A Jury Of Your Peers

Don't call me Bean, call me King County Superior Court Juror #102308610. Yesterday and the day before were the days I have been looking forward to my entire adult life: jury duty!

I find it surprising that this was my first ever jury summons considering that I a) have lived in five states since I turned 18 and became eligible to serve, b) have continuously held a driver's license, c) have voted in many elections, and d) have owned several different pieces of properties. I expected that any of those would have made my name readily available to be called but it never happened until now.

I was surprised how large the jury pool was when I reported for duty at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. We must have numbered about 200 people in the waiting room. After a brief introductory video called We The People and then a few procedural words from jury manager Greg Wheeler, we knew what to do next. Wait.*

About an hour into the day, the first announcement came over the speaker that 35 names had been randomly selected and would be escorted upstairs to form a jury pool. My name was not called.

45 minutes later the second batch of names was called and mine was among them! I turned in my paperwork and waited for the bailiff to take us to a courtroom. Then came an  announcement that all of  us in jury pool #2 would  have to fill out some additional paperwork with questions all about our feelings toward the Hells Angels. Oooh, sounds like a hot one!

Almost immediately though the clerk called my name again and asked just me to step up to the counter. "How did they know?", I thought, "that I can tell someone is guilty just by looking at them? Now they are going to want me to be on all the juries!"

Wrong. Turns  out another guy with my same first and last name was the one they wanted for the motorcycle case and I was back on the outside looking in.

Another 45 minutes or so and then came the real call. I was in! I was one of 40 jurors in pool #2 and was whisked upstairs to Judge  Catherine Schaffer's courtroom on the 7th floor floor of the King County Superior Court. 

I was very impressed with the judge. She spoke quite eloquently  about the  importance of the jury system its history in British common law. She spoke of the defendant's  presumption of innocence and of the state's extraordinary burden of proof. I felt like I was reliving the civics lesson I probably slept through in 9th grade, and enjoying it.   

I found out that our case would be fraud case that involved a stolen check written by the defendant to the defendant for a little over 500 bucks. Allegedly, I guess. Still, not nearly as cool as the Hells Angels trial going on one floor up. 

Then her Honor turned the floor over to the two attorneys in the case to begin the process known as "voir dire," a medieval French term meaning, "to tell the truth." This is when the defense and prosecution tries to whittle the 40 down to 13 jurors (twelve, plus an alternate) that they hope will be receptive to  their interpretation of the facts of the case. The defense attorney looked a lot like Maggie Gyllenhaal (the cute Maggie from Secretary, not the scary drugged out one from Sherry Baby) but the state's attorney was a fox who looked exactly like Maggie Grace (remember dead Shannon from Lost?)

During the interviews, I learned a lot about my fellow jurors in a very short amount of time.  Average age appeared to be about 45. Astonishingly, just like Seattle itself, the racial breakdown appeared to be about 40 whites, 2 blacks, 5 Asians, and 3 others. 

Favorite news sources were NPR, Seattle Times, and New York Times though everything from Fox News to Al Jazeera to local channel KING 5 was mentioned.

Predictably, Microsoft, Boeing and Nordstrom, all Seattle based companies, were easily the most mentioned employers.   

Favorite non-work activities mentioned most included church, skiing, reading, and working out. Most  were married. Most had children.

As I was listening to the room I found myself wondering which jurors were going to be trouble once we got into deliberation. Kind of like how you size up other passengers on an airplane to see who you could take if you had to.

The guy who looked like Carlos Mencia wanted to impress upon us that a criminal should never get off because of a technicality. He had a very long rambling speech about O.J. Simpson to back that up. He did not get selected.

The guy who looked like Ben Kingsley must have known a lot of the right things to say. He had previously served on three other juries, as the foreman each time. He got picked.

The woman who looked like Roseanne was selected also. She had testified as an eyewitness in three separate trials involving the bank she worked at being robbed.

And so it went. I sat there in what should have been my deliberation room as 13 names were called and none of them even rhymed with Bean.  The state of Washington is apparently not interested in my brand of justice. Judge Shaffer had made it clear to us ahead of time that we must not take it personally if we did not make the panel; that it was not a reflection on our ability to judge a case fairly. I would be lying if I said I were not disappointed though.

Let me close with this first-hand observation of the process in action.  Those who paint jurors with a wide brush, who assume that the only people who serve are too stupid to get out of it, and that it is the dredges of society deciding court cases could not be more wrong. The group I spent the afternoon with was bright, articulate, well-informed and eager to fulfill their constitutional duty.   

