The basic concept was, after an indefinite amount of waiting, the defendant and the legal eagles on both sides of the case marched in and sit at a table in the front of the courtroom. The clerk then begin calling out jurors names until they had selected about 3 times as many jurors as they actually needed. Next, the clerk read the charges, swore everyone in and then the defendant’s lawyers and the attorney(s) for the Commonwealth began to interviewing each juror individually. While this was going on, the rest of the jurors had the privilege of sitting in their seats and waiting for their turn. This may sound like a bunch of laughs, but believe it or not, it was really, really dull.
It’s a good thing I didn’t get picked for the first jury. If I told you what the charges were, I could go to jail, but let’s just say that after they got done reading the things the defendant was accused of, I’d have gladly walked over to the guy and given him a lethal injection on the spot. Yeah. Plus that trial was going to run for a week and a half. But they assured the jurors that they would not be sequestered, which I’m sure made them feel fabulous.
About 3 hours later, they started the whole process over with another trial. I was the 32nd name they called and since they only needed 12 jurors and 2 alternates, I figured this was a good thing. This time, when the clerk read the charges (which I can’t tell you, due to the whole going to jail thing), they were only slightly less horrific than the previous case. But I didn’t feel an overwhelming urge to do bodily harm to the defendant, so I figured I could in good conscience serve on that jury, if it came down to it. (Plus, this trial was only supposed to last 3 days, which was a much happier time frame)
But it never did come down to it. Just as it was getting close to my turn to be interviewed, they announced they were going to take a 5 minute break… and never came back. Seriously. After 2 hours of nothing, they said we could go home because the case wasn’t going to come before a jury after all. So I guess justice prevailed some other way.
The odd thing is, even though I wasted my whole day just sitting, I felt lucky because it could have been so much worse. Which is what leads me back to my original question to the Founding Fathers, “Why?! Oh, why?!” Why must we punish the innocent jury members along with the guilty criminals? Shouldn’t jurors be treated with honor; offered recliners to relax in, a nice buffet, back massages, etc? That would be more just.
Oh, what am I saying? I got some compensation! They paid me $13.25 for 8 hours, and gave me a coupon for %20 off at Quiznos!
