I follow the instructions and call the night before.....
"All jurors from number 1 through 150 need to report at 9:30 tomorrow morning."
I'm #18.
Show up, get and read through the pamphlet, and at 9:45 they show the 5 minute movie "Jury Duty was Great !! Better then Disney World !!"
Don't get me wrong, I'm very civic minded. I've served as an election judge, several times. But I do think that professional jurors would be a much better system (and less disruptive to the economy), but I digress.
As soon as the movie finishes, they announce that they are antipating three trials needing jurors today, so listen up for your number because we have one needing jurors right now...... Yep, That's my number, and my chair isn't even warm yet. So me and 40-50 of my newest, bestest friends head over and pack in like sardines by the doors.
So in typical government fashion it's hurry up and wait as first the Juror Wrangler has us answer "Here" as she reads off the numbers. Then the deputy does the same thing after leading us up three floors and lines us up against the wall outside the courtroom. Then we wait..... and wait..... and wait some more, before we are finally allowed in.
Oh goody, It's a Not-Fun criminal trial. We get sworn in and then the Judge says it'll may take two-three days for jury selection and the trial will probably last 7-10 days, not including the deliberations.
So they start by reading off 12 juror numbers. Not in sequence or after hearing the judge question each person about their after quesitonaire any order I can determine other then "Throw them all up in air and then shuffle." I'm in the peanut gallery with the rest of non-called. It was weird, they divided the first 12 into groups of 6 and the State's Attorneys started asking the six in the front row questions. "Can you sign a guilty verdict ? Any moral or religous reasons why you couldn't serve as a juror, etc., etc, etc." about 15 minutes per. Then they go to the judge and dismiss 4. So the clerk reads off another 4 numbers. The judge gives the same 20 minute speil and then asks them about the form. "Do you know any attorneys or Judges ?" "Have you been a Party to a lawsuit ?" " Know any Police officers ?" "Ever Convicted of a Crime ?" And everyone has to explain their answers. Then the State's Attorney go through the same 4,000 questions with the four newbies..... Kick off 2 more, rinse and repeat. Once the SA's are done, then the Defense attorneys start asking questions. Kick off 2 more, rinse and repeat, kick off one more rinse and repeat. Finally both SA's and defense are happy with the jurors So after hearing the same questions over and over for 7 hours, at the end of the first day we have 6 jurors. Everyone who wasn't excused come back tomorrow at 9:00am.
Same process the next day although it does move faster as both attorney's ask fewer questions and finish with "You heard many of the questions asked both yesterday and today. Are there any quesitons you would have answered differently ?" Around 12:30 the clerk swears in the final 6. Yeah, we're free, as I'm still in the peanut gallery with 18 non-called jurors !! Umm, not so fast.....
We need two alternates...... Judge explains what alternates will do: Listen to whole trial and if none of the regular jurors have to be excused, we're done at the end of the trial. No deliberations.
"Clerk could read off the next two numbers...... "
I've got a 2 in 18 chance of being called......
"Juror Number 138"
I've got a 1 in 18 chance of being called....I'm almost free !!!
"Juror Number 18"
Yep, I'm an alternate.
Trial starts next Wednesday and is expected to last seven to ten days.....
Given the charges, I don't think jury nullification will be in play, but I'm off to the
fija.org website to refresh my memory and learn more......
