Jury Duty

Yesterday I had to go to the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana for jury duty. This is the 3rd notice in my life that I have ever received so I really didn't mind going. It went a little something like this...

I arrived at about 7:30am (which by the way means I had to wake up at 5:30AM!!!), discovered that jurors have to park in a parking structure about a block away from the courthouse. Mind you, the jury notice specified to dress business like, so I was wearing heels; luckily I thought ahead and took my flip flops along.☺ Once in the courthouse I found the Jury Assembly Room, there I stood in line waiting to check in (not a very long line, went quick). After check in I sat down and waited until about 8:15am for some lady and some judge to give a welcome speech. At about 8:45am the same lady showed an orientation film. This film was quite lame. Apparently it was supposed to pump us up and get us excited about jury duty. At about 9:00am they started assigning people to courtrooms. My name was the first to be called. That has never happened unless the person was calling out names in alphabetical order by last name. And that's only been for the past 4 years. Anyway, I was assigned to courtroom C35. Got on the elevator to the 9th floor and thus began the long waiting period. At this point I had on my heels. We stood outside the courtroom door for approximately 1 hour waiting for them to open it . Let's see, while standing there I checked my email, updated my facebook status & wrote a friends facebook walls. It wasn't until about 50 minutes of standing that I noticed, apparently business apparel includes flip flops. I would guess that over half of the other potential jurors were wearing flip flops. So I got up the nerve to switch my shoes. Ahhh ... so much better. Flip flops are such a God sent. I honestly do not know what I'd do without them. Once the doors finally opened we all filed in and took our seats. The judge went over court procedures and rules. He explained the burden of proof that the prosecutor had and made sure that we fully understood that even though the defendant was arrested and is currently in custody, he is still in fact considered to be innocent. He made sure that none of us knew him (the judge), the attorneys, the defendant or any of the people that will be called as witnesses. He read to us the charges. 1 count illegal possession of a fire arm, 1 count possession of an illegal substance - cocaine, 1 count illegal possession of a fire arm while on probation, 1 count possession of an illegal substance - cocaine while on probation. After the judge gave his directions, it was time for 12 juror to be called to the jury box to be questioned. They all had the same 10 basic questions that had to be answered.

1. Occupation
2. Spouse's Occupation (if married)
3. Have you ever served on a jury; civil or criminal
4. Do you have any legal training
5. Do you have any friends/relatives in law enforcement
6. Do you know any judges or attorneys
7. Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime
8. Have any of your friends/relative been arrested or convict of a crime
9. Have you ever been a victim of a crime
10. Have any of your friends/relatives ever been a victim of a crime

The judge went through with follow up questions. One juror was excused right away. She was difficult and disgruntle. She was pissed off at the court system for how frequently she receives jury notices. She states that she no longer believes in the "system" anymore because there are some people who never get notices. She claimed that if picked to be on this case that she would refuse to listen to the case and that she would go along with whatever the other jurors decide. So another victim of the jury pool was called to be questioned. The lawyer for the defense asked some follow up questions too. When he was done with his questions. We took our break for lunch (12:00-1:30).

Coming back in from the lunch break the lawyer on the prosecuting side asked his follow up questions. They then started dismissing people and adding new people to be question. Once they were satisfied with the 12, they called 2 more people to be question as alternates. 1 was dismissed, questioned another. They were then satisfied. YIPPEEEE... I wasn't questioned and I got to go home. Turned in my badge, received my Certification of Jury Service, stamped my parking ticket to validate it and went home.

At least I wont be needing to do this again for at least the next 12 months.