For the first time in my life, I am waiting while the jury deliberates on a case I have been working on for weeks. We have been in trial since Monday and today the jury was sent to determine their verdict. I cannot tell you how nervous I am.

I thought it would be easier to "read" the jury somehow - that I could look at their faces and chart their reaction to the trial, the evidence, the witnesses, our clients. But it's been impossible. I have no idea if they have been persuaded by our arguments or by the government's. No idea - even though I watched them go through the process of jury selection - how they feel about the crime our client is charged with, or how they feel about the trial process. It seems incredible that twelve people ever agree on such complex legal issues and complicated facts. And yet across the country, every day, hundreds of people are involved in this trial process. "A jury of your peers" is a real and living thing....and jury duty, despite all the jokes about it and people dying to get out of it, is a significant task.

And now all I can do is wait.