And if you are one of the many who tries to dodge jury duty when it is your turn, I ask you this. Thomas Jefferson believed that the right to a trial by a jury of your peers was one of the most important and central principles of what the new American nation stood for.  Since you disagree, what idea do you think is better?

*Speaking of waiting, Day 2 of my minimum service requirement had none of the excitement of Day 1. My name was never called all day and I was excused around 2 p.m..

 

Comments

[michelle k]

#102308610: what a great inside view to the mystery that is jury duty. i hope it was everything you wanted it to be.

[Raul]

I know what you went through. I had Jury Duty a while back and waited all day until about 2 pm. I was the last group in the waiting room and then they said, we are excusing all of you. I really wanted to be on that murder case!

[brother john]

I'd much prefer a trial by combat than any "peers" my local gov't might select. It must be different in your area. When I look at the great unwashed on the street in the D.C. area, I wouldn't trust them to park my car much less decide my fate.

[Chris G.]

Good for you, Bean - fulfilling your public obligation with such enthusiasm. I'm impressed. Now if I could just manage to quit throwing those summons out*...

* Just a joke to any government people looking on.

[Chrissy]

While Seattle might have a better selection of people to pick from for jury service, I have actually served on a jury in San Bernardino County, and I would never want to be tried there, ever. But it was a fun experience. Three weeks of jury service while we tried to decide if someone was a Mentally Disordered Offender because she shot her boyfriend and then heard voices. I would love to serve on another jury, but I haven't been called once in the five years since.

[alisa]

My condolences, Juror Formerly Known as #102308610. But at least now you know who has been hoarding all your jury duty summons prior to now - that OTHER Gene Baxter!!! dundunDUN!

[Heather]

"I found myself wondering which jurors were going to be trouble once we got into deliberation. Kind of like how you size up other passengers on an airplane to see who you could take if you had to."

Oh my God - I totally do that too! I am not crazy about flying, but have to do it for business trips. A small ritual I have is to count the number of rows between me and the exit (both forward and behind me) and then to size up everyone between me and the exit. Is that little old lady going to give me trouble as I run screaming out of the burning plane? Nope, becuase I will knock her flat if necessary.

Congrats on the jury duty!

[Jackie]

My recent jury duty experience ended in an early excusal as well. And while I shouldn't be so quick to judge those people who elected to uphold their civic duty, my main impression of the lot was based on our time in the waiting room. We were given a choice of what movie to watch by vote. There was quite a wide range of decent movies--not great, but decent--and somehow this group of say 200 people whittled our choices down to Ghost Rider featuring Nic Cage. I immediately discredited the majority of people in the room and returned to my book.

[Tiffiny Whitney]

I'm totally with you on jury duty, Bean. I was actually really excited when I was called to serve--but your day was MUCH more exciting than mine. I didn't get called into a pool until near the very end of the day, and THEN the case settled while we were waiting to go into the court room. :(
I was, suffice to say, pissed off about it.

By the way...just so that you know, "voir dire" does NOT mean "to tell the truth." The literal definition of "voir dire," if you break it down into its two respective verbs--"voir" means "to see" and "dire" means "to talk" in French. So, the process literally means, "to see, to talk," or essentially, the ATTORNEYS go through the process of seeing and talking to all potential jurors for evaluation. If it had anything to do with telling the truth, it would be something like "pour dire la verite"--literally, "for telling the truth."

Just saying...they lied to you in the court room.

Tiffiny

[Diane]

I have served on two juries, and found it to be an interesting, and valuable, experience each time. And my fellow juror who was a member of a cult that was an offshoot of Jim Jones' People's Temple (the branch that didn't drink the kool-aid) wasn't as odd as one might think.

[karlee]

i lied and did anything i could to get on a jury and i did! it was a medical one (sinus surgery). you would have found it very interesting. i learned so much about why the judicial system takes such a long time. so much that i was able to read all of the lord of the rings books. the first thing is the court reporter needs breaks every 20 minutes or so. end result we favored the defendant a dr who performed an antiquated version (Caldwell Luc) of todays sinus surgery resulting in the guys partial feeling paralysis on his face where his wife now misses his intimacy? um yeah tears and everything. he claimed he was not informed of the surgery and had he known he would never have agreed to it, although terribly suffering from sinus infections. WTF? the dr presented many documentations flushing that accusation down the toilet. lucky for you you had attractive lawyers to look at. mine were fugly and crusty.

ever heard of ejury.com?

[Lisa]

Congrats on fulfilling your civil duty.
I, myself, was Juror #1 last week for a civil suit about a failed real-estate-investment-partnership. Not entirely exciting but the psychological tactics the lawyers used were very sneaky!

