<p>Among the various things D has had crammed in during her shortened summer home, including sundry doctor’s/dentist’s/orthodontists appointments, D got a summons for jury duty that arrived about two weeks before she did, for a time about two weeks after she got home.</p>
<p>At least it’s become easier, a one-day or one-trial or one-week-on-call system where you can call in the evening before, enter your PIN, and see if you need to report the following day.</p>
<p>D had to report on the second day. There not being a car free that day, I drove her down to the satellite courthouse and told her to call me if she got excused and that otherwise I would head on down there around 4pm so that I’d be on site or close to it when she was excused. I was in transit when she called at about 4:20 saying that she was out for the day and therfore dismissed. But I digress.</p>
<p>She was called as part of a panel for a case, though was never seated in the jury box. Had to fill out the pre- questionnaire and then listened to all the voir dire. She said that she was really glad not to be on the case, that being 18 she didn’t feel competent to judge. Having been through jury duty a few times, I asked her if she didn’t feel more competent than at least a third of the people answering the voir dire questions. That did kinda bring her up short.</p>
<p>But I understand her reluctance to be on this jury and why she might not want to be sitting in judgment. The case was one of kidnapping of a minor, forcible sodomy, and rape. And, God help him, the defendant was representing himself. With questions like, “Do you believe that the police are sometimes whack?”</p>
<p>Anyway, jury duty is a facet of transitional adulthood that we don’t think about much. At least I didn’t. It might not be on quite the same scale as her peers manning checkpoints in Baghdad. But. I’m glad that D is civic minded enough that she was breaking down the process even as an observer.</p>
<p>The defendant was doing pro-se representation? Uh-oh. I would have loved to do jury duty, or at least observe like your daughter did. Did the defendant have a clue as to what was to take place during voir dire? </p>
<p>Kudos to your daughter, I’m sure she must have felt a bit uncomfortable given the inappropriate nature of the case at hand. Civic duty trumps, however. :)</p>
<p>According to D, the judge strenuously made it clear that the defendant had been advised not to do this. From other things that D said, I suspect that the defendant’s grip on reality wasn’t strongly tethered.</p>
<p>Son had to postpone jury duty until he was out of school. He received a day to report. He was excited about participating, I was excited he might be earning money (hey $15/day is better than nothing). He never left the room. He was dissapointed and had hoped to make a panel. He said “everyone” told him they didn’t want yourg people. I don’t know who the “everyone” were.</p>
<p>My son was called for jury duty but was away at school and received a waiver. He was disappointed and wanted to experience what it would be like to serve. I told him he will have other opportunities in the future.</p>
<p>My son served on a jury in North Adams, a working-class (don’t jump all over me I can’t think of a better way to describe it) town near Williamstown. He was elected foreperson and became personally involved in the whole process. It was well worth the time and aggravation for the up close and personal civics lesson – and a real life exposure to life outside the ivory tower. </p>
<p>Law is probably not in the cards for him personally but the experience really made him think about the American legal system in a favorable light. We live in a country where the rule of law is not guaranteed. The laws are adequate but the courts are rife with corruption. My son was really impressed to see ordinary Americans accepting their responsibilities seriously and soberly so that the system, while not perfect, was fair and effective.</p>
<p>The one time I was called to a jury room, I had a case scheduled as the plaintiff’s attorney before the same judge, in the same courtroom, against the same defendant, with what sounded like an identical scenario, a few weeks later. (Both were cases where old ladies boarded the bus, and the bus took off before they made it to their seats, causing them to fall and suffer compression fractures of the spine.)</p>
<p>I never made it to the jury box for voir dire.</p>
<p>My D got a summer jury duty notice as well. However, she is doing an internship in D.C. for the summer and the jury notice was for our home county in PA. So we did an online response asking that she be excused due to being out of town for an “educational” program. (She is learning a lot on the internship.) The request was immediately approved. I think she was somewhat diisappointed that it couldn’t be worked out for her to serve.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, niether hubby nor I have been called to serve – and we are long-term drivers, voters, etc. here!</p>
<p>For those of you who were disappointed at not being able to serve, just call when you are available, and volunteer. You will be surprised at how easy to get accepted for the panel. My D’s govt teacher does this every so often in order to have good stories for class (after the case is over).</p>