inner workings, part 2
based on the previous day's "hurry up and wait" schedule, i was pretty sure that NOT getting there at precisely 9:00am would not have been a big deal. but, of course, i got there at 8:59am anyway and sat around outside the court room with my co-jurors for quite awhile. we were finally called in around 9:30am, and we settled in to hear closing arguments.
i should note that at the end of thursday's proceedings, i went home thinking we would be out on friday no later than lunch or so [and emailed my boss that opinion as well]. listen to a couple of persuasive speeches, deliberate the not guilty verdict for a little bit, then head back for an afternoon of work, right?
so for closing arguments, the pattern was prosecuting attorney, defense attorney, then prosecuting attorney's rebuttal argument. during the defense attorney's statements, there were some heated objections and reactions between the lawyers. a little after 10:00am, an objection came from the prosecuting attorney, and the defense lawyer at that point was becoming very frustrated and i am pretty sure starting to turn red. counsel approached the bench and it became apparent that this point of contention was going to take awhile. the judge decided to release the jury to our room adjoining the court room while they sorted things out; he, too, seemed flustered. up until this point the judge had always spoken very calmly and patiently. now, however, in the midst of two arguing lawyers, he abruptly and sternly addressed the jury and ordered us to neither leave the building nor talk about the case yet:
"go in your room, and stay in your room. and don't come out until we tell you."
after about an hour we were allowed back into the court room. the two attorneys finished their sales pitches, and then, it was up to us. the judge read us a dozen pages of instruction on the law [i.e. definitions of complicity, aiding and abetting, reasonable doubt, etc.], and what we were and were not allowed to focus on during our deliberations. we were released to our official jury room, selected a foreperson, and ordered pizza.
little did i know we would still be around for dinner.
up until this point, the twelve of us had sort of done the small talk thing and gotten to know one another a bit. some were professionals, some were in the service industry, some were entrepreneurs, some were stay-at-home parents. now we had an equal sense of purpose; a jury of peers. it was an interesting dynamic. and i would be lying if i said i was not convicted of my own prejudices regarding careers, education, intelligence and station in life. it's funny, the things you don't have to ponder when you're always surrounded by people who are just like you.
at some point early on in the afternoon, or maybe even the morning, or the day before, i completely forgot about how badly i had wanted to get out of this duty. i had accepted the inconvenience and my role as juror. i had come around to the novelty and change of pace. i was fascinated by the process, and the sheer simplicity and responsibility of our judicial system. i daresay i was almost a little excited at being part of the process.
i was in.
we took several preliminary votes about every hour or so. things were split about evenly for awhile [i think i voted differently every time]. we continued debating the various aspects of the evidence, trying to find the elusive key that would unlock the case. as someone who has a need to know all the evidence before moving forward with any kind of decision, it was far more agonizing than i even imagined it would be. it was not a cut and dry case, and to make matters worse, there was absolutely no way we would ever know for sure, short of the defendant saying "yes, i helped him escape." which was obviously never going to happen.
"beyond a reasonable doubt." this phrase ate away at several of us. what is reasonable? what is unreasonable? a young woman's criminal record hung in the balance.
the room was getting dark, and we realized that if it was time for more light, it was about time for more food as well. we knocked on the door to get the bailiff's attention and were informed of our menu option. after putting our request in for the uptown wendy's, and before the food arrived, we somewhat surprisingly came to a unanimous decision.
we ate as we waited for all involved parties to return to the courthouse. eight hours after we had originally left the jury box, we filed back into the court room and sat before everyone as the guilty verdict was read by the judge. talk about awkward and surreal. we filed back out to the jury room, and the judge met with us, presumably for a little decompression and closure.
"just so you know, it's the oldest trick in the book for the jury to order food and then come up with a verdict," he joked. we asked a few questions and talked about the case and gave our opinions on things. as judge ward handed us some final paperwork and proof of jury duty for our employers, we marveled that he remembered every single one of our names. i was impressed. we were all impressed.
9pm on friday night: so ends the saga of mdog's jury service.
i am as surprised as anyone when i say that despite all of the annoyances and lost time at work and inconvenience... i would gladly serve again, in a heartbeat.
mdog
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inner workings, part 1
it's been a long time since my bls 342 course, and you can only rely on the various incarnations of law & order and csi for a limited amount of helpfulness in the real world. your best bet at being unwillingly educated on the simple complexity of our nation's legal system is, of course, being called for jury duty. your second best bet is to read this post. this is more a chronicle for myself than it is entertainment for you, so i apologize in advance.
i'd never received a summons before, much less been called in for duty. i received notice in april from my county's court of common pleas that i was basically "on call" for the following month. i remember having to fill out a tedious, several page long form. i mailed in the questionnaire and promptly forgot all about my on call status, until i came home last wednesday to a voicemail requiring my presence on the third floor of the courthouse at 8:30 the next morning. did i mention that wednesday was the day the only other co-worker in my department announced she would be out for six weeks [doctor's orders]? and then there were two. awesome timing.
came in early the next morning of my own accord. 7:30. for those of you who know how much i adore sleep, you know this was hard. left at quarter after eight, used my bright yellow juror parking pass for the uptown parking garage, passed through security, waited awkwardly in the third floor rotunda with twenty other people wishing that they weren't there, either. sometime before 9:00 the bailiff [who is SO NOT an officer in uniform like they show in tv and movies] began reading names and we entered the courtroom one by one, in a predetermined order [unbeknownst to us]. i didn't really know what was going on, but there were only a handful of us left out in the rotunda, so i figured this had to be good for me. and then. "oops -- we missed someone." they call my name. damn. i'm a little confused and wondering why there's a bunch of shuffling going on in the jury box. as it happens, the judge and counsel apparently make a little seating chart with everyone's name on it, so they all know who is where and why and at what time. i slide myself into the front row, third from the right. finally everyone is situated, with thirteen in the jury box and the rest scattered perfectly throughout the courtroom. now it's jury selection time.
