January 18, 2008
Jury Duty Day 2: The Jury Duty Strikes Back
So first off, the reason we can't read is that the judge wants everyone to pay attention. The way she runs voir dire in her courtroom is that she questions the panel aloud en banc, and should any of us not yet in the privileged seats move up, she wants us to be aware of what we are going to be asked. It saves time in questioning the people who get seated later.
So I have been learning a lot about my fellow jurors. Seems there are a lot of people who have really negative opinions about cops and judges and attorneys. And a lot of people who have been harassed by cops or know someone who has.
This is one hundred percent outside my worldview.
It's an interesting exercise in psychology listening to people talk about their experiences and feelings, and then to see the judge and attorneys' reactions. And it certainly makes things less boring, especially for a people-watcher like me.
And, I get to go back in Tuesday morning. As expected, they have already chewed through 36 of the original 55 of us, and the last 7 of those are still actively in voir dire. I expect the jury will be picked and sworn Tuesday, whether or not I get chosen. At this point, I'd almost RATHER be chosen, as it will be 3 days out of my life already, and I'm interested to find out what happens.....
But, joy of joys, I GOT A METRO PASS!!!! No more $5/day to go back and forth. No more bums staring at me while I feed bills into the ticket machine.
Posted by caltechgirl at January 18, 2008 06:16 PM | TrackBackThree days just in voir dire? I know you can't talk about it, but as a prosecutor I can guess this is a pretty serious crime. I've never had a TRIAL that lasted more than two days.
Posted by: Dave J at January 18, 2008 09:39 PMI've been through voir dire 7 times in LA County and served on one criminal jury. Like you, I found it a eye-opener. It's a window into a lot of different mindsets I don't encounter in ordinary life.
After my times in the juror system, I have gained an increased respect for Superior Court judges. Each judge I've seen has been extremely patient and fair in the jury selection process (and the trial) while cutting through the foolish BS people use to get out of jury service.
In one of my times in Criminal court, scuttlebutt in the jury room was that judges would release potential jurors who were obviously prejuduced. A hundered of us were called into a department where three Hispanic men were being tried for a triple ambush murder, possibly a death penalty case.
One woman told the judge she did not like Mexicans and that too many of them were here causing problems. The judge was a stern woman who immediately asked the juror if a couple days in jail would make her a better person. That pretty much shut down that method for getting off jury duty.
As far as I can tell, the biggest jerks in the jury system have been attorneys who get called for jury duty. About two years ago I was in the jury pool for a Downtown murder case that had two attorneys in the first 14 people called. These two guys burned up more than a day of court time
because they simply would not agree to consider the law only as explained by the judge and would not agree to consider only evidence presented in the courtroom. God help you if your juror pool has some of those guys.
I've always wanted to serve on a jury, Ijust always get excused.
Posted by: Contagion at January 22, 2008 01:42 PM
