  and the experience is not at all what i thought it would be:

  first, let me explain how grand juries work in texas (because until the other day, i did not know either)
  petite jurors are chosen at random by anyone we has a voter registration card or driver's license in the county.  to be chosen for the grand juror you have to be nominated by the grand jury nominating committee comprised of various community leaders (whose identity is confidential).  about twenty five people are summoned for duty for a term from the list generated from the nominations.  the judge then chooses 12 and 2 alternates for the 25 to serve one day a month for the next quarter term.
  the grand jury does not decided the outcome of a specific trial - but rather decided whether there is enough evidence for a specific case to go to trial and formerly indict the accused of felony charges.  they also have the authority to change specific charges, in certain circumstances, if deemed necessary.

  
  all that to say...

   

  i was chosen to serve on the grand jury for the next three months....and it is an amazing experience, and here's why:

  i never planned on or wanted to be a part of the brownwood community.  i never wanted to claim to be from brownwood or accused of it - but...
  now that i do live here, and now that i am ministering to the community in which i live, i find it a very important thing to be an integral part of that community in order to understand it and reach it effectively.
  it was an honor to me that i have made an impression on persons in the community that i would be nominated, much less chosen, by unknown members of this community as a person of good character and sound judgement.
  the more time i spent with my fellow jurors, the more i realized we were connected...

  a professor and fellow pastor in the community
  two men associated with the company i work for
  a couple ladies that worked for the school district where i was once employed
  and several others tied together by not much more than one degree of separation

  as they started presenting the cases, i was surprised once again by the familiarity.  i knew names and places mentioned in many of the cases.  i remember specific incidents occurring recently and being affected by them in one way or another.  and in most cases, many of the people i was connected to directly were connected in some direct way with the cases before us.

  all the cases and judical proceedings aside...
  the thing that made the greatest impression on me was this:

   

  i am a member of this community

  what happens here affects me

  what i do affects this community

   

  and that is a wonderful thing!

   

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