Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Jul. 5th, 2011 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyToday was very different. I woke up at 6:30 so that I could take a bus and a subway to make it to federal court at 8:30 because I had jury duty. Technically, it is two weeks service but you only come in when you are needed. I only did jury duty once before, seven years ago in county court and that just involved sitting in a room for two days since I was not even called up for selection process. But today was certainly a different story. I got picked to actually serve on a federal criminal case next week for 3 days.
I can’t talk about the case at all but I can talk about the process for it which was interesting. I got to court, went through metal detector and checked in my cell phone and then went up to the jury room. There were five cases and one grand jury than was selecting jurors today. At around 10, I got called along with 54 people for the third case. (And when they started calling the names for that case, I kind of knew I would get picked). We got walked to the courtroom where we were directed to the seats in a very orderly fashion. The US government attorneys and the defendant and his lawyers were already there, standing, waiting for a judge. We were all very quiet; no one is going to mess around in a court. The judge was a very interesting man and he made the process run smoothly and explained the process clearly like how the government has the burden of proof. He emphasized that this was a short case (and certainly preferable to the grand jury selection). Then he called 31 names to sit in the jury box and the front row. I was 10th, so I got to sit in the jury box in the second row. Out of 31, he began the general questions – like if anyone we knew was a lawyer or police officer and our ability to be partial and base the decision on evidence. Did anyone serve on a jury before and why? (One woman served on murder trial before. I can’t even imagine.) anyone got dismissed, he would call someone from the backrows to fill in the seat.
At one point I had to come talk to the judge and the lawyers to establish that I could be impartial because there was a potential conflict of interest because I’m a naturalized citizen so that was interesting. After general questions and a small break, the judge went through all 31 of us and asked personal questions – where we lived and for how long? Did we rent or own? Our jobs and jobs of spouses. Were we married or do we have kids? What did people’s grown children do for a living? Educational background. What newspapers and magazines do we read and TV shows do we watch? What are our hobbies? Are we part of any organizations?
We got to interact with fellow potential jurors a bit, mostly in whispers while the judge and the lawyers were talking with any juror privately and during two breaks. And it was all very respectful - you do feel awe in the courtroom and you know there are US Marshals around too.
After the individual questions, the judge dismissed the back rows and the lawyers went to deliberate which of 31 they wanted. After 15 minutes, we went back inside and the judge and the lawyers talked quietly and decided on 12 jurors and 1 alternate. And as I sort of knew they would, the judge called my name. (I was sitting next to very Jewish French-American woman, with whom I was talking a bit and when she was dismissed after not being picked she was surprised when I remained sitting – it was a slightly weird moment). Only two men were selected – one is the Professor of Chemistry. There were quite a few teachers in the group.
The clerk then took us upstairs to the person in charge of us next week and showed us our jury room for next week and that person, Melissa, then explained the logistics of next week. I got a juror badge too. The whole process of selection took about three hours and then we could go home. Next week one person’s future will be in my hands and that is very weird to me. But it will certainly be interesting. I study the history of law and my Adviser wrote a book on the history of the jury on England so it is actually fascinating to be part of the process. And very solemn too, again, because there are consequences to our verdict.
I walked back to the subway with a fellow juror named Rina. I got home by 3.
Across the hall from our courtroom today was a naturalization ceremony and thinking about becoming a citizen I dug out my old paper journals to see what I wrote about it (I kept a journal in college – not every day but enough for a few journal books). I have Byron poetry copied there and quotes I don’t remember reading. It was fun to read about dates with Bear in our young and innocent stage; I was a sappy 19 year old.
Leverage S4E2 That was a boring episode. That ‘murder-mystery’ was not even a bit interesting. This season does not have the most auspicious start.
I can’t talk about the case at all but I can talk about the process for it which was interesting. I got to court, went through metal detector and checked in my cell phone and then went up to the jury room. There were five cases and one grand jury than was selecting jurors today. At around 10, I got called along with 54 people for the third case. (And when they started calling the names for that case, I kind of knew I would get picked). We got walked to the courtroom where we were directed to the seats in a very orderly fashion. The US government attorneys and the defendant and his lawyers were already there, standing, waiting for a judge. We were all very quiet; no one is going to mess around in a court. The judge was a very interesting man and he made the process run smoothly and explained the process clearly like how the government has the burden of proof. He emphasized that this was a short case (and certainly preferable to the grand jury selection). Then he called 31 names to sit in the jury box and the front row. I was 10th, so I got to sit in the jury box in the second row. Out of 31, he began the general questions – like if anyone we knew was a lawyer or police officer and our ability to be partial and base the decision on evidence. Did anyone serve on a jury before and why? (One woman served on murder trial before. I can’t even imagine.) anyone got dismissed, he would call someone from the backrows to fill in the seat.
At one point I had to come talk to the judge and the lawyers to establish that I could be impartial because there was a potential conflict of interest because I’m a naturalized citizen so that was interesting. After general questions and a small break, the judge went through all 31 of us and asked personal questions – where we lived and for how long? Did we rent or own? Our jobs and jobs of spouses. Were we married or do we have kids? What did people’s grown children do for a living? Educational background. What newspapers and magazines do we read and TV shows do we watch? What are our hobbies? Are we part of any organizations?
We got to interact with fellow potential jurors a bit, mostly in whispers while the judge and the lawyers were talking with any juror privately and during two breaks. And it was all very respectful - you do feel awe in the courtroom and you know there are US Marshals around too.
After the individual questions, the judge dismissed the back rows and the lawyers went to deliberate which of 31 they wanted. After 15 minutes, we went back inside and the judge and the lawyers talked quietly and decided on 12 jurors and 1 alternate. And as I sort of knew they would, the judge called my name. (I was sitting next to very Jewish French-American woman, with whom I was talking a bit and when she was dismissed after not being picked she was surprised when I remained sitting – it was a slightly weird moment). Only two men were selected – one is the Professor of Chemistry. There were quite a few teachers in the group.
The clerk then took us upstairs to the person in charge of us next week and showed us our jury room for next week and that person, Melissa, then explained the logistics of next week. I got a juror badge too. The whole process of selection took about three hours and then we could go home. Next week one person’s future will be in my hands and that is very weird to me. But it will certainly be interesting. I study the history of law and my Adviser wrote a book on the history of the jury on England so it is actually fascinating to be part of the process. And very solemn too, again, because there are consequences to our verdict.
I walked back to the subway with a fellow juror named Rina. I got home by 3.
Across the hall from our courtroom today was a naturalization ceremony and thinking about becoming a citizen I dug out my old paper journals to see what I wrote about it (I kept a journal in college – not every day but enough for a few journal books). I have Byron poetry copied there and quotes I don’t remember reading. It was fun to read about dates with Bear in our young and innocent stage; I was a sappy 19 year old.
Leverage S4E2 That was a boring episode. That ‘murder-mystery’ was not even a bit interesting. This season does not have the most auspicious start.