Jury Duty

Years ago I had a desire to be on a jury. I thought it would be an interesting experience. Since I have been a mom, I have had zero desire to be on a jury. In the past year I was summoned for jury three times. The first time was last June. I would have had to show up on July 11. I wrote back to them saying my mother was on hospice, and I was making frequent trips to Maryland to be with her. When I wrote that last June, I had no idea that the last time I would see her alive here on earth was July 10. I was excused, but then I was summoned again in the fall. I tried to be excused again on the basis that I am a stay-at-home mom taking care of and homeschooling three children for whom I do not have child care arrangements. They told me that was not a valid excuse, but there weren't any cases to be tried that month so none of the jurors had to show up that time. Last Friday when I called I was hoping to hear the same recording, but this time it said we all needed to show up.

One perk for Paul was he got to sleep in later than usual this morning. I woke Nadia up at 6:30. The boys were already awake. I made their lunches and fed them breakfast, and Paul took them to his parents house. His parents took them to Bloomsburg a bit later in the morning. Nadia and Ian started their Maker Camp this week (from 10am to 1pm M-F at the Children's Museum). Paul's parents took Oliver to the playground in Bloomsburg. Then they took them to the mall in Bloomsburg for Nadia's Junior Actors class. I met them at the mall. They bought the boys a pass for Bloom Bounce that will give them a place to play during Nadia's class this week.

I left the house around 7:50. They had said we should either use a metered parking space (and feed the meters) or purchase a $2.00/day parking permit to park in a municipal lot. When I saw there was a fairly large church parking lot near the courthouse, I opted to park there figuring not many cars would be in their lot on a Monday. After signing in and donning my juror pin, we sat and waited and waited for about 90 minutes (we were given one

bathroom break in there). There had been five cases set to go to trial. Four of the cases were settled by plea bargains. That meant there were over 100 jurors present to fill one jury. They needed 12 jurors plus 2 alternates. They selected 30 people for the initial pool. I was the 30th name they called. For the next 2.5 hours I sat in the juror chair with the number 30 on it. The judge asked us various questions, and if you raised your hand then you went up right in front of him and told him why you raised your hand (ex. "Have you heard anything about this case on the news or read about it in the newspaper?" or "Do you know the defendant or any of the lawyers?"). The prosecuting and defense attorneys also listened to what you said to the judge. Sometimes the juror would go back to their seat. Sometimes they were immediately dismissed. When that happened another person would be called from the bigger pool of jurors to take their place. Sometimes it took multiple consecutive attempts to fill that vacant seat because when a person came up they would immediately go to the judge and say if they needed to answer yes to any of the questions that had already been asked.

After the judge was done asking questions, the prosecuting attorney asked a few, and then finally the defense attorney asked a few and gave a little speech about "reasonable doubt." Let me tell you just from her speech, I think the defendant is likely guilty. The man (who has been living in Florida the past several years) has been charged with raping a girl several times from 2003-2013 (and a few other related charges). Around 12:45 the lawyers began to use their strikes to narrow our pool from 30 to 14. At 1:00 I was one of the lucky 16 people who were removed at the request of one of the lawyers (I'm guessing the defense attorney). Yahoo! The trial was to start on Wednesday or Thursday and last two days. First of all this topic is a highly unpleasant one, and I'd rather not sit through it. Secondly, I am scheduled to take a Praxis test on Friday at Bloomsburg University, this isn't a good time for Paul to take off work, and Paul's mom has a doctor appointment later in the week for her next chemo treatment. So I was very relieved to NOT be picked for that jury. Now I can just hope a few years pass before I am summoned again! When the kids are older, it will be much easier for me to do my civic duty and serve on a jury.