How would you feel while the jury was in deliberations?

I can’t imagine it’s much more stressful than waiting on biopsy results, or for a first grandchild to be born, or a medical procedure on a loved one to be completed and be met in the waiting room by a smiling surgeon. Things like that.

No, I’ve never faced a jury trial, but the others… sure. It sure feels nice to see the surgeon walk into the waiting room with a smile; I can tell you that much.

Having read jury post-verdict interviews and the reasoning behind how they determine the decision…whether I had a great case or not, I’d be freaking out.

I’d be utterly sick. I don’t handle stress or judgment well to begin with, I can’t even begin to imagine something like this.

I’ve never had to wait for jury results, but waiting 10 days for biopsy results was harrowing. I thought it would be an appropriate distraction to go visit friends, but I spent the whole time freaking out about the possibilities. It was awful.
Oh, edit to add: The biopsy came back, it was a malignant tumor, but having an answer and a direction to go in was infinitely better than waiting impotently for the world to end.

In situations I have no real control over, I always go to a quote from the great Christopher Walken: “I try not to worry about things I can’t do anything about.”

It would be a rough situation but like any other situation where you can’t actively affect the outcome, it just makes more problems to worry. I’ve found that preparation for the worst outcome before hand is a good way to keep stress levels down while the stressful event is taking place.

I would calm myself by meditating.

I was on a drunk driving case. All but one of us found the defendant guilty. The guy was a repeat offender, so it felt liberating to get the guy off the road.

The worst part was going back into the courtroom when the sentence was read. Being in the same room when he was found guilty was pretty scary. Although the bailiff was there, you still imagine him doing something when the sentence is read.

The first thing I thought of was waiting for biopsy results, too. I had one when I was 15, of a lymph node in my neck (Hodgkin’s was suspected), and had to wait over a week for the results. I alternated between walking around in a daze and having active panic/crying attacks. In other words, I really didn’t handle it well. In an effort to occupy my time, my father took me to see a movie… Terms of Endearment. HUGE mistake. The female lead gets cancer, and dies. Thanks, Dad! ~ It was a massive relief when the biopsy came back negative, and I cried then, too. I imagine I’d handle waiting for the jury’s verdict much the same way.