For Kris and Sarah Gerig, their trial has ended in a life sentence of love.
The New Orleans couple, who met on jury duty in a theft trial in August 2015, were married March 14 in the same courtroom where they met. Their ceremony was presided over by the same judge who heard the trial they served on the jury for.
Kris Gerig felt it was meant to be. "First there were 200 potential jurors, " he told "Good Morning America." "Then it was down to 30. Then just six people on the jury, with one alternate. Sarah was the alternate."
"Each step of the way almost missed out on getting to know each other," he said.
Sarah Gerig recalled that Kris was, "well-dressed and cute and was pretty funny. He was the only one with a notebook and pencil."
The two-day trial ended before they got to say goodbye, Sarah Gerig said. But the jury had to return to the courtroom the next week to potentially be selected for another trial.
That's when Kris took his opportunity. He asked Sarah out, and they had lunch that day near the courthouse.
The couple were engaged a year later, and Sarah Gerig said the idea to get married in the courtroom where they met was something they had joked about.
"I had written a note to Judge Robin Pittman in the meantime letting her know we had met on the trial and were now together and very happy. She [Pittman] wrote back she was so happy for us."
So it was not surprising that the judge, who Sarah described as "no nonsense" during the trial, granted the couple's request to get married in her courtroom. She also invited them to invite whoever they wanted.
"That was so nice," Kris Gerig said. "We had thought it would be like a four-person wedding, but all of our family got to be there."
The courtroom, which Sarah Gerig had recalled feeling "bigger and scarier" during the trial, was "warm and welcoming" the day of the wedding. "The judge really excited her whole staff, they were so excited taking so many pictures."
And now, according to the couple, Judge Pittman has a heartwarming story to tell her possible jurors: "Don't dread jury duty, you may meet the love of your life."
