Jury Duty has a bad stigma about it. Most people don't want anything to do with it because they see it as an inconvenience and want to get out of it the moment they see the letter in the mail. Some people don't answer the summons and throw it away while others answer it only to intentionally lie to attorney's to get off a case. Some people like it and think it's their duty and finally, other people are extremely nervous about it and wonder what the heck they just got themselves into. Having never been on Jury Duty before I felt the later. Totally nervous and wondering what I was in for. The day after I got home from my vacation in Florida I was on call for a week. In fact, as I sat in the Orlando airport on Sunday, Feb 1st, I called that 1-800 number to see if I needed to report the next day. I was relieved to hear a voice say " You are not required to show up. Please call again tomorrow." This happened for the next 4 days. I got all the way to Friday and thought I was going to get out of it when they said please report to the Hill Street Court at 8:30AM on Friday. "Crap!!" I said. So the next day I get up early, turn on my GPS and make my way downtown. I find parking at the Disney Concert Center Parking Structure and then walk toward what I think is the courthouse.
Now the courthouse is not labeled really well. I ran into this little old couple who was also looking for the jury entrance. The little old man was dropping his little old wife off for Jury Duty. It was her first time too. We were both basically lost so we decided to join forces to see where this mystery entrance was. We ran into some other people who were looking too and quickly discovered that not all of us had the same court address on our summons. So as soon as we had joined forces we disbanded. the little old couple and I continued and eventually found our entrance. An interesting fact we found out was that the courthouse has 4 separate entrances on four different streets with four separate addresses. The summons told us to be at the courthouse at 8AM but we sat at our entrance until 8:45AM. When they finally let us in we were told to go in the Jury Assembly Room. Apparently other entrances had let their people in so when we walked in a lady was already in the middle of instructions on what people were to do. I managed to take a seat and begin to figure out what the lady was saying.
Basically she was going through the Jury Summons form. Explaining what to do if you wanted a postponement, what it meant if you filled it out this way or that way. Then she spent a lot of time on how many days does your employer pay section. You must fill out how many days your employer pays you. I was amazed to find out that some people get paid unlimited days from their employer. But I later found out that this is the kiss of death, this is something you don't want unless you want to be on Jury Duty forever. Anyway, I successfully filled out my form and turned it in like everyone else. I quickly found out that the court does not accept "hardship" anymore as an excuse. So all those people hoping to leave couldn't. Basically the only people who could leave were people who wanted to postpone. I couldn't imagine coming all the way down there only to have to come back. Have they not heard of the phone? They let you postpone on the phone. Apparently about 20 people never heard of a phone.
After turning in my form I prepared to sit in my chair all day. Everyone I talked to said they pretty much sat around all day and did nothing. As this was Friday, I didn't think it would be a very busy day at court and got my book out. Well, that was the wrong assumption. In fact Friday is the busiest day at court. It's the day several trials end and new jurors are needed for new cases. So I was about to have anything but an nonactive day at court. About 5 minutes after 9AM a lady over a loud speaker announces a judge has called for jurors. I heard my name called immediately. Oh shit, I thought. My husband had told me some questions they asked him so I prepared the answers in my head. About 50-60 of us headed to Department 101. I learned that this LA courthouse was the largest courthouse in the United States with over 100 courtrooms. This fact seemed somewhat impressive but i still didn't want to be there. Good thing I was with a group and followed them because the hallways all looked the same.
We sat outside Department 101 for 45 minutes. I listened to this lady talk about how she had just became an American citizen 4 years ago and she has been called for jury service each year. I think she wanted to revoke her citizenship. hehehe After 45 minutes a woman came out and started calling people's names. I was called toward the end. I didn't know the order you were called in meant anything but it was a good thing for me. That lady who had just become an American 4 years ago was pissed off because she was called immediately. I sat in the last row of the courtroom. The "New Citizen" lady was sitting in the jury box. Sucked to be her I thought and wondered how someone could be called 4 years in a row.
