Jury Duty
I just got back from jury duty...
the court house is a full hour away from here (the way they arrange county lines covers huge areas here) but luckily I managed to satisfy my duty for this year without having to actually sit on a jury (which would mean a week or more of having to commute that far back and forth). It is a relief, I was really afraid I was going to have to serve. I don't mean to be a bad citizen...I just don't want to have to wake up at 7 am for a week or more and drive an hour in heavy rush hour traffic just so I can sit in an airless courtroom listening to other people's problems (I'm a bad citizen, obviously).
I arrived slightly late because I didn't think it would take a full hour on the road (heavy traffic and the sun in my eyes most of the way), and the Jury selection room was already standing room only. It turned out that they had more than one trial to get a jury for and so they had made more people show up at 8:30 am than would actually fit into the room.
The first set of people were supposed to be selected at 9 am, but that was pushed back until 10 am, so I ended up sitting on the floor for an hour until finally a big group was sent upstairs around 9:30 am, followed by the second group at 10. Then I moved to a chair, but it was very uncomfortable, and I was getting hungry, so at 11 am I went into the lunch room next door to grab a sandwich (I knew I could hear if I was called into the selection room... which I was at 11:30, luckily after I'd eaten most of my sandwich).
At 11:30 I went with a large group up to court room 2B and was told that the actual selection process for jurors would not take place until Thursday March 15th, and that the trial would not begin until April 2nd. They also told us that the trial could be expected to take a week or more. That would mean a week of getting up at 7 am and driving an hour in heavy traffic to arrive irritable and tired.... I was not thrilled, and the people around me were also not thrilled. Turned out that the purpose of today would be to listen to all of us who wanted to avoid sitting on this trial. First they took the names of the few people who had no objection, and then released them so they could go home and they would return on Thursday. When that was done it was noon, so they then told us that everyone who wanted to give reasons they could not serve could go to lunch but would have to return at 1:30 pm to give our reasons.... So since I had eaten already I went out side to enjoy the sun and finish my book.
I was worried that my reason was not that great: I have a house guest coming March 30- April 5 and she will be using my car, and/or having me drive her around the city. If I need to go to the court house while she is here then it would probably mean having to rent a car, and kind of ruining the whole point of her visit (which was supposed to be an economical trip). And in fact when I stood up to explain about my plans the judge made it very clear that he thought my excuse was lame; admittedly it doesn't reach the level of the woman with small children who are still in diapers and cannot use the court house's day care, or the people who run their own businesses and would have to close their doors if they were gone for so long. I was sure I would be made to return on Thursday, and I was feeling resigned to that (although that would give me a second try in avoiding being chosen because I would be opinionated and unhappy to be forced to serve). At one point I was afraid the judge thought I was in contempt of court! When I had sat down (after hearing the judge say he didn't see that renting a car was such a hardship) I accidentally bumped the lady in front of my so I said 'sorry' to her quietly as I sat down, and the judge heard me say something and thought it was a crack... and demanded to know what it was I had said (!). He accepted my explanation that I was just saying 'sorry' to the lady in front of me.
So after everyone's objections to serving had been heard the judge went into his chambers with the DA and the defense lawyer, and they came back quite quickly and released us all from service! Yay!
Frankly I had thought it was the court's intention to pack the jury with people who didn't want to be there: there were an large number of people from Pacifica, and they had all taken an hour to drive in (actually we probably could have arranged car pools if we had been forced to serve). It seemed to me that it was like jury manipulation which would lead to an unsympathetic jury who would want the trial over as soon as possible without regard to the evidence. But I was wrong, they released everyone who didn't want to be there even though our excuses were not life-threatening.
And now I cannot be called again for a year (thank heavens).
edited to add more stuff about the trial I won't be sitting on:
click on picture to enlarge - but as you see it is a very rough sketch. The man in the foreground with the ear piece is the defendant, who needs simultaneous translation of English into Spanish so that he can hear the Judge question each of the potential jurors as to why their full and busy lives should not be inconvenienced to sit on the jury which could very well determine his future. He is accused of attempted murder, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a fire arm, causing bodily harm....
