Jury duty excercises rights
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Editor,
Jury duty is an area of responsibility in the life of our community that we must all take very seriously, and so it is that this responsibility deserves a second look.
The jury is made up of 12 jurors — 12 judges — and the proceedings are managed by a “judge” with no authority to judge the outcome of the trial. The duty of judging is left in its rightful place, and that is in the hands of the jurors themselves, individually.
Defending your rights, the rights of your family, and the rights of others in your community are the most basic elements to building community and sense of place, and are also the most basic requirements to maintaining a free and civilized society. If you cannot do this basic task of defending your rights and the rights of others in your community the community and its “sense of place” are doomed to the fates of civilizations throughout history.
It is our responsibility to the members of our community, and to ourselves, to take on this jury duty with the knowledge that not only is an individual on trial but so too is the law by which they are to be held accountable.
The jury must judge if the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt based on the evidence provided. In order to do this they must first judge the laws to which the defendant is to be held accountable. Is the law fair, does the law infringe on the individuals unalienable rights, and is the law Constitutional?
Serve your community by educating yourself about the responsibility you have to upholding the principles of freedom. “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be,” said Thomas Jefferson.
John Swenson
Ronan
