My day started off just like any other. It was a nice summer day, and then, just like that, my world was turned upside down.

I went to get my mail and there it was — the letter everyone dreads.

I had been selected for jury duty.

All that I knew about jury duty I learned from watching the film “Twelve Angry Men,” and I was not excited at all.

None of the jurors in the film had a good experience. The room they got stuck in was hot and stuffy, and every single juror ends up getting in an argument at some point in the movie.

All I could imagine was it would be the same for me.

The main reason I didn’t want to be on jury duty was that I had to be in charge of what happened to the person on trial. My decision would affect the rest of his or her life, and that scared me.

On the fateful day, I showed up at the courthouse and was herded into the jury room, which was packed with people. My worst fears were starting to come true.

The sun was beginning to climb higher and the temperature in the room was rising with it.

As I sat there looking at all the people, my heart rose a little bit because I thought I still might have a chance of not serving on the jury.

After sitting in the room for what seems like hours we were finally called into the courtroom. There seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

My father is a lawyer in the county the crime took place, my uncle is the sheriff of the county, the crime occurred in my hometown and the investigating officer was an old neighbor of mine. The supposed criminal was in my brother’s high school class, and we all used to play together as kids.

I thought for sure one of these things would get me off jury duty. The judged asked me if I would be unbiased, and I answered that I could be. And with that reply, I became a juror.

The next day, there were only 12 of us, so the conditions were much more comfortable.

From watching all my favorite crime TV shows they always focus on the judge and the criminal.

In real life, that’s not the case. All the focus is on the jurors. The judge took time to make sure we understood everything, and the lawyers focused on us trying to make us choose their side. This was not what I was expecting at all, and it made the trial much more interesting to me.

After hearing all the evidence, we were sent back into our room to discuss the case. We started off our discussion by taking a vote to see where each juror stood. The preliminary vote came back 11 to 1. I thought to myself, “Oh no, this is exactly how ‘Twelve Angry Men’ started.”

In the movie, there was one juror who voted against the rest, and by the end of the movie he had changed all the others jurors votes to agree with him.

That was not to be the case.

My experience went very smoothly with fewer arguments and plot twists. I ended up with a much better experience than those “Twelve Angry Men.”

Chris Rokke is a special contributor to The Dakota Student.