Another opportunity to serve my community has been taken away from me … not by a government denying me the right to serve, but the lack of need for the service I intended to provide.
I waited all day to learn whether I needed to report for jury duty Wednesday morning at the Collin County Courthouse jury room over yonder in McKInney.
Then came the message. My services aren’t needed. There will be no need for a jury.
I’ll be frank. The news disappoints me. I want to serve on a trial jury. I realize it’s the luck of the draw that determines whether I get the chance. Every time I have received a jury summons in Texas — whether in Jefferson or Randall counties, and now in Collin County — district clerk staff has waved me off.
I know none of this really is huge news to those who are reading this post. I want to share with you, however, that I keep reading reports from district and county clerks that they often cannot seat enough people for juries when the need arises.
Texas offers a variety of reasons for people to excuse themselves from jury duty. One of them provides a permanent recusal for old folks like me. I reckon the state figures that some of us might not live long enough to report for duty once we get the summons.
I am 75 years of age. My hope that a permanent recusal would not be because I wouldn’t live long enough to serve. One of my life’s goals has been to serve on a trial jury. We all think we know what goes on when 12 people deliberate over a verdict in a case … but we don’t know until we’ve been in the room. I want to learn what happens when they shut the door.
It won’t happen this time. Maybe it will the next time I get the call to serve the cause of delivering justice.