Jury Duty, 2014

I got my summons for jury duty in November - right around the time Hannah's baby was due.  So I postponed.  At the time, January 13th seemed very far away.

Times flies when you are having fun though, and the 13th came around faster than I had planned!!  At least I got called in at the beginning of the week, so I didn't have to spend a week doing sub plans every night.

I did the orientation online, so I didn't have to report until 9:30.  I tried to enjoy sleeping in, but I woke up at the usual time!!

I got to the Pasadena Courthouse and saw a sign saying "Public Parking All Day $4" and thought, well, that's nice and close - it's worth it.  Of course when I got up there, with cars behind me, the cost was $12.  But I had no choice.  I was hoping it was not a harbinger of things to come!

Got to the Jury Assembly room - where orientation was still going on - so they told me to come back at 10.  I got on an elevator to come back and got stuck - the doors would not open - took about 20 minutes for them to get us out.  Not an auspicious beginning to the day indeed!!

When I got there, they were all on a break until 10:30.  I could have come an hour later than I did - I hate that sort of scenario.  No wonder people dislike the idea of jury duty!!

In all my years of jury duty, I have never made it out of the Jury Assembly room - I've just sat for the morning, been sent to a very long lunch, and then dismissed.  So imagine my surprise when my name was called.  But there were less than 50 people in the room and they called 35 of them, so it would have been pretty lucky to not get called!  Such luck was not with me!

We took forever to get up to the 6th floor - the elevators are in very bad shape at the Pasadena Courthouse - and then they handed us numbers and had us get in line.  My number was 13.  I wasn't sure if I should be nervous or not!!

Once inside, the judge lectured us for over 30 minutes.  It was an interesting lecture, and the guy had a lot of personality, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been.  I was seated very close to the court reporter and spent most of my energy trying to figure out how she did it.  I could see the screen of what she was recording, and it was verbatim!!  That whole concept intrigues me.

The case was a criminal one - assault of some kind.

Then we were given a questionnaire to fill out and were dismissed for lunch.  I walked around and found a little hamburger joint that looked good.  While waiting for my lunch, I noticed that I didn't have my iPad in my bag!!  Panic set in - I grabbed my food and hustled the 3 long city blocks back to the courthouse.  Of course the office was closed, and I had to wait.  Fortunately someone honest had turned it in.  A bright spot in the day.

We returned to the courtroom, and the judge questioned each juror separately - at least the first 20 of us.  Then the attorneys questioned us.  I got lots of questions - about having a son who was a policeman, but mostly about my experiences with conflict as a special education teacher in middle school.

When the time came for the peremptory challenges, the first guy dismissed was juror number 2 - who was an attorney.  So I was instructed to move to his seat.  Then the prosecution dismissed me!  By then it was 4 p.m., and I was glad to see the day end!!

When I got to the parking lot, the guy wasn't sure where my car was - and they had the keys too.  I had a moment of wondering if the day was ever going to end!!  But he found the keys - and the car - and the traffic, though heavy, moved along anyway.

And NPR is always good company.

It used to be that you could be excused from jury duty if you were responsible for the care of any child under 14 years of age.  So I got excused for many years.  Then Noah turned 15, and the summons have been coming ever since!   I recall the first one I ever had.  Bonny was a small baby, and I was very worried.  Harry kept saying that they'd excuse me and not to worry.  But of course I worried.  So I went, with Bonny in tow, and indeed did get excused.  Apparently they don't excuse you for that so easily anymore.  But at least I don't have to worry about it!

And who knew Special Education was of interest to prosecuting attorneys!