Long Days At Jury Duty

Let me start by mentioning that I served on the jury for three trials -- two criminal and one civil case -- prior to this week, but it's been many years since I last was selected. We have a "one day or one trial" system -- if you're not on a jury after one day your service is over. The last few times I've gone to jury duty I've been there for a day and then dismissed.

I thought the same might happen this time. I got to the Juror Assembly room on Monday at 8:15 am (after going through security at the Criminal Justice Center, which was a pain -- remove metal stuff from pockets, remove coat, remove belt -- but still not as bad as the airport) and completed the forms containing the questions about whether you've served before, whether you are related to any police officers, whether you've been a victim of a crime or part of a lawsuit, etc. Almost right away they called for a panel of 50 to go to a courtroom, even before they played the standard introductory video. I was number 48 of 50. We were taken to a courtroom which wasn't the one where the case was going to be handled. It was just to clear the Juror Assembly room a little, since it was going to overflow otherwise. So in that courtroom we watched the video, and then we waited. And waited. And waited. After 10 am we were told that "something happened with the case" and that we could take a 10-15 minute break and then go back to the Juror Assembly room.

About 10:45 or so those of us in that original panel were then sent to another courtroom while we waited to begin the voir dire process -- where we're questioned about our answers on the forms, among other things. We sat for an hour, doing nothing court-related but separating the various copies of our forms, and passing them to the court officer watching over us. Then, finally, we were called into the actual courtroom where the case was being handled.
The judge was an old man, a not-so-intoxicating mixture of cranky and doddering. He made his initial statements, stumbling in his words despite reading from prepared text, and asked a few general questions about whether we knew anyone involved in the case -- defendant, lawyers, witnesses.

This took until about 12:20. Then jurors 21-50 on the panel (including me) were sent to lunch while jurors 1-20 were kept in the courtroom. They began questioning each person about the answers on their forms. We had an hour for lunch, but I could have taken longer. I got back at 1:20 and those of us in the 21-50 group sat in the other empty courtroom waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Then jurors 21-30 were called in, then a while later jurors 31-40 were taken off, then finally, well after 3 pm, the rest of us were taken into the courtroom. We were sent into the jury room and, one by one, were called out to be questioned individually.

In the jury room, although the door was closed, we could hear a little bit of what was going on outside. At one point, with 5 or 6 of us left, I could hear someone outside say, "This is juror number 13." So the twelve jurors and an alternate were chosen. Only one left. If one more person was chosen before me, it would be another one-and-done. Finally, it was my turn. I was asked about whether I could be fair in rendering a verdict even though I'm related to a retired cop. I said I would be. I was sent to a small room outside the courtroom. A moment later I heard someone say "that's juror number 14." So, out of the 50 that started, it took them 48 to get a panel of 14 for the jury.

(I am working on the theory that, in the other cases where I was not chosen to serve, it was because my hair was too short and I probably looked too conservative for the defense's tastes, but this time with my hair longer I passed the test.)

I was told to report for the trial the next day at 9:30. (A little more time to sleep -- woo-hoo!) We had been told that it was probably going to take just a day, although I was a little skeptical because they read off a list of names of people involved and it seemed a bit lengthy. I was hoping I'd be there for at least four days -- the city pays $9.00 per day for the first three days you serve. After that the rate goes up to $25.00 per day (apparently state money is involved at that point).

So I arrived at 9:30 on Tuesday and went into the jury room. And waited. And waited. And waited. The court officer said there were pretrial motions that had to be cleared up first, that normally they're done before the day of the trial but somehow they weren't in this case. It was probably close to 11 when we finally went into court to start the trial.

The defendant was charged with a firearms violation and conspiracy. Basically, he was previously convicted of a felony so he isn't allowed to have a gun, but he was charged with possessing a gun. He was arrested one night when police pulled over the car he was a passenger in because a tail light was broken. There was a woman driving, the defendant was in the front passenger seat, and another man and woman were in back (the woman in back was on the right side, same as the defendant). When the cops got out of their car, the man in back bent over, out of the cops' view. The cops called for backup. The woman in back began shaking quite a bit. Then the defendant was seen bending forward, as if he were trying to hide something, according to the cops. All four people were removed from the car. As they were doing so, one cop saw a gun under the foot of the woman in back. Then they found another gun under the front passenger seat. In addition, after backup arrived the women were searched by a female officer and the driver was found to have what appeared to be marijuana on her. So all four were arrested and charged with different crimes.

The only witnesses called were the two cops who pulled the car over. While the first one was on the witness stand things got heated between the assistant DA and the defense attorney as both were objecting at various times. The judge at one point banged his gavel twice. Then it got even more heated when the second officer came to testify. After one objection the lawyers just went back and forth arguing, because the judge was just sitting there doing nothing instead of sustaining or overruling the objection. Finally he snapped and banged his gavel again, harder this time, and called for a conference in his chambers. This was at about 12:50, so they decided to send us to lunch.

We came back at 1:50, sat and waited (have you detected a trend?) and were called back in as the trial resumed. The cop finished his testimony, and the assistant DA rested her case. There was a recess. More waiting. We went back into court and the defense attorney rested his case without calling any witnesses. The two gave their closing arguments. There was another recess. In the jury room, I knew that this was it for me and the other alternate. I told the group that they could send me home right now, since I was the alternate. I said, "I don't need to hear the judge's final instructions unless two of you keel over right now, and if you do, I'm doing CPR!" Then I mock-yelled, "Don't go into the light!" I got some good laughs. Then we went back into court and the judge gave his instructions on the law to the jury. At about 4 pm, jurors 1-12 were sent into the jury room. That left me and the other alternate. We were thanked for our service and dismissed.

So I only got $18 for the two days. Actually, I haven't even gotten it yet. Since it was so late the jury room was already closed and they couldn't prepare the check so they have to mail it to me. I was surprised at this. I've left late before and gotten the check. I'm guessing the city's budget problems have cut back on overtime.

And I don't even know how the case turned out, although I was told I can call the courtroom and ask about it. I didn't get a chance to do it Wednesday and they've been closed the last two days. At that point, though, if I were actually deliberating, I was leaning toward voting not guilty. This would have been a first. In the two criminal cases I was on before (one being a murder trial, where I was the foreperson and we were actually sequestered for a night -- fun at the time but I'd hate it now, due to my Internet addiction), we found the defendant guilty with very little difficulty.

In this case I thought the defense attorney did a much better job of creating reasonable doubt as to whether the defendant actually possessed the gun that was under his seat. It was plausible that one or both of the people in back conspired to put the gun there. The two cops that testified both were younger, not too experienced and nervous -- one of them constantly grabbed the courtroom microphone and moved it so close to his mouth that his voice wasn't that clear. There were a few bits of their testimony where they conflicted each other, there were a few details they couldn't recall when asked about them, and the second one, at the end of his testimony, out of the blue suddenly came up with the comment that the floor in the back seat was full of toys and "baby stuff" so the woman couldn't have kicked a gun up there. No one saw a gun in anyone's hand, and they weren't dusted for fingerprints (which is standard procedure, the cops said -- only if there was a report of a shooting would it have been handled carefully and then checked for prints). It was all very questionable to me. My fellow alternate agreed. I don't know what the rest of the panel thought. If I get a chance next week I'll call the courtroom and find out.