I decided that this would be an interesting topic to write about today, especially considering that I had jury duty a couple of days ago. Jury duty is something that really brings out the best, or the worst, in American society. Those who are excited about getting to play their part in the judicial system take their role as a potential juror very seriously. If they happen to get on a jury well, they might as well have won a million dollars!
Then there are the people who detest the very idea of having to serve jury duty. They consider it to be an annoyance rather than a privilege. These are the people who, in an effort to avoid jury duty, come up with a variety of excuses (most of which don’t actually get them out of serving said jury duty). It doesn’t matter whether you’re registered to vote or not when it comes to trying to decrease your chances of being called for jury duty, either.
All of this being said, there are some people I know (generally over the age of 60) who have never, not once, ever, been called for jury duty. Then there are other people (in their 40s and 50s) who have been called for jury duty a couple of times, yet have never actually had to show up at the courthouse. For some reason, it seems that my friends from college have been called the most often, me included. I have been called for jury duty a total of four times in the past eligible six years. I actually went to the courthouse I was summoned to go to both of those times.
As for the other two times I was called, I was ineligible because I had served within the past three years. In Massachusetts, if you are summoned to jury duty but don’t actually have to show up at the courthouse (you find out the business day before your scheduled duty by calling a number after 3:00 in the afternoon) then you are excused from jury duty for just one year. However, if you actually have to appear at the courthouse, then you’re excused from jury duty for the next three years.
My First Jury Duty Experience: West Roxbury District Court
I first had jury duty back in 2005 at West Roxbury District Court in Jamaica Plain, MA. When I arrived there a little bit before 8:00 AM, there were a bunch of people already waiting for the same purpose. The guard, an African American woman with fabulous braided hair that had these pretty shells in it, let us in at 8:00, and we had to go through security. Security was basically just walking through a metal detector and placing my bag on conveyor belt to go through the x-ray machine scanner.
Once we all made it through security, we were told to wait in the foyer, which was actually quite lovely. After waiting for a few minutes, we began the check-in process. This is basically the part where I had to hand in the juror questionnaire form that came in the mail for me to fill out. Once I had checked in I was given a juror number. The juror number is used in a courtroom to identify jurors in regard to impanelment and voi dire (more on the process of both of those later).
Although it’s been nearly four years since that first jury duty experience, I can remember a couple of fellow jurors. One woman had arthritis or something - whatever it was required her to use a cane - and she seemed quite uncomfortable the entire time. There were a couple of jurors who really couldn’t speak English at all. They needed help filling out their forms when they got to the courthouse and everything. In Massachusetts, you are qualified as a juror if you are at least 18 years old, and can speak English. I guess they could understand more than they could speak. Jury duty, to me, means that you show up to court dressed nicely. There was this one girl who came in cut off shorts and flip flops.
We all then filed into the juror room, watched a movie about jury duty (one of those cheesy movies that are reminiscent of what you’d watch in school) and were greeted by one of the judges (she looked like a grandma with lovely white hair). The judge informed us that although most people like to settle without a jury, there were several cases going on this particular day. The group who had come the day before for jury duty had been impaneled and were sitting on a case. After she left, we began the waiting process.
The juror room was spacious, and we had our own private access to bathrooms as well as the use of a sitting room just outside the main jury room. The sitting room was basically for those who didn’t want to watch the movies that were being shown. I thought that was cool, it definitely took the edge off of any trepidation about being actually called into a courtroom. I can’t remember what movies were being shown, but I know they were comedies. Also, there was a big table with lots of magazines for anyone who wanted to read them. I spent my time watching the movies and doing crossword puzzles.
At 10:30, the guard with the pretty hair came in and told us we were free to go, all of the cases had been settled. Yippee! That was quite a pleasant jury duty experience. So pleasant, in fact, that I decided to write an essay on it for a personal essay course I was taking in college at the time. Little did I know that first experience had been an exceptional one…
My Second Jury Duty Experience: Lynn District Court
I had to serve jury duty for the second time just a little while ago at Lynn District Court in Lynn, MA. Needless to say it was an experience that I had been dreading. Lynn has a reputation as being a mecca of crime in the North Shore area. I had never set a toe in downtown Lynn ever before, and I would be very happy if I never had to again. I got there at just about 8:00, and this time there was no waiting around. I went through the front door, handed my juror form to the security guard to inspect (he was a cutie, by the way) and went through the security like I did at West Roxbury. I was handed my juror form back, and told to go wait over in the corner, where there were benches. I did, and watched all of the court clerks file their way into their offices to start their day. All the employees at this court seemed to be very nice.
After waiting for about twenty minutes, we were told to go down the stairs to the basement. When we got there, we were to take a left and go to the end of the hallway. That was where the jury room was. No escort or anything - we just all had to find our way together. My fellow jurors were very nice and normal looking this time. I actually talked to a couple of them at times. During my first jury duty experience, no one talked to anyone else. We formed a line and checked in with the guards. People were prepared this time, so it only took a couple of minutes. They basically just scanned my juror form and assigned me a number (it was from 1-30, since there were 30 jurors - my number was closer to 30). Something to remember: The higher your number is, the less of a chance you’ll get impaneled the first time in the courtroom, since they start seating jurors by shouting stuff like “Juror Number One, please sit in seat number one”.