[db]

jury duty ya ya...I clicked on Michelle K's profile she is pretty hot! Bean how about a blog party eh? eh? and you don't have to be there

[Geo]

Good for you Bean. I'm glad you had the chance
to have your wish become a reality.

[Fred G]

No, potential jurors that can't speak English but swear they'll understand every word? No, hot babes in the waiting room?

and how come you didn't show up to work before going in? As my ex-boss used to tell me "It's jury duty, it's not vacation"

Better luck next time.

[Vic Rattler]

My one day in court was a lot like your day 2. Though I did get called to court, for a child molestation case, but was dissmissed without questioning.

The two things I remember most:
1) being shortly after 9/11 (yes, that one) the judge felt it necessary to inform us that the defendant with the Middle Eastern name was a "Coptic Christian" and held no terrorist affiliations. So we could judge him fairly, as opposed to those awful Muslims?
2) We signed papers 'swearing' to blahblahblah duty, and a man stood up to say that his religious beliefs would not allow him to 'swear.' He was asked to instead 'affirm' which he agreed to. If the space between Heaven and Hell for you is that semantic, I think you're missing something.

[Debbie]

About 8 years ago, I was an alternate juror for a burglary case until a juror was excused after one day so I was bumped up. It was interesting especially when the defense attorney picked up the handgun used as evidence and held it to his head for drama. Yeah, we found the guy guilty.

Then 3 years ago, I got selected for jury duty which is now 1 trial or 1 day so if you are not picked up for a trial by the end of the day, you're done. I guess they're trying to make jury duty appealing.

[Matt]

The problem I have with jury duty is I got 5 summons in one year. And can someone explain why some people get summoned more than others. My employer will not pay for jury duty and I don't see how most people could take a week, month or year off without working. Jury duty would work better if it was required that employers paid their employees when called and that their job is protected.

Those people might have been nice but I will bet that not one of them that got selected had a college degree.

[Steve-o]

there's another gene baxter? in the same city? what are the chances!??!! too bad you didn't get picked though, better luck next time...if there is one! :)

[Gina]

Matt, you would lose that bet! Last jury I served on included not one but two medical doctors.

[DeeJay]

I always take jury duty very seriously. I guess I just want to know I have some court house karma built up if I ever find myself in the nightmarish defendant seat. It is interesting how quickly you bond with your fellow jurors. I agree that for the most part, they have been solid folk. I also find it fascinating to see the young lawyers. Especially when testimony starts. What a system we have! Since my company does pay, I seem to get called at least once a year. A friend of mine served on a famous murder case here in OC (remember Denise Huber?) and it really took a toll on her. I don't know how I would handle that.

[LA]

Ever since OJ got off, I've taken jury duty seriously. I've only actually served once. It was a civil case in Orange County, and we found for the defendant because the plaintiff didn't come close to meeting the burden of proof. My fellow jurors were a bright bunch. Most of us were professionals. Oh, the judge looked exactly like Jason Robards.

http://venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/23/juror-held-in-contempt-for-blog-of-murder-trial/

be careful
I'm just sayin'...

[Abel]

I know what it feels like. I had the fortune of being picked for service at the Compton courthouse. A carjacking case with 3 defendants. It was agony for 4 days. Going back each day, hoping to hear my name called. To no unveil they picked the jury with out me getting a crack at it.

[mel]

i wouldn't resent and try to get out of jury duty at all if it didn't mean
a. annoying my employer and co-workers by creating more work and trouble for them
and
b. losing out on getting paid - i can't afford to lose even a day's wages much less a week's or more...

the system is great in theory but needs to be worked out in practice...

[RMC]

I agree with what mel just said. My employer doesn't pay and once I lost two weeks pay (a WHOLE pay check!) to jury duty. OUCH. I actually have to call in next week to see if I have to go in.

[Jojo]

You can always do volunteer jury duty until you get picked.

[LS]

yes, in theory Jefferson's idea works really well. But! OJ's "peers" did not try him...OJ's peers would have included the Hollywood elite or other NFL football players..People that lived in Bel-Air or Brentwood, NOT people that lived in Compton or Watts.
Furthermore, I am an independent contractor and if I don't work, I don't get paid. Simple. Or not simple. I choose not to work for "the man" and I'm much happier even though I don't get paid vacation. But to take off and do jury duty? I cannot, at this time, justify doing it. Unless my landlord could waive rent, Verizon waive my payments, Whole Foods give me free groceries, etc. etc.....

[Matthew]

Yeah, that is why they let you out if it is a financial hardship. You don't have to serve in that case.