Jury Selection

Jury Duty has been a really remarkable experience for me that may prove to be quite formative. I had very low expectations going in, and instead ended up facing a challenge that was singularly unique in my life so far. With this in mind I have decided to record the day to day impressions and occurrences through out the process; with all trial proceedings published at the trials conclusion.

Monday, April 26^th

In January I found out that I had been called for Jury Duty. I didn’t really think much of it, and I assumed that I would have to spend a day in and out of waiting rooms getting work done until finally being rejected and sent home. So when the day finally came around I took the much touted 501 express bus from down the street to Boston in a paltry 20 minutes for the first time and arrived at the court house at 8AM sharp.

The building reminded me of the evil tower in Ghostbusters, in that it was strangely ornate and threatening despite just being an old gray building. I went through what reminded me of a airport security in 1990 (kind of a half assed effort) where I went through a rudimentary metal detector and asked politely if I was carrying any weapons.

I proceeded into wood paneled elevators to the second floor Jury Pool room. The Jury Pool room is exactly how I imagine purgatory to be. It was filled with approximately 200 distressed looking people who had no interest in talking to each other. About 20 people had brought lap tops, and there was precisely one power jack that worked. There was wireless internet which connected long enough to bring up the header of web pages before disappearing. People were not permitted to leave. It was like being in an airport with out the benefits of hot food, a bar, TVs, a place to smoke or any scheduled flights.

Starting at 10am Court officers began calling groups of jurors to be whisked away via a secret elevator for Jury Selection. Eventually, my number was called, and I was taken into a court room with 70 other jurors. In the courtroom were also present the prosecution, the judge, the defense and the accused. The judge gave a brief description of the case and then asked a series of questions to weed out ineligible jurors. Then we were again whisked away to another room to wait.

One at a time jurors were called to sit in the witness stand and be questioned. In Massachusetts, only the judge may ask questions of the juror. Based on the answers given the prosecution and defense counsels accept or reject you. Most of the questions I was asked surrounded the pronunciation of my first name, as well as verification that I was employed and that I had no criminal record.

Shortly after leaving the room, I was told that I had been accepted as a juror.