Juror #6

I was called to jury duty again, this time to Federal court. It was different from the City & County courts. In those, there are literally hundreds of people in the jury assembly room. They call numbers and put you in groups for the lawyers to choose from, and those who are not called just get released. I've almost always been released. Only once did I have to go through the voir dire process, but they didn't pick me.

We had to go through the metal detectors, of course. Since I had no fancy slippers and no sock o' knives, I was fine. This time there were only 42 people, as we were all there for one case. After orientation the lawyers went through the voir dire with us. (Literally, French for "to see, to speak"; or: to see clearly via questions to the potential jurors who to choose.) Questions like: Could you be impartial about all the testimony given, or would you give it more weight if the testimony was from a police officer? Less if from a convicted felon? Do you own a gun? Are you related to a police officer? A convicted felon? Stuff like that. Then they made their strikes, and chose 14 to be jurors. Including me! They have all 14 sit through it all, and then draw names for the 2 alternates, who are released when the rest go to deliberation.

This was a VERY short case for Federal court, only about 1.5 days, though we were there for parts of 3 days. Our judge, David Hittner, is also the judge for the Stanford case coming up. That will be a long one, I think.

The case, for being short, was full of twists. The prosecution witnesses were 3 police officers and the probation officer. The defense witnesses were the girlfriend, the burglary victim, an ATF agent, and the defendant. None of the stories matched or even coordinated. Even the 3 policemen's stories differed, though mostly in details. It was fun to watch the attorneys jumping up and objecting SO often, and the judge either sustaining or overruling with firm if annoyed tone. After an objection was made, the other attorney often requested a conference at the bench. If the judge agreed, four attorneys, four summer lawschool interns, the court reporter, and the judge's clerk would gather 'round. It got to be kind of comical, it happened so often. The judge really kept control over his court, though. If the lawyer was taking too long or not being clear, the judge would say, "That's enough. Move on!" He did that a lot, too. He had a chess timer, and he used it for each side. When their time ran out, they were done!

I hated to do it, but we ended up with a Guilty verdict. (Convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and knowing it.) Not even using it, but knowingly having it, and it being a gun that had crossed state lines.

The jurors were all really nice people. And we got breakfast 2 days and lunch on deliberation day. They provided notepads and pens, and hi-lighters with the jury instructions. At the end we got a letter for our employers and a certificate of service, complete with gold seal! We get paid $40/day plus reimbursed parking and mileage. Even the parking situation, which I was very worried about, was okay. (Downtown really intimidates me.) The Federal building is in the middle of the Theater district, and they use the theater parking garages during the day. (What a gold mine at $9/day times a gazillion cars.) Anyway, it was very interesting, and I'm glad I got to participate. Plus, I got to see what Bryce does with part of his day. Cool!