Jury duty is said to be one of the most important civic duties we can perform. I get that, but you can’t get to the truth when others are willing to put their hand on a bible and lie without batting an eye.

Being highly intuitive, I read signs others miss. Sometimes it is a helpful gift to have. Other times it is beyond frustrating. Especially when I usually have to wait for everyone else to catch up with what I already know.

I reported to jury duty four times, and I sat on a panel twice. The last summons involved a local sex trafficking case. Thankfully, I was not chosen to serve after suffering through the dreadful selection process. And I am relieved I wasn’t the only one who was shocked when prospective jurors were asked whether they had ever been sexually abused. Wait. What? Are we there to do what the law requires of us or are we there to spill our guts in front of total strangers. I cannot fathom why the judge felt he had any right to ask such a personal and intrusive question, but I can take an educated guess.

We have become so insensitive to any type of abuse in this country, even judges appear ignorant of the fact that the pain of being abused doesn’t magically go away and the abused should not be outed like they are the ones on trial.

The judge asked about sex abuse in one breath and whether we watched “CSI” crime-solving shows in the next. The questions were practically yoked together. One question got a few laughs. The other question was despicable.

Let’s not forget this statistic: 1 in 3 women will be abused by the age of 30. It didn’t go unnoticed a few women were squirming in their seats while the men sat stoic and stone-faced. My takeaway? Blindsiding the innocent to help convict the guilty is an acceptable line of questioning.

You must acquit if the hand don’t fit. A case that still chaps my knickers involved a bogus charge brought on by a local man who used his daughter to get back at an ex-friend who had done HIM wrong, not the daughter. He claimed the man put his hand down his daughter’s skinny jeans. Before the ridiculous dickering back and forth even began, I took one look at the 3-inch zipper and knew my hand would not fit. That young girl was used like a piece of bait by her father. I guarantee that girl will never forget her day in court, and I won’t either. Yep, I hold on to a grudge or two.Another intuitive moment came while I was serving on a federal drug case in Detroit involving a local white man from Monroe. We were two hours into the proceedings and things were not going well. During a short 15-minute recess, I knew they struck a plea bargain. I confidently announced to the group they would be coming back to dismiss us. The others didn’t think so.

Minutes later we were thanked for our service and dismissed. Everyone in the room looked over at me like I flew in on a broomstick. I shrugged, hopped on my broomstick, and flew home.

I admit I have chips on my shoulder. None more than when it comes to guilty cowards making a mockery of our courts and acting like clowns while making innocent bystanders pay the price with their time and taxpayers moolah.

If we allow others to keep doing as they please, making a mockery of our already flawed legal system, we have no hope as a civil society. More of us need to be willing to stand up and demand to make accountability great again. It was once. It can be again. The problem is what is it going to take?

— Rita Wyatt Zorn is a wife, mother, grandmother and lifetime Monroe County resident. She can be reached at 7.noniez@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Rita’s Reflections: Make accountability great again