Jury Duty

On Monday, I spent the day completing my jury duty requirement. “In the United States,
because jury trials tend to be high profile, the general public tends to overestimate the frequency
of jury trials. Approximately 150,000 jury trials are conducted in state courts in the U.S., and an
additional 5,000 jury trials are conducted in federal courts. Two-thirds of jury trials are criminal
trials, while one-third are civil and "other" (e.g., family, municipal ordinance, traffic).
Nevertheless, the vast majority of cases are in fact settled by plea bargain, which removes the
need for a jury trial.” (Reference: Wikipedia, Jury Trial article, Jan 26, 2010) I had to arrive at seven in
the morning to obtain free parking near the courthouse. I waited in line outside the court, in the
cold (cold in California is below 50 degrees) and listened to a nice reformed drug addict instruct
me on the love of God. I read the posted warning:
Warning: All persons entering court facilities are subject to
search. All weapons are prohibited. It is a felony to bring
firearms or other unauthorized weapons into court buildings.
This includes all knives, teargases such as pepper and mace,
Taser, stun guns, or deadly weapons.
I slipped through security check with a minimum of difficulty, since I had not brought
any knives, scissors, handwork needles, metal finger files, screwdrivers, tools, wallet chains,
handcuff keys, or any items that may be used as a weapon. I climbed the stairs to the second
floor, joined the next line to have my summons scanned and issued a jury badge. For the next
fifty minutes, two huge rooms filled with people, tried to get comfortable. There were about 300
potential jurors. On Multiple big screen TVs I saw a video explaining the jury system process
emphasizing the crucial importance of us being available to serve. The particular court appeared
to have a very heavy annual need for jurors over 11,000 trials in the past year. I then sat with
other, sleepy-eyed strangers reading magazines till nine o’clock when I was assigned via a TV
voice to a court room.
From that time until three-thirty in the afternoon, I enjoyed experiencing the process of
empanelling jurors. In this case, the judge empanelled twenty-four people and asked them a
dozen general questions..When told the case was going to be all week at least ten people
requested to be released. The judge asked details of theta situation and eventual allowed six to
leave but they had to serve on a later time. Then each person had to answer a résumé set of ten
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questions. They told about their marital status, work history of both themselves and spouse plus
all adult children, as well as military history and previous jury duty.
Two fifteen minute breaks, an hour, and half lunch were tossed in. The defendant’s
attorney rejected seven proposed jurors and the DA six, leaving eleven so another group of
twelve was called up, including me and empanelled. The lawyers rejected another nine people.
Fortunately, for me I missed being picked by just three people. The jury of twelve plus two
alternatives were selected by eliminating 22 potential candidates. The judge had let six go earlier
due to their personal difficulties. So out of a pool of 75 minus 28 the selected 14 served. The
remaining 33 people were released from duty with a robust thank you.
The case was for child molesting and the defendant looked guilty as hell to me. I would
have been impartial but it sounded like a hard case to listen too. In any event I did my duty and
am now finished till next year. Jury duty is certainly an inconvenience but it is a citizen’s duty.
I encourage you all to step up and do your duty when you get that notice to be on jury duty. All
in all, it ain’t that bad.

Social Comment

By an outspoken member of the silent generation.

February 1, 2010