Every so often, while we’re busy thinking about topics such as improving sales and profitability, where we’re going to eat lunch and other minutiae consuming our daily lives, something occurs that reminds us of life’s bigger issues. That happened to me early this spring when I received a summons to appear in court for jury duty. The criminal case involved an allegation of sexual abuse of an 8-year-old girl by her mother’s live-in fiance.

Unlike many such cases, where it comes down to the word of the accuser against the accused, in this instance, DNA evidence linked the defendant to the crime. After hearing evidence on both sides, I was prepared to vote for a guilty verdict. Unfortunately, my name was randomly selected as the alternate juror, so I was dismissed from jury deliberations.

The next day, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

Following the trial, the judge in the case revealed the defendant had a previous felony conviction for sexual abuse of a minor. The jury set free a known sexual offender.

I learned later that two of the people on the jury allowed prior knowledge about similar experiences to cloud their judgment. They should have been disqualified from serving on the panel, but lied during the jury selection process. Since that pair refused to budge from their positions, one by one, the other jurors eventually grew tired of arguing and changed their vote to not guilty. Asked why they didn’t accept an outcome of a hung jury, one juror told me, “The guy wouldn’t have gone to jail anyway, plus it would have taken us all day to reach that decision.”

I am writing this because I don’t want that jury to have the last word on this subject. The victim and her family now know that at least one person on that jury believed her. I have also pledged my financial support to an organization that works to prevent child abuse and encourage you to do the same.

This editorial appeared in the May/June 2006 issue of Progressive Distributor magazine. Copyright 2006.