I received a summons to Jury Duty in the mail yesterday. After having a small conniption fit for about an hour, I calmed down enough to read the details and think it through.
I’ve been called for Jury Duty twice before.
The first time, was in Pittsburgh. I was on summer break from college and had a few weeks with nothing to do before starting my summer job. I was psyched to get paid to participate in a trial. I hoped I’d get assigned to a murder case.
Instead, I sat packed in with hundreds of other adults on hard wooden church pews for nearly 8 straight hours waiting to be called into a smaller room for voir dire. In less than 5 minutes, I was asked a handful of questions and dismissed. What a colossal waste waste of time. I could have answered the questions online (or on paper) and been screened out without having to sit in a packed, poorly ventilated courthouse all freaking day. After paying for bus fare, I earned less than $1/hr.
The second time was in Ft. Lauderdale decades later. I was working as a sales manager for a large corporate that paid us during Jury Duty. I was looking forward to having a break from the grind of sales for a few days. Plus, as an experienced sales manager who was constantly working on getting better at presentations and public speaking, I was curious to observe and evaluate the lawyers presentations, their speaking abilities, the influence on the jury, the judge’s behavior etc.
Once again, hundreds of us were packed into an auditorium on bare wood church pew benches. There we sat for hours as they painstakingly called up individuals to the stage, as slowly as possible, before assigning them for voir dire. After waiting for 7 hours, I was called up at 4 PM and assigned to a courtroom for voir dire. About 20 of us we then guided to the courtroom where we sat for another 2 hours waiting. During that time, I became acquainted with a number of my fellow jurors. We talked about work, school, trials, families, etc.
This time, we were handed a questionnaire to complete with 20 basic questions. After collecting the questionnaires, the lawyers at two different tables began questioning the jurors. They did this publicly in front of the entire jury pool.
They asked questions like:
- Were you or a family member ever arrested? Why? What happened?
- Have you ever been a victim of abuse? Has a friend or family member? Describe this in detail.
- Do you have strong feelings about domestic abuse, the police and family violence? Why?
- Did you ever have any interaction with the police? Why? What was the result?
I was amazed as the jury pool answered. People spoke openly and honestly about being raped, family members being murdered, being arrested and about domestic abuse. I spoke about my stepson’s arrests and police troubles. Although most didn’t want to be there, I was impressed by their willingness to serve as jurors.
I was proud to be part of this team and looked forward to being chosen as the Foreman.
And then I was dismissed. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was a lock. I was certain I aced the interviews and impressed them with my leadership skills and fact based judgements. (Obviously, I was wrong).
In the hallway outside, as I said goodbye to my fellow jurors who had been chosen, they were as surprised as me that I wasn’t selected. One even said, “We were planing to make you foreman.”
Now, for my call up to 3rd Jury Duty, I do not want to go.
I don’t want to drive through rush hour traffic to find parking downtown at 7 AM. I don’t want it to interrupt my morning workout routine, my daily swimming session, my dog walks or my free time.
The $12/day pay is a joke. That won’t even cover parking, much less mileage and gas.
Sitting in a packed, poorly ventilated auditorium and then a smaller courtroom, with admittedly dismal ventilation and no windows, during a pandemic with the Omicron Variant surging in the middle of the winter is moronic. I can’t go to the grocery store or pool without a mask and distancing 6 feet from any human – but it’s “safe” to be packed in like sardines with hundreds of others all day long. Give me a break.
Unfortunately, I don’t qualify for any of the reasons for getting excused from serving. “I have common sense” is not an acceptable reason. Since I do not lie, I can’t fake an excuse either.
I’ve accepted that I have to go. The process is to call the night before after 5:30PM to see where and when I have to show up. Some people have reported online that when they called, they were told they did not have to show up at all. I have my fingers crossed that will happen to me.
But I feel pretty certain that instead I’ll be called for a 7 AM arrival, to sit all day and then either chosen to sit for another day or more of bureacratic nonsense and maybe even a trial.
I will answer every question they ask directly and forcefully.
I’m not going to mince words nor will I hide my contempt for the process, for the court system and for the government in general. I have strong opinions about this and will communicate them.
Nearly any contact I (and anyone I know) have ever had with the police has been unpleasant at best. I am very complaint and law abiding, having never been accused or arrested. The same goes for 99% of the people I know. Yet, all of us have been hassled by cops. Usually it’s been for minor traffic infringements that I’m convinced were enforced to fill a cop’s ticket quota. I’ve witness cops belittle, tease, badger and hassle good people who often made a simple mistake. The end result was fines, tickets and points on licenses.
I’ve read too many stories and know too many people who’ve been hassled in much worse ways by the criminal justice system. Racial targeting, hassling for things like air fresheners on mirrors and window tints and arrests for small misdemeanors can end up costing people money, jobs and more.
I’ve never felt like the cops I’ve known were there to “Protect and Serve”. Instead they seemed to think their mission was to “Enforce, Ticket and Arrest.”
I have strong opinions about corporations and government abusing the law and taking advantage of citizens.
I have personally observed judges in courtrooms act as pompous, arrogant tyrants while belittling defendants.
I have direct experience, especially in relation to corporate law, with lawyers. The more exposure I have to lawyers, the less I respect them.
I think the process and system for selecting jurors is rife with bureaucratic delay and unnecessary inconvenience that could easily be improved by stepping out of the 19th century.
I won’t hesitate to bring this all of this up in voir dire if given the chance. I hope if I do, it gets me crossed off the list.
We’ll see in a month.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I know it won’t be so bad no matter what happens.
There are no OJ Simpson type of extended trials coming up that I’m aware of. I’ll take my laptop with me and will write blog posts all day long while I sit around waiting to be called.
Online people have most trials are less than 2 days and often settle with a pleas at the last minute before getting started.
So, in the most likely worse case, I’ll waste a few days and then will be off the hook for at least two years.
I can handle that. Maybe not with grace – but at least without righteous indignation.