Too Close
Considering how often I've covered for teachers who got stuck on jury duty (like for most of last August), I knew was about due to get caught. The summons wasn't completely unexpected. As always, I postponed to a more convenient time. Last week.
Our state is a one day/one trial state. I picked the week between the end of summer school and the beginning of the continuation high school, so I wouldn't be in danger of missing anything at all.
My reporting day ended up being Wednesday.
The hope is that I'll manage to duck getting assigned to a trial for the day. But, alas, at about 11 AM, I got assigned to a courtroom.
We waited outside for nearly 40 minutes. By the time we got in, we had just enough time for the judge to inform us that the trial (including estimated time for deliberations) would take about a week before she dismissed us to lunch.
While I did not want to be assigned to the trial, I admitted to myself that it wouldn't be a hardship. The continuation high school wasn't to open until Thursday of the following week. I'd miss nothing.
After lunch, from our pool of slightly less than 30 (they took a pool of 30, but a couple had already been dismissed as they had conflicts with remaining a week), they called up 18. I was juror number 15.
As the usual questioning proceeded, I could tell a couple of jurors 1-12 would be dismissed. You just kind of know. As #15, that meant that I'd end up in the box.
But, there was no way to get myself disqualified. Could I be fair in this case? Sure. There wasn't anything presented that I had any definite bias for or against.
At about 4 PM, it was time for the lawyers to get their peremptory challenges.
First, the prosecution bumped one. Then the defense. Then the prosecution...
Ugh. I was moved to juror #8.
Then it was the defense's turn again. He looked at the jury box and said he was okay with the jury as it was.
Then it was time for the prosecution again. "We thank and excuse juror number 8."
That was way too close.
As the judge instructed, I waited to celebrate until I had left the courtroom. But, as I was leaving, I heard one of the lawyers say for the new juror #8 to not get too comfortable. (And I celebrated again. The woman next to me as former juror #16 told me that getting off work for a week was going to be a problem for her.)
By the time I got back to the jury room (4:15-ish), the place was empty. Which meant I was done for the day. I checked out and headed for my car.
As I hit the escalator, I ran into the others from the courtroom I had just left also leaving. They still had their juror badges, so it appeared that they would all be returning the next day. I have no idea if the jury panel was complete or not.
But I was done. And I was quite happy about that.
Hopefully it'll be another few years before I have to do that again.
Our state is a one day/one trial state. I picked the week between the end of summer school and the beginning of the continuation high school, so I wouldn't be in danger of missing anything at all.
My reporting day ended up being Wednesday.
The hope is that I'll manage to duck getting assigned to a trial for the day. But, alas, at about 11 AM, I got assigned to a courtroom.
We waited outside for nearly 40 minutes. By the time we got in, we had just enough time for the judge to inform us that the trial (including estimated time for deliberations) would take about a week before she dismissed us to lunch.
While I did not want to be assigned to the trial, I admitted to myself that it wouldn't be a hardship. The continuation high school wasn't to open until Thursday of the following week. I'd miss nothing.
After lunch, from our pool of slightly less than 30 (they took a pool of 30, but a couple had already been dismissed as they had conflicts with remaining a week), they called up 18. I was juror number 15.
As the usual questioning proceeded, I could tell a couple of jurors 1-12 would be dismissed. You just kind of know. As #15, that meant that I'd end up in the box.
But, there was no way to get myself disqualified. Could I be fair in this case? Sure. There wasn't anything presented that I had any definite bias for or against.
At about 4 PM, it was time for the lawyers to get their peremptory challenges.
First, the prosecution bumped one. Then the defense. Then the prosecution...
Ugh. I was moved to juror #8.
Then it was the defense's turn again. He looked at the jury box and said he was okay with the jury as it was.
Then it was time for the prosecution again. "We thank and excuse juror number 8."
That was way too close.
As the judge instructed, I waited to celebrate until I had left the courtroom. But, as I was leaving, I heard one of the lawyers say for the new juror #8 to not get too comfortable. (And I celebrated again. The woman next to me as former juror #16 told me that getting off work for a week was going to be a problem for her.)
By the time I got back to the jury room (4:15-ish), the place was empty. Which meant I was done for the day. I checked out and headed for my car.
As I hit the escalator, I ran into the others from the courtroom I had just left also leaving. They still had their juror badges, so it appeared that they would all be returning the next day. I have no idea if the jury panel was complete or not.
But I was done. And I was quite happy about that.
Hopefully it'll be another few years before I have to do that again.
Comments
Post a Comment