The room was tiny, no windows, and very seventies-ish. In fact, the entire courthouse, with its dark wood and bland colors, reminded me of the seventies. It was a good thing it was cool that day, because there was no air conditioning, either. They had two fans going, though. The room had two tables, as well as chairs around the room’s perimeter. The way it was set up, everyone kind of had no choice but to stare at one another. I took a seat a table. One of the guards, a jovial, rotund fellow, informed us that this courthouse is the fifth busiest courthouse in Massachusetts. Yikes. Cue the same cheesy jury duty movie. The guard informed us jokingly that, had we wanted to purchase the video, we could do so by writing to the Office of the Jury Commissioner. Good to know. I’m the kind of person who would buy it just because I think it’s such a funny, random thing to buy.
There were no movies, and the only magazines available were some crumpled National Geographic ones. Luckily, I had come well prepared, with my People Magazine and my word search puzzles. One woman brought her laptop, but had to wait for the guard to find out the wireless code. Most people brought a newspaper or a book. One girl decided it would be an excellent time for a nap. I suggest, should you have jury duty in Massachusetts, that you bring reading material and a snack. I went a step further and also brought a sandwich in case I had to stay there for lunch.
Cell phones were allowed at this courthouse, but only outside the door to the jury room, and to the left of the blue door that was directly across the hall. What was that blue door, you ask? It was where they lead prisoners in and out to be arraigned. We were told that we couldn’t wander down the end of the hall, because that was where the District Attorney’s office was. Right outside his door were people who were there as witnesses in cases. Jurors, even just potential ones, aren’t allowed to talk to or overhear anyone who might be involved in a case. For this reason alone, it was pretty obvious that the juror room was in the most awkward place possible.
The guard told us that if we had to go to the bathroom we had to go up three flights of stairs to the third floor. We were told to keep our time out of the juror room to no more than ten minutes at a time. After this speech, we were told that the judge was going to come greet us, but he was already busy with a case. He never did make it, either. I told you this was a busy courthouse! The judge sent word that we were allowed to go have a break and to come back at 10. There was an exodus out the door as people went to the bathroom, went to move their cars, went to get coffee someplace in Lynn, or just went wherever it was they went that wasn’t the juror room. Two fellow jurors and I went to find the bathroom for future reference, and then I went back to the juror room to start my word search puzzles.
I had completed eight of said puzzles, and it was now 11:30 ish, when I realized that now would be a good time to go to the bathroom. There were people all over the place, some being frisked. I was terrified. It was like a criminal circus. I was dismayed to see that one couples was there with a baby! On my way back to the jury room I was behind some guy who was being led out of the ominous blue door in handcuffs. Scary. I got back to the jury room to find out that we were going to be called up to the courtroom. I was doubly terrified. We were instructed to take all of our stuff with us just in case. We walked up there with the guard, and were lead into the courtroom, taking our places in long wooden pews.
We were to remain standing until we swore an oath, holding our right hands up.
“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?”
“I do”
“Thank you, you may be seated”.
At this point the judge, a nice older man, ironically had finally gotten a chance to welcome us to the courthouse.The case was a DUI case, and apparently one that had made the papers. They introduced us to the defense, the prosecution, and the witness. There were actually supposed to be a couple of witnesses, but the other person didn’t show up. The judge then asked a bunch of questions, and if we had any problem with any of the questions, we were to hold up our number. I didn’t have a problem with any of the questions in terms of not being impartial, but some jurors did. They’d hold up their numbers, and the guards would call the numbers out to one of the court employees, who would make a note of it for voi dire.
Voi dire is a process in which the judge confers with various jurors who feel that they cannot be impartial in a case. In this courthouse, they basically filled the seven seats for the jury by calling out the juror numbers 1 through 7. The lawyers and the judge would then gather at the sidebar and go through the juror questionnaire forms that we had filled out to get rid of jurors who were deemed to be biased in some way. Jurors who had held up their cards were called up to the sidebar in numerical order. Only two of the original seven had been switched out of the jury for that case, and they were replaced by jurors who were next in line numerically (they never got even close to my number). Once they had selected their jury, we were led out of the courtroom and back down to the jury room.
I thought us remaining jurors were home free at this point, because it was nearly lunchtime, and who would start a case right before lunchtime?! Well, the other guard (this one had a moustache and a very marked Boston accent) came in about ten minutes later saying that there was one more case. So, up we went again. This time, it was a female judge. We went through the swearing in again, and she gave a speech saying that it might be difficult to select an impartial jury from our now much smaller jury pool. This was another DUI case, and we were introduced to all the parties yet again.
This time, she asked all of the questions at once, and at the end we were to hold up our cards at the end. Well, I had a problem with this one (most of us jurors did. It was pretty obvious that the guy was guilty) , so I got called up to voi dire. I felt like I was in a huddle with the two lawyers and the female judge. She was very, um, stern, and said “Thank you, you may step down” after I explained why I thought the guy was guilty. It turns out that the trial had to be suspended because they couldn’t find any suitable jurors. We were led out of the courtroom, and were told that we’d get our proof of having served jury duty that was good for the next three years in the mail within a couple of weeks.
I’m not going to lie, this second jury duty experience was pretty scary for me. It’s one thing to watch shows like COPS on television, but it’s quite another thing to actually see people who are accused of various serious crimes in person (no, I’m not talking about the DUI cases, it’s the other people I saw in and around the courthouse). Whereas my first jury duty experience was very tame, this most recent experience was a real eye-opener in a lot of ways.