He pleads innocent, which could mean that they have the wrong man, or they have the right man but it was all a domestic dispute which has been misrepresented and blown out of proportion.... It could mean anything. I won't be hearing the case, and I'll probably never hear anything more about it because I don't take the Redwood newspapers (it is 30 miles away on the other side of the peninsula after all).
the court house is a full hour away from here (the way they arrange county lines covers huge areas here) but luckily I managed to satisfy my duty for this year without having to actually sit on a jury (which would mean a week or more of having to commute that far back and forth). It is a relief, I was really afraid I was going to have to serve. I don't mean to be a bad citizen...I just don't want to have to wake up at 7 am for a week or more and drive an hour in heavy rush hour traffic just so I can sit in an airless courtroom listening to other people's problems (I'm a bad citizen, obviously).
I arrived slightly late because I didn't think it would take a full hour on the road (heavy traffic and the sun in my eyes most of the way), and the Jury selection room was already standing room only. It turned out that they had more than one trial to get a jury for and so they had made more people show up at 8:30 am than would actually fit into the room.
The first set of people were supposed to be selected at 9 am, but that was pushed back until 10 am, so I ended up sitting on the floor for an hour until finally a big group was sent upstairs around 9:30 am, followed by the second group at 10. Then I moved to a chair, but it was very uncomfortable, and I was getting hungry, so at 11 am I went into the lunch room next door to grab a sandwich (I knew I could hear if I was called into the selection room... which I was at 11:30, luckily after I'd eaten most of my sandwich).
At 11:30 I went with a large group up to court room 2B and was told that the actual selection process for jurors would not take place until Thursday March 15th, and that the trial would not begin until April 2nd. They also told us that the trial could be expected to take a week or more. That would mean a week of getting up at 7 am and driving an hour in heavy traffic to arrive irritable and tired.... I was not thrilled, and the people around me were also not thrilled. Turned out that the purpose of today would be to listen to all of us who wanted to avoid sitting on this trial. First they took the names of the few people who had no objection, and then released them so they could go home and they would return on Thursday. When that was done it was noon, so they then told us that everyone who wanted to give reasons they could not serve could go to lunch but would have to return at 1:30 pm to give our reasons.... So since I had eaten already I went out side to enjoy the sun and finish my book.
I was worried that my reason was not that great: I have a house guest coming March 30- April 5 and she will be using my car, and/or having me drive her around the city. If I need to go to the court house while she is here then it would probably mean having to rent a car, and kind of ruining the whole point of her visit (which was supposed to be an economical trip). And in fact when I stood up to explain about my plans the judge made it very clear that he thought my excuse was lame; admittedly it doesn't reach the level of the woman with small children who are still in diapers and cannot use the court house's day care, or the people who run their own businesses and would have to close their doors if they were gone for so long. I was sure I would be made to return on Thursday, and I was feeling resigned to that (although that would give me a second try in avoiding being chosen because I would be opinionated and unhappy to be forced to serve). At one point I was afraid the judge thought I was in contempt of court! When I had sat down (after hearing the judge say he didn't see that renting a car was such a hardship) I accidentally bumped the lady in front of my so I said 'sorry' to her quietly as I sat down, and the judge heard me say something and thought it was a crack... and demanded to know what it was I had said (!). He accepted my explanation that I was just saying 'sorry' to the lady in front of me.
So after everyone's objections to serving had been heard the judge went into his chambers with the DA and the defense lawyer, and they came back quite quickly and released us all from service! Yay!
Frankly I had thought it was the court's intention to pack the jury with people who didn't want to be there: there were an large number of people from Pacifica, and they had all taken an hour to drive in (actually we probably could have arranged car pools if we had been forced to serve). It seemed to me that it was like jury manipulation which would lead to an unsympathetic jury who would want the trial over as soon as possible without regard to the evidence. But I was wrong, they released everyone who didn't want to be there even though our excuses were not life-threatening.
And now I cannot be called again for a year (thank heavens).
edited to add more stuff about the trial I won't be sitting on:
click on picture to enlarge - but as you see it is a very rough sketch. The man in the foreground with the ear piece is the defendant, who needs simultaneous translation of English into Spanish so that he can hear the Judge question each of the potential jurors as to why their full and busy lives should not be inconvenienced to sit on the jury which could very well determine his future. He is accused of attempted murder, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a fire arm, causing bodily harm....
He pleads innocent, which could mean that they have the wrong man, or they have the right man but it was all a domestic dispute which has been misrepresented and blown out of proportion.... It could mean anything. I won't be hearing the case, and I'll probably never hear anything more about it because I don't take the Redwood newspapers (it is 30 miles away on the other side of the peninsula after all).