JURY DUTY

 

By State Representative Don Humason, Jr.

August 23, 2008



Last week, I took my wife and her mom on a cruise.  Jan’s mom just turned 70, and I just had my 41st birthday, so it was a great way to celebrate. 

 We took the Norwegian Dream out of the port of Boston to Bermuda.  No airline hassles, good weather, great food, snorkeling, caving, swimming, and a few rum swizzles.  Not a bad way to spend a week.  My thanks to Jonelle and Sarah for holding down the fort while I was away.

 We got back last Sunday, the second day of the Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday weekend.  I figured since I voted for it, I should also take advantage of it.  So I purchased a brand new bicycle from Don Podolski at New Horizons Sports, on Franklin Street.  I must confess, it was nice not to have to pay the state sales tax!

 I had an interesting experience Monday.  I had received a summons for jury service a few months ago and had postponed the date of my service until after the House session ended and my vacation was over.  I’ve had jury duty several times in the past, usually at Springfield District Court, but I’ve never been impanelled.

 I was called to serve at the Holyoke District Court on Monday at 8:30 AM.  I sat in the jury pool room with about 40 other men and women.  The Court Officer checked us in and assigned us numbers.  I was Juror number 12. 

 We all watched the video about jury duty.  We handed in our juror questionnaire forms we were required to fill out about ourselves, our families, and our jobs.  Then Judge W. Michael Ryan came in to speak with us about what we could expect.

 Judge Ryan said that normally the problem is there aren’t enough jurors in the pool to make up enough panels for jury trials.  But the problem today was that there weren’t enough judges or cases needing jury trials.  So he told us we would most likely be released by noon.

 Around 11:30 AM the Court Officer announced there was going to be one trial and instructed us to follow him into the court room for jury selection.  The judge introduced himself again and then introduced the Assistant District Attorney who would be prosecuting the case, the Defense Attorney and defendant, and the single witness, a Holyoke Police Officer.

 The Court Clerk swore us in and then the judge asked us all a series of questions.  Did we know any of the parties involved in the trial?  Had we read anything in the newspapers or heard anything about the case on TV?  Were any of us predisposed to think favorably or unfavorably about alleged drug possession or drug use?  Would any of us have a tendency to either believe or disbelieve testimony given by a police officer? Was there anyone who felt he could not be an impartial juror and decide the case based solely on the evidence?

 A few in the jury pool answered yes.  The judge called each person up to his bench individually to speak with them.  Several he dismissed, others he asked to return to the pool.  When that process was complete, the Clerk began to call jurors by their numbers, starting with Juror number 1.

 Using the questionnaire forms, the attorneys reviewed each juror.  Some were challenged for cause and others challenged peremptory.  Since it was to be a six member jury I didn’t think they would even get to me, but enough jurors were challenged that they reached number 12. 

 To be honest, I never thought I would be picked.  I figured one of the attorneys would challenge me.  But none did and I was selected as a member of the panel.  Not only was I impanelled, but I was surprised when the then judge announced that Juror 12 would be the foreperson of the jury.

 The case to be tried was for alleged possession of a class B substance, cocaine.  A woman had been picked up at the Holyoke Mall (jurors later found out it was for shoplifting) and the Holyoke Police Officer had performed a pat-frisk using his flashlight, then handcuffed the woman and put her in the back seat of his police cruiser.  He fastened her seatbelt and then started driving her to the Holyoke Police Department for booking. 

 He testified that he observed the defendant squirming around and sinking down in the seat.  Then she told him “There’s crack cocaine on the floor.”  She was further charged with possession of cocaine.  Her defense was that the crack wasn’t hers and that it must have already been in the cruiser before her arrest.  The officer also testified that it was standard procedure to check the back of the cruiser at the beginning of each shift to make sure there ar e no weapons or contraband.

 After closing arguments on behalf of the Commonwealth and the defendant, who never took the stand herself, the judge gave jurors instructions about what we may consider in our deliberations, what the legal definition of “possession” is, and that our task was to find the defendant either guilty or not guilty.

 In the deliberation room the six jurors quickly came to the conclusion that the cocaine was the defendants and she had tried to get it off her person so it would not be discovered later when she received a more thorough search at the police department, and that the crack was not in the police cruiser before her arrest.

 Back in the courtroom, the clerk reread the charges and asked if the jury had come to a decision.  As the foreperson I answered “We have.”  Then we were asked, “What say you?” and I replied, “Guilty.”  The judge then asked the jury if the decision was unanimous and we all answered “Yes.”  The judge declared that the jury had found the defendant guilty as charged of possession of a class B substance, cocaine.  Then he thanked us for our service and dismissed the jury.

 Afterward, the judge came into the jury room and chatted with us more about the case, the defendant’s history, how we reached our decision, and his sentence (he assigned her to probation and counseling).

 The impanelling, trial, and jury deliberations took about 3 hours.  I was impressed with my fellow jurors and their contributions during deliberations.  If such a thing can be said, it was actually a fun process to be involved in.  

 Having a degree in Criminal Justice and an interest in laws and the legal system, as well as having worked in the Judicial branch of government and now the Legislative branch, I found the whole process fascinating.

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