[Shrek] Jury Duty

Last Monday I had the chance to take my turn at jury duty. I suppose I shouldn't complain as I hadn't been chosen for jury duty in over 12 years, but it really is one of those things I want no part of.

Now I understand that it is my civic duty to perform the task of jury duty, and I understand how important it is for the judicial system as a whole that folks serve on juries. The Massachusetts Constitution, largely written by John Adams, uses the word "sacred" just once. That's the word Adams used to described a person's right to a trial by jury of his peers. The fact that such a great man used that word to describe the process is proof enough that I should be much more enthusiastic about participating in it.

But alas, I just can't get that fired up about it.

My day began with Fiona dropping me off in front of the new courthouse here in Worcester, and with the memories of how terrible it was to navigate the old courthouse I was already grumbling my displeasure at the thought of trudging through a building I didn't want to be in looking for a room I didn't want to go to.

Luckily, they hired moderately smart architects. The Jury Room, which is on the third floor, is clearly visible from the entrance. After passing through security--which consisted of a young male security officer flirting with a young female security officer as I passed through a metal detector--it was just a minute or so of walking up staircases to get to the Jury Room. I saw signs for elevators, but as I didn't need them I didn't look to see where they actually were.

I intentionally got there early so I wouldn't have to wait in line at the Jury Room, and when I got to the room there was a few people already seated but no one waiting to check in. As I walked up to the desk the Court Officer greeted me with an unexpected smile and took my paperwork. He game me my juror number, #80 (it's on a piece of paper you're asked not to lose), told me to take a seat, and that there would be a presentation at 8:30am.

So I took a seat against the windows and started reading my book, Misconceptions by O.J. Simpson lawyer Robert Shapiro and Walt Becker. It's a suspense/thriller courtroom drama around the topic of abortion. It was pretty good...I recommend it if you find a remaindered copy.

So at 8:30am they play this presentation on the four mounted HD televisions about what you can expect during the day. The presentation is on video tape, which when you figure the HDTVs, makes little sense. Something that makes even less sense? The street in front of the courthouse was paved over before the cable TV wires could be run into the building.

I was tempted to discern what John Adams would have thought about that, but chose instead to continue reading.

In case you hadn't heard, there is no cafeteria in the new courthouse. So around 9am a coffee cart was pushed in for the jurors to purchase coffee, doughnuts, juice, etc., for a "nominal fee". Apparently my definition of "nominal fee" and theirs is a little different, and I chose to not plunk down higher than Dunkin' Donuts prices for smaller servings than you'd get at my favorite coffee place.

After reading for a while I got up and stretched a little, and after looking around suddenly something hit me. Nearly every person in the room was white. There we no African-Americans and no Asians, and there was only one person I could easily identify as being Hispanic. Not exactly reflective of the populace of any urban area I'm aware of.

Around 10am they called for Jurors #1 to #56 to go into Superior Court for jury selection. Within a half hour people not chosen for that jury slowly filtered back to the Jury Room. Somewhere around 11:30am they took Jurors #57 to #79 (anyone remember my number?) into District Court, and like before, folks that weren't chosen came back to the Jury Room. Knowing that lunch is at 1pm, and with the time approaching 12:30, I figured we were getting to the point of being home free.

Wrong. At exactly 12:30 every remaining juror was sent to Superior Court for jury selection. I figured it had to be something big because there was around 75 of us in the room. And big it was. Let's just say the victim was a child and the Defendant was a 50ish year old man.

Yeah, exactly what you're thinking...and now I know I really want no part of this. And then the judge says the trial could last until Friday...I really, really want no part of this.

At 1:25pm when we broke for lunch they had finally gotten 14 jurors seated--#76 was the last one seated. Because it was raining very heavily I called Fiona and asked her to bring me lunch because there was no chance I could get anywhere without getting soaked. When she arrived we drove around the block a couple of times as I ate.

As we talked, Fiona reminded me that we had a doctor's appointment Thursday afternoon. I'm glad she did that, because I had forgotten.

When we returned to the Jury Room at 2:25 and sat there for awhile, we were again brought into the same courtroom. I was wondering why they were doing that when it suddenly hit me--both sides could still challenge jurors! I wasn't home free like I thought, and was in fact going to be up to be seated in the next few minutes.

When my number was called I went to sidebar like everyone before me and was asked a couple questions by the judge. When I mentioned I had a doctor's appointment for Thursday, he asked me if I could produce an appointment card. I told him all I had to do was call Fiona and I could have one in his hand within 20 minutes.

I was excused! WOOHOO!!!!

When I got back to the Jury Room the Court Officer scanned my number and told me I was free to go. He didn't need to tell me twice, and I was quickly out of there.

So I'm free for at least the next three years. Far too soon if you ask me.

I've also checked the Telegram every day since to see if the trial was mentioned, but so far it hasn't been. Notice I didn't say "to see of he was found guilty", because I saw him sitting there behind his lawyers. I have no doubt he was guilty.

So much for his "sacred" right to trial by jury, eh?