Up until now I had never been in a courtroom and have only seen one in TV and in the movies, so I spent a lot of time looking around. The room was pretty bare except for the California State Crest and some flags. The judge was already in place in his big seat as were the lawyers. The judge welcomed us and smiled. He seemed nice but cheesy nice, so I relaxed a moment. I guess I had the impression that all judges would be mean looking like in the movies. The judges starts by saying, "This is going to be exciting case. The good news is, that this case will change your life, the bad new is that it's a 3 1/2 month trial." Well everyone reacted to the bad news. 3 1/2 months!!!! You could see everyone squirm in their seats. It was like we were a school of fish that had been caught in a fisherman's net. Were were all scrambling around trying to figure out how to get out of there. The first people the judge talked to were in the jury box. After questioning them a bit I quickly released they were screwed and I thanked God I was called near the end. The judge told them to immediately get up and go in this room to fill out a questionaire book.
Then he started calling what it seemed like random people. I later learned after some questioning he called all the people who had marked "unlimited days" on their forms. I was scared shitless. I had no idea what I was going to say when the judge called on me. The judge didn't seem to care about any of the excuses people were giving. After 3 people he called on my old lady friend. She told the judge she was retired and asked to be let off for hardship because she didn't drive. She stated her husband had to drive her everywhere and that they lived near Orange County so it was a far drive. The judge didn't care and told her she could take the metro. He whisked my friend away to that mysterious room no one wanted to go in. I was sweating. I quickly came up with my hardship excuse - " Judge, I don't get paid for 3 1/2 months of Jury Duty service. If I served I wouldn't get paid and I wouldn't be able to make my morgage payments and could loose my house. Additionally, my husband (cause they asked about what your spouse does for a living) doesn't have permanent work and could be out of a job at any moment.
I was very nervous as he went through about 7 people. He was arguing with this guy who worked in entertainment who just started a new job and had unlimited pay. This guy told the judge a lot of crap and the judge wasn't buying it. Finally he said he would lose his job. The judge smiled knowing he got this one and said "It's illegal for your employer to fire you if you have jury service." I realized then that the Judge knew it was going to be hard to get jurors for this case and he wasn't going to let any possible candidates go. In the middle of his conversation with the entertainment guy, the Judge stopped and told everyone else they were excused because we had insufficient days and it would thus be a hardship for us. I never saw so many relieved people. He told the last guy to stay as he wanted to talk more. Everyone scrambled to the doors. We all got back to the assembly room and conversed about how we had narrowly escaped. When you are excused and it's your first day you have to go to the big window in the Jury Assembly Room to have your badge scanned so that they can put you back into the system aka so you can be called to another courtroom if needed.
Seeing as I had done my duty and it was almost noon (lunch time) I reasoned that the likely hood of me being called again was very little. So I decided to take care of some paperwork and walked up to the main window to have my maiden name that was on the summons updated to my married name. A minute after I do that I settled down to read my book. Once again I hear my name called. Oh shit! This isn't cool, I thought. I should have never went up to the window. I jinxed myself I thought. The guy at the window said "We need you to go to another courthouse to serve out the rest of your service." What? I thought. I have to get in my car and go somewhere else? This is torture I thought. It was noon so the guy says to take an hour and half lunch and be at the other courthouse by 1:30PM.
So I left scared shitless because I am not good with directions. Luckily I had my GPS system and made it to the court. I was on the phone talking to my hubby when I noticed the paper said Traffic Court. My hubby reassured me that that was a good thing cuz those cases are super short and I would likely be done that day. Luckily the court wasn't that far away but it wasn't within walking distance. I stopped at McDonald's for some comfort and later found the courthouse. It was a lot more hectic then the other courthouse which was very busy so imagine the chaos I entered. This new courthouse wasn't a nice as the other one and it wasn't in as nice an area of downtown. Upon approaching the courthouse I immediately see his long line wrapped around the building. It was security to get in. I thought to myself "This is so unfair." Before getting in the long ass line I asked a cop who was outside directing human traffic what I needed to do. He was like "Juror members go through that entrance" (pointing to a door with no line). I wondered how he knew I was a juror member and then I looked around and saw I was the only blonde girl in pumps around. He must have thought I was either a lawyer or a juror and went with juror since I didn't know where I was going.
Well, I was relieved not to have to wait in that really, really, long line. I go though security and make it to the elevators. I had to go to the top floor I find out. The elevators in this courthouse I learned, royally sucked. First of all. they are completely packed and they stop on every floor. And they are ancient old and I swear on their last legs from hauling a million people up and down each day. I learned I had to quickly get into one or else the doors may shut. It didn't matter that people were still getting out. If you didn't get in you might never get in. If you waited there might be a possibility that other people who didn't wait will fill the space. Either way when you saw a chance you had to take it on these elevators or you might never get to where you want to go.
