Jury duty is your civic responsibility to ensure a fair trial and justice by peers. This is something that you should take seriously and be proud to serve. Jurors are chosen randomly and notified by mail.
Random. Interesting. I have been called for jury duty numerous times in my life. I think I even blogged about one of my many times. My first time was when I turned 18 and that was Federal court. I remember being 8 months pregnant when I was "randomly" called. I was called so much that I considered it "my time" because my mom babysat the kids and I got to get out of the house. How many times has RT been called? Zero. And, he's jealous that I'm called so often. I do have to state that when I served, I mostly sat in the waiting room, I made it to the courtroom a few times, but never served on an actual jury.
As you know, we moved out of state. About a year after we moved, to my surprise, I got called for jury duty (shocking). RT asked why I always get called. I replied, I think it's a family curse (I haven't been able to prove this theory, though).
I know that I have posted about my many callings for jury duty but this is about my first time in a small town.
I had to go to the courthouse which is conveniently located right in the center of town. An old building, probably built in the late 1800's. I made it through security and had to hike it up to the third floor (old building, remember). (I did find out later that they have an elevator for those that need it).
I sat in the courtroom and waited. New people entered every few minutes. It felt like it was the first day of school and you watched as new students walked into class. Wondering who was coming in and going to be in your class. Who is going to be popular, the class clown or the burn out.
A mileage chart was passed around that we had to sign off on. Luckily I am less than a mile from the courthouse so I did not have to try and figure out how far I drove this morning. I have never been asked about mileage in all of my jury summons. A little side note, our movers were coming that morning because we bought another house and were moving in that day, making us only two blocks from the courthouse.
Back to the courtroom. It's a small town, so when people enter the room, they already know one or two people. In fact, one guy got up and walked up to a woman he thought they went to school together. Turns out they didn't, but they knew each other from somewhere else. Small town stuff. You don't get that in the big city.
Once we watched the video on how to be a juror, we waited patiently for the next step. After about ten minutes, the bailiff kicked us all out of the courtroom for a half hour. She told us we were not allowed in the courtroom during that time and could not leave the area. It's a small courthouse and here we all are waiting in the hall outside the courtroom.
Juries nowadays can take notes and ask questions. In order to do this, we have to write them down and submit them via the bailiff and the lawyers get to review them. I had quite a few questions and think I may have stumped the lawyers. As a result, we were sent out of the courtroom for short breaks.
This jury duty was the lucky one for me. I made it on to an actual jury. I was the alternate for a meth case. I had to message RT and tell him I will probably be there for the next few days (great timing, I didn't have to help with the move). We listened and took lots of notes. I learned A LOT about meth. In fact, I found out that it's cheaper to get it in a different town. I guess they upcharge it here.
After a day and a half of testimony and witnesses, it finally came down to deliberation. One juror was excused due to childcare, and I had to step up and into that seat. No one wanted to wait until the next day, so, at 5:00pm, we started talking. They even ordered pizza. Yea, I told them I was vegan, which created a HUGE nightmare for the bailiff. Someone had to run to the grocery store and grab stuff for a salad for me (I tried to tell them I didn't need it and that I could just wait until I got home). I was very appreciative for the efforts they made for my dinner.
We made a decision that night. I have to say I was lucky to have such a great group of people for my first jury experience. There was no arguing or bullying. All those crazy things you hear about on juries did not happen here. Everyone got to speak up. In fact, jurors would ask other jurors what they are thinking and ask them to express their views on the case. We came to a decision within a couple hours. I think the motivation was that no one wanted to return the next day.
After our decision, we came back to the (deliberation) room. The judge had a few kind words to say, thanking us for our service. The case that we heard was over two years old. I guess there is a huge back up of cases in the county.
I have to say that being a juror was a positive experience for me. I'm hoping that next time, I will be one of the people that knows someone when I enter that courtroom.
And, if I do get called "randomly" again soon, you better believe that I will be buying a lottery ticket that day.