the prosecuting attorney speaks to us first. he talks for around half an hour, giving examples and asking opinions on circumstantial evidence, feelings about police officers, "victimless crime," and the like. kinda boring, but okay, he's trying to figure us out -- he's going to want people who believe and trust law enforcement officials. the defense attorney is next and oh. my. lord. he's as boring as all get out, and he proceeds to ask ALL TWENTY OF US a laundry list of questions, most of which i vaguely remember already answering on the original juror questionnaire, and most of which i distinctly remember thinking as completely irrelevant. and he asked every. single. one of us. he did this for an hour and a half. he was standing directly in front of me. i wanted to strangle him. is that considered being in contempt of court?
so the worst part wasn't even hearing about every one of my possible co-jurors jobs, families and hobbies [or not -- you wouldn't believe how many people apparently do absolutely NOTHING in their spare time]. the worst part, by far, was listening to every damn person try to get out of jury duty using the lamest methods i have ever heard. all these people i was sitting with? not stupid. except... actually, yes. stupid. any sliver of possibility that they might not be a fair and impartial juror was grasped onto and blown completely out of proportion. it was really quite theatrical. so, i implore you, my dear readers: if ever you are called in for jury duty, if you have a valid reason for possibly not being a fair and impartial juror, by all means let that be known. if, however, it seems a stretch and you are trying too hard, just STOP. STOP because people like me will want to string you up by your toenails and pelt you with small, hard, sharp objects. you're lame and we all know what you're trying to do and you're WASTING EVERYONE'S TIME. needless to say, jury selection was not finished until 12:45pm. good lord.
after lunch was the "normal courtroom stuff" you are picturing -- opening statements, evidence, testimonies, lots of objection and your honor and counsel approach the bench type of stuff -- except you're probably not picturing the terrible powerpoint slides [mostly 'floor plans' of the police department. why was the slide background BRIGHT YELLOW? why all the misspellings? why is the guy in charge of the laptop completely inept?]. and really, if you're going to take photos for court evidence, could you at least make sure they're in focus? the gist of the case: police officer, man in custody, "casual friend" of man in custody are in police department. while officer finds arrest warrant paperwork, casual friend leaves and man in custody escapes as she opens door. the "casual friend" is the current defendant, and has been charged with complicity to escape. the question for us: did she know he was planning to escape behind her, or not? predictably, witness testimony was essentially he said she said. every aspect of their stories conflicted. there were other testimonies and nuances to the case but i will be here all night if i start writing about them. court recessed around 5:45pm and we were instructed to return at 9am friday morning for closing arguments.
happy monday-ish tuesday
for the record, i AM getting paid for my regular hours from thursday and friday. huzzah!
exhaustion
eight hours of deliberation later: i feel like i've been hit by a truck.
and if you ever want recommendations on who NOT to use as a lawyer in this area, just ask me.
so close
i thought i would make it through the month unscathed, but it happened...
i got called for jury duty.
8:30 tomorrow at the courthouse.
woo.
those are carrots
and this is from yesterday's lunch at lui lui's. it's my camera phone, so show a little mercy:
in case you're wondering [and i know you are]: i did eat the message.
twenty-eight
i regressed about twenty years on saturday night: we went bowling for my birthday. sweet. i am sure we were the loudest group there, which was impressive, as there was a group of about a dozen elementary school aged children a few lanes over. we are awesome. continuing with my childhood birthday tradition, we followed up our amazing bowling skills with some pizza nourishment. okay, so there were some drinks involved that did not generally make appearances during childhood birthday parties, and i don't think pizza hut ever had roasted red peppers or pesto as topping options, but, you know. pretty much the same idea. plus s'more cake from cd and mocha cheesecake bars from kt... mmmmm. i am sure my neighbors loved when we started playing pit at 11pm. yesssssss.
tonight a good friend has offered to cook a birthday dinner, and let me tell you, the menu sounds yummy. mmmmmmm.
i am surrounded by some very good people here.
life is good.
shuuunnnnn
how have i only JUST RECENTLY seen this [thanks, betsy]? why, God, why?
this too shall be made right
from the ringing bell by derek webb.
people love you the most for the things you hate
and hate you for loving the things you can't keep straight
people judge you on a curve
and tell you you're getting what you deserve
and this too shall be made right
children cannot learn when children cannot eat
stack them like lumber when children cannot sleep
children dream of wishing wells
whose waters quench all the fires of Hell
and this too shall be made right
the earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we're just trying to stay alive
but it looks so much more like a way to die
and this too shall be made right
yes there's a time for peace and there is a time for war
there's a time to forgive and a time to settle the score
a time for babies to lose their lives
a time for hunger and genocide
and this too shall be made right
oh i don't know the suffering of people outside my front door
and i join the oppressors of those i choose to ignore
i'm trading comfort for human life
and that's not just murder it's suicide
and this too shall be made right
oh this too shall be made right
+++
from derek, in the liner notes:
"I wholly support and encourage the free distribution and consumption of music. Please share this record."
and i wholly support and encourage his support and encouragement. would you like a copy? let me know.
i work with morons
okay, honestly? we're stapling papers in the middle of the page now?
