Jury Duty for a Domestic Violence Criminal Trial

I was called to jury duty in the middle of my cataract surgery. So it was rescheduled to last week - the final day of two months of eye drops. As luck would have it I was selected for a criminal domestic violence case. I wasn’t happy because we had planned a weekend trip to visit our family in central Virginia and I knew this would disrupt our typical retired lifestyle. After spending a day selecting a jury, the case started that afternoon and lasted all week. This was my first jury trial, although I was almost called to two other trials. It would be interesting to witness and be a part of the process, but it was very exhausting both physically and mentally. I really didn’t know what to expect. The subject matter was disgusting and the outcome was even worse. It’s awful when you know that a twice convicted felon certainly did the violence, assault, battery, and rape - but we couldn’t convict beyond a reasonable doubt due to a lack of objective evidence. Aside from that, both parties were lying about so many things. We ended up deliberating for five hours or more in a small jury room. I took a lot of notes and reminded people about key details. So many had already made up their minds without thinking through the details. My husband drove me to and from the courthouse every day and stayed there for three days to keep me company for lunch. He had a doctors appointment on Friday so I was on my own. When the trial ended the prosecutor asked us what she could have done differently. We found out things we wish we had known that they were not able to provide to us by law. We just didn’t have hard evidence. Now the convicted felon is back out on the streets. And it will start all over again. At least the next time I won’t need to serve at least for three years. And I’ll be over seventy years old - a qualified reason to be excused.