Sunday, July 19th - Called to Jury Duty
Just wanted to let you know that I start jury duty tomorrow
morning. So if I do not respond in a timely fashion to
anyone,I am doing my civic duty........... : )
This will severely cut into my early morning and before
dinner email and posting time.
I have been spoiled.. I hardly ever take public
transportation. I only know what waiting in bumper to
bumper traffic means~not waiting at a bus stop! LOL
Monday, July 20th - Doing My Duty-Day One
I live
across the street from the bus stop,so naturally I missed
the bus I was aiming for.
Not to worry,life had a plan for me.
When the next bus arrived,the bus driver was a charming
young man,who greeted me with a smile and a "Good Morning"(
did not laugh when my metro card jumped up out of the fare
box and I jumped,too!)
When we came to a traffic light
he came back to where I was sitting~opened a map and
launched into a lesson on how to find the courthouse from
the bus stop.
Each person was greeted with a "hello" or a "good morning"
and for the rest of a trip the awed (and I might add less
grumpy) Monday morning riders were treated to a running
commentary of highlights of the route (which included some
geography and history of the area in which we live).
I
discovered that one of our main streets~Bell Blvd.~had been
named that because Alexander Graham Bell had once lived
there. Mind you I have lived here for well over 30 years
and never knew this!!!!
At the end of a line we were
treated to a mini- sermon on being pleasant to one another
and to return a "hello" with a smile and an
acknowledgement. You see only 85% of the riders had
returned his greeting.
Oh,his mother raised a good son..........
I followed the directions I had been given
earlier and not huffing and puffing even a bit, I managed
to be in the room where all jurors must assemble 10 minutes
ahead of time!
After listening to some instructions,long
lines were formed and we each in turn shuffled to the
counter,our signed summonses in hand.
No sooner had we returned to our seats and just as I was getting my book out of my bag,ready to settle in for a good summer read,an officer of the court appeared and started calling names.
To my surprise and shock MY NAME echoed throughout
the room.
"Here", I yelled, gathered up my things and
went to stand with a group of strangers who would be the
first panel of 60 citizens called to do their civic
duty.
Well,we were counted, and recounted, lined up in pairs and led down several hallways and out to the street.
Believe it or not,the court officer stopped traffic for us in order for us to cross the street in a group and stay together!
We entered the Supreme Court
building and were confronted with~metal detectors~.
Some
of the men actually had to take their belts off in order to
run the gamet.( One very slender young man....well,I won't
go THERE.) However a group of us,after we had passed
through the metal detectors on our way to the courtroom
chose to follow a leader with directional skills that only
I could match and we all wound up in the wrong building and
rode up and down the elevator several times trying to find
our way. The gang that couldn't walk straight had a
wonderful time at the expense of a very serious,gun
toting,badge wearing officer.
Sorry to have the
hilarity come to a close, I took the plunge and ASKED
someone where the courtroom was and sadly we all met up
with the rest of the group.The court officer was NOT as
amused as we
were.................
We were counted once more and led
into a very quiet courtroon,cautioned to speak only when
spoken to and "NO READING ALLOWED"
We stood when the judge entered, listened politely to what
the procedure would be and then again names were
called....14 this time.
These men an women were seated in the jury box and we were
all cautioned to listen carefully to what the lawyers and
the judges had to say since WE would now be asked some
questions in order to ascertain who would qualify to pass
judgement on the two young men who sat sullenly quiet at a
table with their lawyers.
I have not been questioned yet (and only 3 people have been chosen for this jury) but I know in my heart of hearts that this "Summer from hell" will not leave me unscathed!!! Stay tuned.............
First thing this morning, I was asked to replace a
dismissed juror and before lunch I had been chosen.
This came as as a great surprise to me since none of the
lawyers had asked me any questions to speak of and I
assumed (always a bad idea) that my connection to the
church would automatically rule me out as it has in the
past.
Because of my connection to the church, I am quite
fascinated with the various rituals that take place within
the court system.
If a court officer says remove your
hat..off it comes!!!~quite unlike the looks and attitude I
receive when I make the same request to some of our young
people ...............And one does not speak or eat or read
in the courtroom!
Of course, I hardly ever wear my gun
when I am in church so my clout factor is nil. LOL!
