Jury Duty

You can't be called to serve jury duty for twelve months after you serve. So, thirteen months after my last jury duty I went again. Lucky me. At least I was in downtown Seattle instead of Kent - it's a whole lot closer. I hopped on the bus on the morning of July 27 and found my way to the courthouse by 8:00. My friend from work was there at the same jury duty as me!


I wasn't too worried, since the last time I had jury duty there were only two trials and the longest one was two weeks long. I started to get worried when they called 75 people into one trial and then 118 people into another. I was number 12 of the 118. The judge asked us if a three week trial would be a hardship. I explained in my turn that we had a vacation coming up that third week, already paid for, with my sister's family joining us to go out of town. But the judge decided that I wouldn't be released from the jury for that. He said there were a lot of long trials (three weeks and longer) so they couldn't let us all go.

I sat in the courtroom stressing out for the rest of the day (except the lunch break where I walked down to Pike Place Market in 92 degree weather). And I stressed all evening and all night. See, this trip to the ocean is a family tradition lasting the last 29 years. We'll celebrate my niece's 4th birthday there, walk for hours on the beach, build sandcastles, etc. I tried to take Dan's attitude and say "well, it's not so bad because we did get to go to Hawaii" but I wasn't very successful. Plus it sounded like a very messy, very nasty trial. And the guy on trial sat there laughing and smiling, which was creepier than I can express in words. One lady (who was seriously my angel for that day) made sure I went and got lunch and talked with me when I was stressed - I am so glad she was there!

Finally, right before lunch on the second day the voir dire was over and the prosecution and defense each could excuse people on peremptory challenges (no reason required). And the prosecution excused me. Phew! I was so relieved! So I went back to the jury room and was immediately called into another three week trial. As juror number 2. Seriously? But this time the new judge excused me for my vacation. I waited around in the jury room one more time, and then I actually was one of the maybe 40 people who went home without being on a jury.