“Wow, that’s actually a really important job”

Excerpt from an interview with Mary, a juror who served at the Hall of Justice in San Jose, CA in summer 2021.

Interviewer: Mm hmm. Got it. Well, so I'm wondering if you've ever voted for a district attorney, a sheriff or a judge in an election?

Mary: Umm. Honestly, I probably have. But I don't remember putting a lot of thought into it.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Mary: I will now, though!

Interviewer: Why is that?

Mary: Oh, well. So after we got—at the end of the court case, we got to talk to the district attorney and then I googled him. And then I went to the broader website and I started reading about the D.A., the current D.A., and I realized that he had prosecuted Brock Turner and like all the different cases that he had prosecuted and brought to justice. And like wow, that's actually a really important job. And I don't think I realized that before. Before like having such an up close view of what the D.A.'s do. So I definitely will pay attention to that in the future. The sheriff's, on the other hand, like I don't really know how that works, like how they get selected or what it means to be the, you know, the main sheriff, I don't know what the term is. Those are definitely things that I'm going to be paying attention to more in the future.

Interviewer: Do you have a sense of what kind of qualities you might be looking for among those candidates in the future when you pay attention?

Mary: Um, well, all I know is what I've experienced in the district attorney that I worked with, or not that I worked—but that was on the case. Like I read, uh, I read his bio and whatnot, and I think I think it would take a lot. I would have to do a lot of reading on the different people. Um, but I think it's, it's important that they have a strong. Um, I don't know, I feel it kind of what's the word for saying this because attorneys aren't necessarily known for being humble. But, you know, like humility, because when you're when you're in that position, you really are in service of the, of the people. You know, your job is to take these things that have happened and to bring, bring the system to justice or bring the, you know, find justice for the situation, I guess. Um, and so I think, yeah, I don't know what, just really just kind of I think I'd have to read because I, you know, I don't really know what goes into the ballot or what information is said about them because I've honestly never paid attention. But, I don't know …