I received that notice in the mail that most of us dread: jury summons. I don’t actually think most people want to avoid it, but we have busy lives. For better or worse, in Fayette County, it’s your duty, and you don’t get to avoid it. I spent most of the week on jury duty and thought I’d share a few highlights of the experience.

Respect: It was clear we weren’t getting off the hook for serving on jury duty. Yet if you had a problem, Sheila Studdard, clerk of court, made it clear that she would accommodate your schedule to choose another week, even if it was a last-minute emergency. Throughout the process, if we needed something, we were encouraged to ask for it.

Every person working at the courthouse was respectful and considerate, from the officers scanning our belongings as we walked in through the front door to the judges. Despite years of watching egotistical lawyers on television, there were no lawyers on ego-trips or power-hungry authority figures that I saw anywhere in the Fayette County Justice Center.

Citizenship: Judge Hankinson gave a heart-felt welcome to everyone assembled for jury duty. He talked about the importance of our right as Americans to a jury of our peers. When he made me think about soldiers putting their lives in harm’s way to protect American rights and freedoms, I thought how can we begrudge our fellow citizens of what only we as fellow citizens can give.

Everyone from the judges to the district attorney, and from the defense lawyer to the bailiffs, all commented on the importance of citizens serving on jury duty to make this important aspect of our judicial process work.

Appreciation: I can’t remember the last time I felt as appreciated as I did that week. We were thanked for our time. We were thanked for our honesty in voir dire. We were thanked for our attentiveness. We were thanked for our patience. We were thanked for the deliberations we went through in determining the verdict in the case. We were even thanked for providing the building in which all these legal processes occur (and it is a wonderful building).

So many people expressed appreciation of the fact that we all had other things going on in our lives and that it was a sacrifice to set all that aside to be available for the process.

In fact, we were told several times that even the people who were not on a jury were an important part of the process, encouraging many cases to be settled just by virtue of being there.

After the trial on which I was a juror, Judge English came to talk to us and let us ask questions we had about the process, sentencing, whatever we wanted to ask. We also got a visit from the district attorney and the defense lawyer in the case. We were left with a very satisfied feeling of what we’d accomplished, and every member of that jury greatly appreciated this respect and concern accorded to us.

Fellow citizens, I’ve mentioned many people, but would be remiss to not mention those I spent the most time with this past week — my fellow jurists. I would be proud to have any and all of these wonderful, heartfelt, painstakingly truth-seeking, conscientious people as the jury on a case of which I was on either side. These people were varied in ages, backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences, but they will have a place in my heart forever because they are such good and honorable people.

I served for jury duty in Fulton County 15 years ago, and while that memory is slightly faded (but serving on a jury is a memory that is never to disappear), I appreciated being a Fayette County resident for new reasons this past week, most of all the people.

Thank you, Judge English, Sheila, Jimmy, Ms. Doris, Toni, fellow jurists, witnesses in the case, everyone involved in any aspect, and for all the men and women who serve or served this country to give us the rights and freedoms we have.

If you ever get that little piece of paper in the mail, don’t pass up the chance for what could be one of the most patriotic, memorable, make-a-difference opportunities in your life.

P.S. One more thing I have to mention. Discussions after the trial about the rising number of incidents of sexual abuse and drugs (particularly methamphetamine) were a dismal fact of how life is changing in Fayette County. But one of the predictions was about what may be coming next.

The district attorney said there are approximately 40 active gangs in Clayton County, and they are coming our way. This wasn’t part of the trial; it was a personal concern expressed in the casual conversation after the trial was over and done, but it was concern expressed as a fact like in the way I’d speak of the widening of Ga. Highway 74: a fact of life that is evident and obvious to anyone who is looking. It scares me. I hope more people in Fayette County are scared. Drugs and gangs and violent crimes — what will we citizens do to stop them?

Michele Yother
Peachtree City, Ga.

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