The Halls of Justice

Are Actually Quite Crowded!


Wednesday came: a day I had been looking forward to since I was a little girl. A day I had planned out in my head thousands of times, down to the last detail of my outfit.

Jury Duty Day!

Two days before, I plotted out how to get there: I didn't want to be late!

The day before, I got myself ready: grading to do, books to read, several pens for filling out forms.

I was set! Would I get on a murder trial? Or a securities fraud case? Or a libel case?

The excitement!

And I'd be surrounded by my fellow citizens, sharing in this momentous occasion.

That proved to be more of a liability than I thought.

I arrived at 8:21am, well in time for the 8:30am start.

Except, as I found out, it didn't really start at 8:30am. It started more like at 9:00am or 9:30am.

Because most people are tardy. Especially when it comes to Jury Duty.

Weirdly, most people apparently don't look forward to it as much as I did.

After the silly movie, after the forms, after the man who clearly states these directions every single day of his life stated the directions, I waited to be called.

And tried to grade. It was hard, with others talking.

But, on the plus side, I was Busy. Therefore, people were less likely to engage me in a one-sided diatribe about what they were missing today and why their back/leg/ankle hurt so much.

I tend to attract the motormouths and crazies. Something in the eyes, I think.

Then, my name was finally called! Into a room!

I didn't know this at the time but this was a good thing. I might have sat, waiting, all day, waiting in vain.

Others, who knew what the room meant, started grumbling.

"Oh no. We're getting picked for a trial."

Oh no?! Oh yes! How exciting!!!!!!!!!

We wait around for the lawyers. I try to sneak some more grading in, though I had been told to close my laptop.

Well, no one was speaking to us, so why waste the time?

As I filled out the form, my stomach started flipping over. It was clear that it was a form not dissimilar to that you might fill out at the doctor's office: the more you have to write, and the more you have to check off, the worse your prognosis likely is.

And some of my answers filled all the lines!

Enter the lawyers. One man immediately got excused because he knew one of the defense attorneys.

I didn't know anyone. So far, so good.

Even better! My name gets pulled as one of the first six! That means that I am first in line to get on the jury! Hello, halls of justice!

Some observations. First, the prosecuter/plaintiff's attorney in the case was kind of an idiot. She was trying to be all pal-sy with us and it came off as really fake.
Plus, she talked waaaaaaaay too much and overexplained everything.

And, it was a really small room. And each attorney stood up while he or she was speaking.

I'm sorry, but you don't wear pants that tight if you are going to be in a small room standing up. It was distracting. In a bad way.

I kept imagining a seam splitting.

We were being considered for a civil case - a car accident, pain and suffering case.

It had a technical name but I've already forgotten what that was.

It's funny how each side, even though the case hadn't officially started yet, used pyschological tricks and irrational forms of persuasion to try to get people to subconsiously take one side or another, all while intoning about how important it was for us not to decide anything until all the evidence had been heard.

Things like, "You'll have to decide how much damages my client ought to get."

Not, "If she/he deserves damages,........"

And so on.

Finally, the plaintiff's attorney started asking us a lot of questions.

She was especially interested in asking me and one other potential juror questions.

I think she was trying to get me to admit bias.

At one point, when she asked me the same question a different way yet again, basically as to whether I could possibly keep an open mind, given my family's background, I quipped:

"I do teach logic, after all. That's one of the first things I teach my students - not to assume anything outside of the evidence/facts at hand."

I don't think she liked that comment.

The defense attorneys perked up, however. One wrote a note right after I said that.

I think the attorneys were fighting with each other, too. We kept getting excused so that they could go talk to the judge.

It was during these periods, where we were waiting for the lawyers to return, that I had most of my enduring questions about my intelligence answered.

I listened to other people talk around me, trying to block them out but being only semi-successful, in a room full of random people, picked at random on purpose, as part of the system of justice.

I do lots of stupid things. Sure, I have scored in the (low) 99th percentile on standarized tests but that could have been luck. Or something.

And I do a lot of stupid things. Which has lead me to ask, on many occasions, "Why should I think I'm any smarter than much of the population?"

The argumentative fallacies, and general poor reasoning, I heard during these breaks put a rest to most questions such as these.

Wow.

I might still be socially awkward, impulsive, compulsive and prone to rash decisions that I rue afterwards, as well as the occasional awkwardness of the 'I spontaniously fell down' variety.

But at least I know that, just because your sister got hit by a cab and was injured, that doesn't mean that all cabbies are irresponsible and dangerous.

Simple logic, folks!

Back to the questioning room.......

When it was the defense attorney's turns, finally, they only talked to four of the six potential jurors. It was clear that two had already been written off.

They had written themselves off, in fact. By how they acted and answered prior questions.

The defense attorneys seemed to really like me.

At the end, the plaintiff's attorney asked me and one other man two last questions.

She tried to get me to admit bias again. I didn't.

In fact, I didn't volunteer much information during any of this. I figure, I should just wait until I was directly asked.

Interesting, how many people would volunteer all sorts of information about themselves and their families, with little to no prompting!

Maybe that's what the lawyers wanted......
Because, after a quick conference, I got immediately dismissed.

Sigh. It would have been so interesting!

And now I have to wait another 8 years.

Maybe I can volunteer? Or does that automatically disqualify a person?

My dream has yet to be fulfilled.

All I want is to be a juror!