Stopping on ever floor was incredibly annoying when you needed to go to the top floor, the 8th floor. It seemed like 15 minutes before yI entered the second Jury Assembly room. This room seemed to be nicer in that the seating layout was better and they had a ton of magazines. I checked in with the window lady. I sat down and was scared to read my book, thinking that it twould trigger my name being called so I started to read several magazines. At 4PM the lady at the window said all f us would likely be free to go at 4:30PM. I get to about 4:14PM when i look at the clock and I am relieved that I was near the finish line. Just as I go back to my magazine the lady at the window announces "Sorry folks, a judge has called for some jurors." She calls my name right off. " Fuck!" I said. 15 minutes to go and I get called. I am totally unlucky. Well, maybe unlucky is a bad word because this court didn't have a lot of jurors which was why I was sent to it. She basically called everyone who was left in the room including 4 people who had just been excused from a previous jury. Unfortunately, for them it was their 1st day and they were very unhappy to learn they had been put back into rotation for the last 15 minutes of their day.
We were all sent down to Department 75, floor 7 (I learned each court room is called a department) knowing we were totally screwed and would have to come back on Monday. We were quickly called into the courtroom and seated. They didn't bother calling names. The judge swears us all in for jury selection and informs us that we have to come back on Monday so they can start the jury selection process. This crazy lady who had been trouble in the assembly room all day (She had been visably mad from the beginning of the day and wasn't afraid to let everyone know it) yells out to the judge, "I can't believe you are doing this! Why don't you just let us go and get people on Monday? This is so not right. You are wasting my time." Honestly, everyone in the room probably wanted to say those words but we never thought to yell them out loud, especially to a judge. Everyone in the room went quiet waiting for the judge to slap her with a contempt of court. But he was nice and just smiled at her and said "Jury Duty is everyone's civic duty. The court relies on citizens like you to get to justice and to make our system work." It was the nicest guilt trip I have heard in a while.
So at 4:30PM I went home in the rain totally bummed. I had to be back on Monday for jury selection. Surely, I would get out of it and my jury service would be done. At least I was going to get some money for my second day of service (Note: you don't get paid for your first day of service but everyday after you collect $15 plus mileage). But like all other assumptions I had made that day, I was wrong yet again. 15 minutes and I would have been free!! Instead I was on the road to being in the court's clutches until Feb 20th. I wonder what happened to my little old lady friend and that 3 month case? I hope she got out of it.
Now the courthouse is not labeled really well. I ran into this little old couple who was also looking for the jury entrance. The little old man was dropping his little old wife off for Jury Duty. It was her first time too. We were both basically lost so we decided to join forces to see where this mystery entrance was. We ran into some other people who were looking too and quickly discovered that not all of us had the same court address on our summons. So as soon as we had joined forces we disbanded. the little old couple and I continued and eventually found our entrance. An interesting fact we found out was that the courthouse has 4 separate entrances on four different streets with four separate addresses. The summons told us to be at the courthouse at 8AM but we sat at our entrance until 8:45AM. When they finally let us in we were told to go in the Jury Assembly Room. Apparently other entrances had let their people in so when we walked in a lady was already in the middle of instructions on what people were to do. I managed to take a seat and begin to figure out what the lady was saying.
Basically she was going through the Jury Summons form. Explaining what to do if you wanted a postponement, what it meant if you filled it out this way or that way. Then she spent a lot of time on how many days does your employer pay section. You must fill out how many days your employer pays you. I was amazed to find out that some people get paid unlimited days from their employer. But I later found out that this is the kiss of death, this is something you don't want unless you want to be on Jury Duty forever. Anyway, I successfully filled out my form and turned it in like everyone else. I quickly found out that the court does not accept "hardship" anymore as an excuse. So all those people hoping to leave couldn't. Basically the only people who could leave were people who wanted to postpone. I couldn't imagine coming all the way down there only to have to come back. Have they not heard of the phone? They let you postpone on the phone. Apparently about 20 people never heard of a phone.
