Jury Duty
Jury duty is both a legal and patriotic requirement that some people go their entire lives avoiding while others get chosen to decide the fate of a case by analyzing the facts and evidence presented. Stereotypically, jury duty is seen as a drag and a requirement that everyone would like to be excused from. Interestingly enough, I didn’t quite understand why until I got summoned to report for duty this past Monday.
Boy, was it an interesting experience! I was apprehensive at first since I didn’t know what to expect, but now I definitely understand why most citizens dread completing that particular civic duty. I was scheduled to report to the courthouse at 9:00 AM and I didn’t realize how many people would be there too. I believe there were 170 summons sent out and throughout the day those got dwindled down to 48 for further questioning to choose the final 14 jurors.
I was under the impression that if you get summoned, you automatically get picked to be a juror on the case they’ve assigned you. I never knew the attorneys from the defense and prosecution get to go back and forth and basically hand pick the jurors. I figured that was why people hated jury duty. The real reason why it’s not enjoyable is because it’s a pretty inconvenient process.
We began the day by taking attendance based on our summons number, not our names since we were meant to be an anonymous pool of citizens. Then, the judge listed five narrow qualifications that would excuse a person from participating in the remainder of the day. Circumstances like being a stay at home mom of children younger than six, full time teachers or college students, people older than 70, and people with extreme extenuating circumstances were able to go up to the judge, explain their situation, and leave for the day. Of course, everyone’s situations are important on an individual level, but in the grand scheme of the law, most situations are unfortunately not excusable.
After that, the clerks narrowed the list down to a pool of 48 potential jurors for further questioning with the attorneys. I was chosen in this pool, and we moved to a separate courtroom where we got to see the defendant and learn what crime they were accused of committing, but were given no further details surrounding the case. The attorneys representing the prosecution and defense both were given ample time to ask questions to learn more about each of us. There were literally so many questions and they ranged from have we ever committed a crime before to if we have any prejudice that would make it difficult to give the defendant a fair trial and everything in between. Some of the questions were sensitive in nature, so the judge allowed people to answer those questions in a more intimate setting away from the group panel.
99% of the questions didn’t apply to me, nor did I have a profound opinion to share so I was pretty quiet. Some of the other potential jurors talked a lot. Some I thought talked too much and dragged the process out longer than necessary. Once the group questioning was completed, we had to exit the courtroom to allow time for the one on one questioning for those people that requested it. I would say that part was the longest wait by far. I think group questioning ended at 4 something, but we weren’t called back into the courtroom until nearly 6:45 PM. And then we had to wait some more for the attorneys to make their final decisions.
I didn’t leave to go home until 7:30 PM that night. Safe to say, it was an exhausting day of waiting around. Jury duty is definitely one of the biggest, systematic time wasters I’ve seen in a long time. I couldn’t imagine how much time would be wasted during an actual trial where you have to listen to testimony, deliberate on the outcome of a case, and then debrief afterwards.
The chairs are very uncomfortable, the courthouse is cold, and you’re unable to bring snacks or electronic devices for entertainment. We were able to keep our cell phones on, but my battery was draining quicker than I particularly liked so I tried staying off of it. Thankfully I brought a book to read since I’ve always heard there’s a lot of waiting around in court. During the roughly three hour waiting period before the attorneys chose the final 14, I read 135 pages in my book. While that’s definitely an impressive feat, it’s one I’d rather not repeat again barring I receive another jury summons.
I originally brought snacks in a lunchbox to keep in my car, but we weren’t able to go outside since we were waiting on the judge and attorneys for the next steps. We took a break for lunch at 12:20 PM and didn’t have to be back until 1:40 PM, so I ran home to warm up my lunch since I was only 15 minutes away. I have a hard time forcing myself to eat on a normal basis, so a situation like this really didn’t help my appetite. I ate as much as I could, but considering how I didn’t eat anything from about 1 PM until 8:30 PM, my stomach really hurt by the time I got home. I didn’t have enough in my stomach, and even a couple of days afterwards, I found myself feeling hungrier than normal.
I’m an overall do-gooder. I enjoy not getting in trouble, especially with the law. I’ve never been stopped by the police nor have I received a ticket for any offense. Being in the location where people’s fates are decided is a humbling experience, one that I definitely don’t take lightly. While it’s just another day for people working in the legal system, it’s a little intimidating for those of us who try to stay far away from the reprimand of the system.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
