a first: 2 of 2

About a month a go, I receive a summon letter from the city Law Courts. They were summoning me for a pre-selection to stand as a juror.

I got nervous. And scared. And then interested. Firstly, I don't know anything about being a juror. We don't have a jury back in the Philippines. I only know about jury based on what I see on films.

Based on the letter that I received, one can serve as a juror even without formal knowledge or experience of the law. But you can be excused from serving jury duties. Here are some valid reasons to be disqualified:
1) not a resident of the province
(2) under the age of 18
(3) member or officer of a body or organization that deals or handles criminal cases (like the Parliament, Legislature, Executive Coucil, Department of Justice, the Public Prosecution Service, Police Force, correctional, penitentiary, prison, Medical practitioners for criminal cases)
(4) have medical or physical infirmity that will interfere with your ability to serve as a juror
(5) have been convicted of an indictable offence and have not been pardoned
(6) do not understand the language

And reasons to be excused:
(1) religious reasons with beliefs or practices that makes serving as a juror incompatible
(2) it may cause serious loss or hardships to you or others. Say you will not be compensated (we are being paid here at work while being away serving as a jury),
(3) member of the Canadian forces
(4) have served as a jury within the previous two years.

In short, I don't have any reason to be disqualified or be excused. Honestly, after I had that accident last week, I thought I might be able to use that as an excuse. But I want to do my civic duties, so yesterday, I went to the law courts and participated in the process of jury selection.

It was an .... experience. I will not tell exactly what happened. For a vague story telling, all of us who were summoned, waited to be randomly called to be sworn in. While it was my time, I was asked a couple of questions by the lawyers and then they (the triars, lawyers, and judge) will determine and decide if one is fit to be an objective juror.

We were there from 8:30 am. I was called about 3:30 pm. I wasn't chosen to serve on an actual case. I didn't know what time they finished choosing the members of the jury or if they have finished at all that day.

I would have wanted to see the process until the end, that is, to serve as a jury during court proceedings. But I got nervous and scared and was just plain honest to say that I am not sure if I can really be that objective in dealing with the case. So now, my name is back in the pool of possible juror. Who knows when will I receive my next summon letter. I'll know better then.