Jury duty maintains community standards, safeguards liberties
"I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury."
Groucho Marx
Trial by jury is one of the fundamental rights we every one of us are guaranteed by our Constitution.
The first Congress of the United States insisted on preserving our right to a jury trial by including it among the Bill of Rights in 1787.
The Sixth Amendment states that in criminal prosecution an accused person has the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury. That means a jury comprised of members our community charged with the responsibility of making sure the government meets its burden, especially in those cases where the ultimate penalty is sought.
The Seventh Amendment provides for jury trials in civil matters. Private citizens and businesses use our court system to peacefully resolve disputes between them. An individual, our government, even the largest corporations, stand equally before a court seeking justice.
Again, the community via a jury determines who should prevail and how much compensation is due, if any, in such matters as auto accidents, faulty consumer products and contracts, just to name a few. Every state's constitution has incorporated the basic principles of jury trials.
Perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court said it best in U.S. v. Ballardwhen it struck down a conviction because of the grand jury's composition. The court explained: "[The] exclusion of women from jury panels may at times be highly prejudicial to the defendants. But reversible error does not depend on a showing of prejudice in an individual case [footnote omitted].
"The evil lies in the admitted exclusion of an eligible class or group in the community in disregard of the prescribed standards of jury selection. The systematic and intentional exclusion of women, like the exclusion of a racial group, [citation] or an economic or social class, [citation] deprives the jury system of the broad base it was designed by Congress to have in our democratic society.
"It is a departure from the statutory scheme. As well stated in U.S. vs. Roemig, 'Such action is operative to destroy the basic democracy and classlessness of jury personnel.' It 'does not accord to the defendant the type of jury to which the law entitles him. It is an administrative denial of a right which the lawmakers have not seen fit to withhold from, but have actually guaranteed to him.' [Citation omitted.]
"The injury is not limited to the defendant there is injury to the jury system, to the law as an institution, to the community at large, and to the democratic ideal reflected in the processes of our courts."
Jury duty is a civic duty. It is how we maintain community standards. It is how we safeguard liberty and property. Other than voting, it is the only time we can have a say in how our government works. It is how we can guarantee that principle we proclaim whenever we recite the pledge of allegiance: justice for all.
Louie Vega is a Kern County Superior Court commissioner.