Not
quite as unsure of the bus route today,I took the time to
"people" watch.
I realized that as I get older,I am
becoming quite judgemental. I am not the least bit taken
with young girls who are out and about barely clothed~or
for that matter with the tatoos and jewelry hanging or
embedded in the oddest places~places I really have no wish
to see!!
Did I mention the young woman who got on at the first stop with me and painted her toenails??
All in all,I think that I will benefit from this experience even if it is just to tell tales to grandchildren someday. Hmmm, I wonder if one is allowed to "discuss" the case in cyberspace??? We shall see.......
Diary of Jury Duty (Part III)
Thursday, July 23rd - The Witnesses In order of appearance:The Abused The Policeman The Mother The Neighbor The Father The Accused The usual hurry up and wait routine began at 9:30 this morning. Knowing that we would be waiting in the jury room,I decided to stop and bring coffee with me.
Now I see literally hundreds of people scurrying to and fro with an assortment of beverages and decided that I must join their ranks. This little maneuver, I now know can only be performed by the same fully-coordinated people who are able to fold the newspaper into postage stamp size for reading on buses and subways!!Can you say "coffee leaked through the bag and left a trail worthy of Hansel and Gretel"?
It is up to the jury to find one or more credible witnesses who are able to prove or disprove the ADA's defense beyond a shadow of a doubt.
So far there are many doubts and they are lurking in shadows!!!!Almost every question posed by any of the lawyers,today was met with "OBJECTION!!" which quickly brought about a lengthy sidebar conference with the judge.
(Each time a sidebar takes place,the lawyers all line up out of hearing distance of the jury and wait for the court stenographer to rise...........pick up her equipment noisily >>>>>>>>>>>>> travel the length of the courtroom and seat herself in their midst.
When the conference is concluded the choreography is <<<<<<<<<<<< reversed.)
Can you say"Welcome to the OJ trial sequel"?
We will entertain one more witness tomorrow,have an abbbreviated session~take Monday off,return on Tuesday with a bag packed in case we are SEQUESTERED!!!!!Needless to say the jury was not amused,and one elderly gentleman looked at me in terror and whispered"but where will we sleep"?( It turns out that the answer to that question is : the sequestored juries are bused out to a motel near the airport~the kind of place you would NOT recommend to visiting relatives~
Well,I had best check the wardrobe and toiletries...stay tuned, Juror # 4
Thank goodness the judge declared a long
weekend! Tuesday.......Well the fates have shone on
me again. I seem to be able to walk and my heavy suitcase
seems to be manageable. This time, there were
NO sidebar conferences,NO objections by the lawyers and our
attention was riveted on the questions and answers that we
thought we had heard before. It became very clear that
all of the interruptions had truly affected our collective
memory. When we returned to the jury room, after a short
discussion, we cast our ballots again. The judge
thanked us and we were dismissed, retrieved our belongings
and were led out the back door of the courthouse to the
street. The sentence? I will probably never
know. © 1997 cafe@eudoramail.com<
/A>
It is Monday, and here I sit with a badly
sprained ankle wrapped up and propped up since Saturday
evening.It would appear that I have been reinstated into
the "World Class Tripper's Hall of Fame".
When I got to the 6th
floor jury assembly area you can imagine my embarrrassment
not to mention shock to note that although the others were
prepared for the possibility of being sequestered, not one
was lugging a suitcase!
It seems that little backpacks
were the order of the day. (I discovered later that all of
the other jurors were secretly hoping that I had packed
snacks in that bag.).
In a surprise move today, one of the accused took the
witness stand.
The judge made his statements to the jury at about 4PM and
we were then led once more to the jury room to
deliberate.
We immediately took a vote and discovered
that of course our opinions were split.
After some very
good discussion, it was decided that we needed to have some
testimony read back to us, so a note was sent to the
judge.
It took about 90 minutes for all to assemble in the court
room and the stenographer began her long droning recitation
of the testimony that we requested.
We signalled that we were ready to return to court, and
after a few minutes we all reassembled.
The foreperson
read the decision.
By 7:30 PM I had boarded the bus and returned
home convinced that justice had been served and relieved
that I would not be called for Jury duty for at least two
more years.
Get your own Free Home Page