When my jury summons came, I thought I’d give it a whirl – intellectual stimulation (or so I thought), time to read my book (luckily Dylan’s insight into the court system gave me fair warning that I’d be doing a lot of waiting), AND be paid? ($10 a day, yes, but face it, I usually have to pay someone else for a break, so anything in the black is a win, right?) Dylan was willing to stay home with the kids on short notice – so why not?
I was sure I wouldn’t get picked – I’ve never met anyone that’s been on an actual jury, just a lot of people that get summoned but don’t actually serve, so I brought my books, and sat waiting for the ok to go home. During voir dire (the jury selection process), the questions all related to how impartial we could be. How can you really answer a question like that? When someone asks you if you can be open-minded – doesn’t giving a definite answer either way defeat the question to begin with? Regardless of my confused answer, questioning ended, and the 12 jurors were selected. I sat in the front row and wore a bright green jacket, which according to Dylan made me a shoe-in. I guess he was right – I became juror #6.
The trial started shortly thereafter. Lots of instructions for us – telling us we could do no wrong (unless we took the elevator at the end of the hall which lead to the holding cells – that would be wrong) showing us the deliberation room (which was smaller than my bathroom), the cold coffeepot, the overpriced vending machines, and giving us our legal pads and pens for note-taking (which were to be returned – darn economy, I can’t even get a free pen!) Then came opening statements, witnesses, cross-examination, talking, more talking, breaks, recess, lunch, more witnesses, sidebars, more questions, one objection, and closing statements. I won’t give main details of the case, but by the end of all this, I became confused. It seemed too cut and dry. Why on earth were we here? I must have missed something – it wasn’t supposed to be this obvious. Had they not seen 12 Angry Men? Maybe that’s why they have so many jurors. #6 will always miss something, and the other 11 won’t. The trial ended, we deliberated for a time (I apparently didn’t miss anything), and we delivered our verdict. It was a rollercoaster ride of boredom, silence, endless drivel, interesting questions, grandstanding, formality, duty, honest discussion, responsibility, remorse wondering if we made the right decision, then a lecture from the judge telling us everything will be ok. I felt like I had just lived through a semester of college in one day.
Oh, and Law & Order is just a show. Our bailiff said it correctly – the judicial system moves slow but deliberately. Bring a book.