Jury Duty -- Oh, No!

Pierce County-City Building with County Court House

Last Monday I began my jury service with Pierce County. It's a 25 mile bus ride to and from the County-City building in downtown Tacoma -- and with the infrequency of the runs, on the first day, I had to get up at 5:00am to make it to court by 8:30am for orientation. After that long day and return trip, I staggered home about 6:30pm. Whew!

From the moment a juror walks into the building, they are at the disposal of the court. X-ray your bag, walk through security gate, swipe your id card here, sit there, here are the rules, the following jurors line up in reverse numerical order, go to the fifth floor, Judge X's court, meet the attorneys, the defendant, answer this 40 page questionnaire, answer questions from the judge in front of 45 of your closest new friends and on and on. But don't forget you'll have two 15 minute breaks and an hour and half for lunch. Remain close to the courthouse. Or be in contempt of court and entertain a misdemeanor, with fine and/or jail time. Yikes!

I had been called for Superior Court, where the most serious cases are tried.

One day last week we all arrived for our official 9:30am call [most of us were more than half an hour early to secure a parking place or arrange for a bus that would get us there before we'd be considered in contempt.]

We had three trials worth of juries to fill and everyone was a wee bit excited. Sure, we're being manipulated by the officers of the court, the defendant, the attorneys, and the entire court and justice system, but we were there to do our civic duty. Promptly at 9:30am we were told to wait for the call from the various judges. At 11:00am we were given our 15 minute break. At 11:25am, we were told to have lunch but be back by 1:30pm for jury selection. Yeah, right, the jury selections that should have taken place around 9:30 or 10:00am.

At 2:00pm we were given our afternoon break. About 3:00pm we were hoping we'd be excused to allow most of us to get home before dark and miss the peak of rush hour. Nothing happened. So far, 150 people had waited since 9:30am for the calls that never came.

At 3:15pm the jury "stage manager" rushed into the jury waiting room and quickly chose 36 jurors to be ready for court appearance. As she pulled the numbers for the "orange" group and called names, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone prayed they wouldn't be called. The young lady next to me was #35 and I thought she was going to burst into tears. I held my breath -- but mercifully I wasn't juror #36.

They return to court this morning. Of those 36, twelve will be seated and up to three [at the judge's discretion] will be chosen as alternate jurors. The remaining prospective jurors, not already excused for one reason or another, will be excused from further connection to this trial. However, everyone who walks into the court swears [or affirms] that they will absolutely not discuss the case with anyone -- including family, friends, strangers, or anyone in the court system and especially not anyone on the seated jury! If they do, it would probably mean a mistrial and a fat contempt of court charge, with jail time. Not a good thing!

So, here we go through this long, involved, mostly anonymous yet intensely personal experience [our real names are not used until we introduce ourselves to the judge, the members of the court, and the other prospective jurors, or our number is called in the jury room] and we aren't even allowed to discuss it!! Now, you know that's got to be absolute torture for someone like me who loves to talk. [All through my schooling and professional career I was the chatterbox that used to get myself and everyone else in trouble for talking! My first incident was in kindergarten for heaven's sake, but that's another story, and really, quite traumatizing... ]

Today I begin anew, but am prevented by law from discussing it! The best thing is, I've met a lot of really nice people from all over the county, exchanged emails with several, got into lively political discussions and heard a lot of funny, silly, intensely corny jokes, and of course learned the most personal details about dozens of folks and surprisingly had a great time in the process. Despite turning my schedule completely upside down, it has been an enriching experience.

If you ever get called for jury duty, don't just dismiss the opportunity as a waste of time. Go, if you can, and learn something new everyday you are there. It's worth it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great week!