So Monday morning I got up about three hours earlier than I normally
do, dressed up like I was on my way to a funeral, and braved downtown
traffic to show up for jury duty. Due to a succession of
disqualifying factors like the Corps, school, and then having a child
to take care of, I have never served on a jury. The closest I came
was shortly after I divorced and while I was still living in Dumas.
I got a summons, made arrangements to be off of work, and showed up
at the courthouse to do my civic duty. I was herded into a small
room with a bunch of other people, and waited. Just before noon we
were called into the courtroom, where the local prosecutor announced
to the judge that the state was ready to proceed with four cases, and
that the defendants in all four cases had decided not to show up.
Her honor issued warrants for all four idiots, and thanked us for
showing up before telling us we were dismissed. I ended up going in to work.
This time it was a little different. I was due at eight AM, but not
trusting the downtown traffic I got up at six, bumped into the walls
a few times, and then drank a large Coke while zipping along the road
and trying to remember which streets I was supposed to turn on. I
waited to go through a metal detector, found the room where I was
supposed to wait in, and waited. Some numbers were called, and
people were pulled out in groups of sixty-five. Eventually, my
number was up.
We walked along an underground tunnel, passing through what I guessed
were anti-flood doors or something that they close if there's a
threat, (whenever I saw them I heard a storm trooper's voice in my
head yelling, 'Close the blast doors!') and coming into the
courthouse itself. We had to go up the elevators in groups of
fifteen, and I got to use my infamous question, “Okay, who here has
seen that movie by M. Night Shyamalan titled 'Devil?'” It wasn't
an encouraging sign that no one knew what I was talking about, but
when I explained that it involved a bunch of people trapped in an
elevator I at least got a desperate yell of, “Don't even!!”
We were all given new numbers, lined up against the wall, and the
bailiff explained that in a little while the judge would call us in
and probably talk to us for about an hour, then turn us loose for
lunch. He suggested we take some time and get to know our 'new
friends' in the group. When we got in, the judge introduced himself,
and thanked us for showing up when we got our summons. Maybe I'm a
bit idealistic, but it did make a difference to me for someone to
admit that a lot of folks just phone in a phony excuse.
He, the prosecutor, and the defense attorneys asked us, as a group
and singly, whether we thought we could be impartial. The case was
an old one, and the charge was murder. The questions were as
specific as they could be without giving away any real details.
Because the charge was murder, would we still presume innocence?
Would we have a problem imposing the maximum sentence, or the
minimum? One man asked why the death penalty wasn't on the table,
and the attorney explained that in Texas the death penalty is
reserved for what is called capital murder, which means murder committed
during some other crime. Some people admitted that they couldn't see
giving a person only five years for murder, even in the hypothetical
case of someone raping that person's child, while others said they
couldn't sentence a person to what would amount to life in prison no
matter what the crime. One poor woman was in there with us having
just been carjacked and getting a gun put to her head the night
before.
There were about sixty-five of us, and the judge said that the first
thirteen of us that weren't removed from the pool by one side or the
other would be placed on the jury, and that the others would get to
go home. As my number was fifty-nine, I was pretty doubtful I would
end up serving. When the judge asked us to sit and be patient for as
bit while he and the attorneys conferred, a few others in the jury
pool were called up to talk to them. When they started calling
numbers off, we realized very quickly that the spread was a lot wider
than we had imagined, The entire first row of about fourteen people
were jumped over, and I don't think that there were less than five
people between any of the ones picked. The last number called was
sixty-three. I don't know which side called to strike me from the
list, or why. On my form I put my job down as Selector/Writer, and
when given the opportunity I asked a technical question, about
whether those who got chosen were going to have the full range of
five to ninety-nine years to choose from or if the judge or anyone
else could set a different minimum or maximum. I guess someone
didn't like something I said.
I came home, exhausted and hungry. It had been a really long day,
and the only place close enough to go out for lunch had been a
Quizno's across the street with less than tasty food and a lot of
people hanging around outside of it that would make really good
characters for some of my books. It's taken the last couple of days
to get back into my schedule.
Today when I got home, I checked Yahoo news like I usually do. Under
the local section, I recognized the name of the man who had been
sitting with his defense attorneys that day while we all waited
around to find out which of us were going to end up judging him. The
ones that were chosen ended up giving him life in prison.
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