241/365 - Jury Duty, Days 2 - 4

The handbook given to the Jury Pool on Monday - lots of good information in this little pamphlet and certainly qualifies as "reading material".

Day 2 summary - I spent 3 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon waiting. The 3 hours in the morning were worse than waiting in an airport - at least in an airport, people come and go, and there is stuff to buy. We waited in the holding room. I finished reading my magazines and started in on a book, but I grew tired of reading. In the afternoon, jury selection started for a 1st degree murder trial. You can imagine the seriousness of such a trial, so the jury selection progressed at a slow pace. I was one of the "lucky 7" whose number was never called, so I wasn't even considered for this jury. But I sat in the courtroom the entire afternoon.

Day 3 - I was a little smarter this morning and brought my laptop with me (yes, they allow them, although there is no internet connectivity) - I worked on photos from Colorado until we were called again for jury selection. This time, my number was called, I was asked several questions and I was accepted on a jury who would listen to a criminal case for "Armed Violence".

The trial started in the afternoon. I learned that "Armed violence" consisted of two separate charges - (1) possession of a control substance (drugs) while (2) carrying a weapon (a gun). We heard testimony from three police officers, a forensic chemist and the defendant. We were discharged for the day before closing arguments were made.

Day 4 - We resumed the trial with evidence submission and closing arguments. Without going into details, the defense argued that while the defendant admitted to possession of crack cocaine, the gun that was found on the jacket he was wearing was not his, nor did he "willingly possess" the gun. He had simply donned the jacket, using it as a blanket in the back seat of a car. Three of the jurors could not reconcile his claims, and struggled with the "willing possession" of the gun. And I could see their point. However, in reading the definition of the charges, "possession" of the firearm was not written. The definition clearly omitted "possession" - only "carrying a weapon" was written in the definition of the charges. With this information, the jury passed a "guilty" verdict.

This was my first jury service and I really gained an appreciation for the judges, the lawyers, the police, the court system and the overall judicial process. Nothing is ever 100% clear cut. Your best bet is to avoid getting into trouble in the first place, and this includes hanging out with the right crowd.

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239/365 - Jury Duty, Day 1

I have been summoned to serve my civic duty - a week of potential jury duty. There's never a guarantee that I will actually serve on jury - it's all potential, a function of the cases being tried, the nature of the trials and the number of people in the jury pool. I guess the more precise description is I have been summoned to serve time in the Jury Pool.

All of the action occurs at the county courthouse:

This is a place where cell phones are banned and the Jury pool sits in a waiting room for many hours, waiting for a potential trial to need jurors.

I arrived at 9:30 and read every page, every inch of the current People Magazine (courtesy of Jill - what a lifesaver!). Around 10:00, we go through an orientation - where to park, what to wear, what to expect in the court room, what our juror number is (I'm number 21). At 10:30, a list of potential jurors is called out - these folks need to come back at 1:30. My number is on the list.

I come back and the smaller group is led upstairs to the court rooms. Jury selection starts - 12 random numbers are called and the perspective jurors are seated in the jury box. Each person is asked several questions (name, occupation, do you know any lawyers, policemen, have you been victim of a crime, etc) by the judge and the two lawyers. Either lawyer may dismiss a potential juror, and when this happens, another number is called to fill that spot and the process starts all over again.

My number was never called. I sat in the courtroom, and listened for the 2 hours it took to select the 12 jurors and 2 alternates. While interesting at first, the process does get a little bit repetitive and boring.

I get to go back tomorrow morning for more waiting. I need to make sure I bring more reading material.

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