What a glorious early fall day it was. Sun was shining, cool brisk temperatures. Birds chirping and people bustling off to work and school. Nothing spoils that faster than jury duty! Dear God what demon invented the jury selection process? Every three years we are subjected to this civic duty that we hold equal to sawing your own tongue off with a nail file in hopes of delivering justice via trial by jury of your peers. Please move along if this doesn't interest you as I like to vent after a trying day.
The debacle begins with what map quest calls a 23 minute drive to the Hall of Justice from my house. I give myself 45. That was my first mistake. After arriving following a 75 minute commute through grid lock traffic and mayhem I see there's no parking and construction EVERYWHERE. Great. Not only late but stranded in one of the most crime ridden towns in America, Camden NJ. After I say my goodbyes to my truck as I had to park it in no man's land and pay $10 I run in hoping a bench warrant wasn't already issued for my tardiness. This was court ya know? luckily most everyone else was late due to the construction as well. Call it construction but it was more like roped off areas and cones, some parked equipment and busted up pavement. NO workers in site. Typical Tuesday?
So 250 of us are herded into a 30x40 room after given tags and told to wait. Wait we did, and we waited some more. It was more like a scene from a DMV except some of these people were soon going to be in charge of interpreting the law and delivering verdicts of guilty and not guilty. Scary when you look at some of these tards. Finally they call out the numbers of the first of 80 potential jurors who will be escorted to their dungeon, I mean courtroom, where they will spend the next 6 hours of their day. Mine was called on the 2nd go around. Here we go.
Approximately 2 1/2 hrs after a horrible commute into a horrible city and waiting shoulder to shoulder next to sobering alcoholics and crack heads with nothing to watch but CNN I'm in my next pen awaiting more instructions. Finally the judge appears and he instructs us on all the particulars and responsibilities of being a juror. Cut the crap pal and just start the #$!#@ process. I have my truck to save from getting stolen. The next 3 hours are somewhat of a blur as I even caught the armed bailiff dozing off from time to time. After lunch break we have 14 jurors selected. Great! Let's roll. Not so fast. Now the prosecutor and defense attorney get their allocated dismissals. What!!?? But they have their jurors. It's what we've been doing for the last 4 hours!!! If you've never served before this one will hit you like a ton of bricks.
We started with 80 jurors and the room is down to about 45 now. We've had 4 rounds of dismissals that just baffle me because they just took the time to select them. Meanwhile those of us left in the safe end of the pool feel like we've just participated in a lottery to see who gets sacrificed to the dragon. Both sides have accepted the jury panel and we're all looking for the door. Can ya hear the bomb dropping? "All remaining jurors please report back to the jury meeting room for further instructions". What? We're going back in THAT room again? dear God this will never end.
In our cell of origin we wait yet another hour until the last judge has filled all seats in his trial. 8 1/2 hrs of shear h@ll and we're free. We're all handed our attendance letter for our employers and instructed that our "compensation" will be mailed to us within several weeks. I, along with 208 other tired souls, are allowed to finally leave. Yes I'm almost running to where I hope to find my truck. It's there!! I'm not sure to celebrate that fact or get offended that the locals didn't deem my ride worth stealing. Either way I'm out.
Now, you could say it was an honor to be part of our judicial system even though I was never selected. I can say as this is my 2nd tour of duty it's not so majestic. You lose at least an entire day and while waiting to be interviewed you keep rehearsing what to say to make yourself an undesirable juror. You don't want to lie (maybe you do) but it will turn the cookie baking grandma into a racial pig if it will get her off the panel. Every single juror who convinced the judge that he/she wasn't able to serve you could see the immense guilt in their eyes and walk of shame as they snuck on out of the courtroom in front of the remaining pool of losers. Myself included. "My God, am I going to have the nerve to lie to get out of this as well? Can I pull it off or will I crumble and nod yes to every question and suffer 2 more days of this BS? Thankfully all my rehearsals were in vain.
Ok, so the trial has a jury now. We were told this was a criminal case which needed a total of 14 jurors. I have to admit you get very curious as to what the crime was that required such expensive measures in a trial by jury. You have the judge, prosecutors, defense lawyer, court reporter, bailiffs, assistants, office personnel, court security, ect. You also have 80 people down a day for juror selection and 14 of them down for 2 more. Crime was committed in Oct of 2012 so you know there have been a lot of pushed dates and delays incurring more court costs. One could estimate this has already been a $50,000+ affair and we're not even to trial yet. I'm willing to bet each and every suit and uniform in that room made at least $500 today. We get $5.
So what was this guy's crime? What extreme act prompted the use of 80 civilians and tens of thousands of $$ in court related costs? Murder? Grand theft auto? Drumroll.................................
He was indicted for resisting arrest and eluding police. All this for resisting arrest and eluding police??? So tax payers foot the bill for a trial that some cop is going to testify what his dash cam already shows????? All the security in the building, all the lawyers and prosecutors involved, the judge, monitoring and recording equipment, paper trails and court documents, translators and court reporters, bailiffs in the courtroom, 80 potential jurors and 14 sad souls taken for 3 days just to decide that this guy didn't stop his car in time and gave the cop a hard time??? I'm feeling......unsatisfied.
I've always avoided jury duty for all the reasons U pointed out..once in the court room, I tell the judge and attorneys that I don't like cops and am prejudice...and now they send a jury notification with an area to request a hardship to return if U feel ya can't make it...so every few years when I get my notification, I go see Dr Quack down in the ghetto area and throw him $10 for a DR note saying I'm unfit for medical reasons...the jury selection notifications I use to get every 3-4 years, now have ended since my last Dr Quack letter, about 8 years ago..
It's a grueling process that stretches over the entire day. With the expenses in gas and parking plus a lost days' wage it really frustrates you when after all the trouble you're told to go home anyway. I'm all for due process and representation but this guy was only delaying his fate, not changing it. He had a public defender who, alongside the DA, seemed to enjoy the mundane ordeal because they make $150k/year. That and the judge seemed to know his power and liked abusing it. Always coming back late from breaks and setting lunch times around HIS schedule. I mean there are 100 people in that courtroom who don't want to be and he's answering his cell??
You'll HOPE for a Jury that's paying attention and not just wanting to 'pencil whip' their obligation when they finally catch up to YOU!
At least that's the way I have to approach jury duty......the 'shoe on the other foot' idea where you're in some wacky bad position and have to depend on a dozen poor schlebs sitting there listening to all the evidence. You know you're innocent. And while you are SUPPOSED to be innocent until proven guilty, sometimes it might not feel that way.
I live about 4 miles from the court here in north county and an HOUR train ride from the 'big court' downtown....so no parking woes either way. Here they pay a daily stipend (taxable) AND mileage for your travels which is NOT taxable.