After turning in my form I prepared to sit in my chair all day. Everyone I talked to said they pretty much sat around all day and did nothing. As this was Friday, I didn't think it would be a very busy day at court and got my book out. Well, that was the wrong assumption. In fact Friday is the busiest day at court. It's the day several trials end and new jurors are needed for new cases. So I was about to have anything but an nonactive day at court. About 5 minutes after 9AM a lady over a loud speaker announces a judge has called for jurors. I heard my name called immediately. Oh shit, I thought. My husband had told me some questions they asked him so I prepared the answers in my head. About 50-60 of us headed to Department 101. I learned that this LA courthouse was the largest courthouse in the United States with over 100 courtrooms. This fact seemed somewhat impressive but i still didn't want to be there. Good thing I was with a group and followed them because the hallways all looked the same.
We sat outside Department 101 for 45 minutes. I listened to this lady talk about how she had just became an American citizen 4 years ago and she has been called for jury service each year. I think she wanted to revoke her citizenship. hehehe After 45 minutes a woman came out and started calling people's names. I was called toward the end. I didn't know the order you were called in meant anything but it was a good thing for me. That lady who had just become an American 4 years ago was pissed off because she was called immediately. I sat in the last row of the courtroom. The "New Citizen" lady was sitting in the jury box. Sucked to be her I thought and wondered how someone could be called 4 years in a row.
Up until now I had never been in a courtroom and have only seen one in TV and in the movies, so I spent a lot of time looking around. The room was pretty bare except for the California State Crest and some flags. The judge was already in place in his big seat as were the lawyers. The judge welcomed us and smiled. He seemed nice but cheesy nice, so I relaxed a moment. I guess I had the impression that all judges would be mean looking like in the movies. The judges starts by saying, "This is going to be exciting case. The good news is, that this case will change your life, the bad new is that it's a 3 1/2 month trial." Well everyone reacted to the bad news. 3 1/2 months!!!! You could see everyone squirm in their seats. It was like we were a school of fish that had been caught in a fisherman's net. Were were all scrambling around trying to figure out how to get out of there. The first people the judge talked to were in the jury box. After questioning them a bit I quickly released they were screwed and I thanked God I was called near the end. The judge told them to immediately get up and go in this room to fill out a questionaire book.
Then he started calling what it seemed like random people. I later learned after some questioning he called all the people who had marked "unlimited days" on their forms. I was scared shitless. I had no idea what I was going to say when the judge called on me. The judge didn't seem to care about any of the excuses people were giving. After 3 people he called on my old lady friend. She told the judge she was retired and asked to be let off for hardship because she didn't drive. She stated her husband had to drive her everywhere and that they lived near Orange County so it was a far drive. The judge didn't care and told her she could take the metro. He whisked my friend away to that mysterious room no one wanted to go in. I was sweating. I quickly came up with my hardship excuse - " Judge, I don't get paid for 3 1/2 months of Jury Duty service. If I served I wouldn't get paid and I wouldn't be able to make my morgage payments and could loose my house. Additionally, my husband (cause they asked about what your spouse does for a living) doesn't have permanent work and could be out of a job at any moment.
I was very nervous as he went through about 7 people. He was arguing with this guy who worked in entertainment who just started a new job and had unlimited pay. This guy told the judge a lot of crap and the judge wasn't buying it. Finally he said he would lose his job. The judge smiled knowing he got this one and said "It's illegal for your employer to fire you if you have jury service." I realized then that the Judge knew it was going to be hard to get jurors for this case and he wasn't going to let any possible candidates go. In the middle of his conversation with the entertainment guy, the Judge stopped and told everyone else they were excused because we had insufficient days and it would thus be a hardship for us. I never saw so many relieved people. He told the last guy to stay as he wanted to talk more. Everyone scrambled to the doors. We all got back to the assembly room and conversed about how we had narrowly escaped. When you are excused and it's your first day you have to go to the big window in the Jury Assembly Room to have your badge scanned so that they can put you back into the system aka so you can be called to another courtroom if needed.
Seeing as I had done my duty and it was almost noon (lunch time) I reasoned that the likely hood of me being called again was very little. So I decided to take care of some paperwork and walked up to the main window to have my maiden name that was on the summons updated to my married name. A minute after I do that I settled down to read my book. Once again I hear my name called. Oh shit! This isn't cool, I thought. I should have never went up to the window. I jinxed myself I thought. The guy at the window said "We need you to go to another courthouse to serve out the rest of your service." What? I thought. I have to get in my car and go somewhere else? This is torture I thought. It was noon so the guy says to take an hour and half lunch and be at the other courthouse by 1:30PM.
