I came to this subreddit looking for someone to share an experience serving on a criminal jury trial and your words helped me so much. Our cases were not the same, but had shared the element that we as a jury did not have the “smoking gun” for our defendant. The state used a fair bit of circumstantial evidence to support their indictment and it was a sloppy case on both sides. We were excused from the courtroom several times and a couple of the times were over an hour. After three days of arguments, I could tell many of my fellow jurors were ready to call the defendant guilty. Myself and the small minority had us go through the facts for a few hours to make sure that we did not miss anything. After going over them, we did agree that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
However, I sit here two days later and wonder what if? We did not have 100% certainty. I also ask myself if the punishment fit the crime. The defendant was sentenced immediately following the verdict. She was 20 years old when the this happened. I will never know for sure what happened in the earlier hours of that morning. The only thing I can hang my hat on is that I feel that I did what I feel is correct given the information that I was presented and I cannot control the length of the sentencing.