So I left scared shitless because I am not good with directions. Luckily I had my GPS system and made it to the court. I was on the phone talking to my hubby when I noticed the paper said Traffic Court. My hubby reassured me that that was a good thing cuz those cases are super short and I would likely be done that day. Luckily the court wasn't that far away but it wasn't within walking distance. I stopped at McDonald's for some comfort and later found the courthouse. It was a lot more hectic then the other courthouse which was very busy so imagine the chaos I entered. This new courthouse wasn't a nice as the other one and it wasn't in as nice an area of downtown. Upon approaching the courthouse I immediately see his long line wrapped around the building. It was security to get in. I thought to myself "This is so unfair." Before getting in the long ass line I asked a cop who was outside directing human traffic what I needed to do. He was like "Juror members go through that entrance" (pointing to a door with no line). I wondered how he knew I was a juror member and then I looked around and saw I was the only blonde girl in pumps around. He must have thought I was either a lawyer or a juror and went with juror since I didn't know where I was going.
Well, I was relieved not to have to wait in that really, really, long line. I go though security and make it to the elevators. I had to go to the top floor I find out. The elevators in this courthouse I learned, royally sucked. First of all. they are completely packed and they stop on every floor. And they are ancient old and I swear on their last legs from hauling a million people up and down each day. I learned I had to quickly get into one or else the doors may shut. It didn't matter that people were still getting out. If you didn't get in you might never get in. If you waited there might be a possibility that other people who didn't wait will fill the space. Either way when you saw a chance you had to take it on these elevators or you might never get to where you want to go.
Stopping on ever floor was incredibly annoying when you needed to go to the top floor, the 8th floor. It seemed like 15 minutes before yI entered the second Jury Assembly room. This room seemed to be nicer in that the seating layout was better and they had a ton of magazines. I checked in with the window lady. I sat down and was scared to read my book, thinking that it twould trigger my name being called so I started to read several magazines. At 4PM the lady at the window said all f us would likely be free to go at 4:30PM. I get to about 4:14PM when i look at the clock and I am relieved that I was near the finish line. Just as I go back to my magazine the lady at the window announces "Sorry folks, a judge has called for some jurors." She calls my name right off. " Fuck!" I said. 15 minutes to go and I get called. I am totally unlucky. Well, maybe unlucky is a bad word because this court didn't have a lot of jurors which was why I was sent to it. She basically called everyone who was left in the room including 4 people who had just been excused from a previous jury. Unfortunately, for them it was their 1st day and they were very unhappy to learn they had been put back into rotation for the last 15 minutes of their day.
We were all sent down to Department 75, floor 7 (I learned each court room is called a department) knowing we were totally screwed and would have to come back on Monday. We were quickly called into the courtroom and seated. They didn't bother calling names. The judge swears us all in for jury selection and informs us that we have to come back on Monday so they can start the jury selection process. This crazy lady who had been trouble in the assembly room all day (She had been visably mad from the beginning of the day and wasn't afraid to let everyone know it) yells out to the judge, "I can't believe you are doing this! Why don't you just let us go and get people on Monday? This is so not right. You are wasting my time." Honestly, everyone in the room probably wanted to say those words but we never thought to yell them out loud, especially to a judge. Everyone in the room went quiet waiting for the judge to slap her with a contempt of court. But he was nice and just smiled at her and said "Jury Duty is everyone's civic duty. The court relies on citizens like you to get to justice and to make our system work." It was the nicest guilt trip I have heard in a while.
So at 4:30PM I went home in the rain totally bummed. I had to be back on Monday for jury selection. Surely, I would get out of it and my jury service would be done. At least I was going to get some money for my second day of service (Note: you don't get paid for your first day of service but everyday after you collect $15 plus mileage). But like all other assumptions I had made that day, I was wrong yet again. 15 minutes and I would have been free!! Instead I was on the road to being in the court's clutches until Feb 20th. I wonder what happened to my little old lady friend and that 3 month case? I hope she got out of it.
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