Rejection

Rejection is usually a bad thing - but just this once, I am glad to be rejected.

Yesterday morning (June 25th) I woke up at 5:00, caught the bus at 6:00, and arrived at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent by 7:30.


I met another prospective juror walking up the street. Mel and I chatted as we walked in, waited in line for the security screening and rode the elevator to the juror waiting room. There we checked in. The lady at the check-in counter gave me additional bus tickets so that I could get home and come back the next day (sadly, they don't carry bus tickets with the current rates, and they didn't give me quite enough tickets, but they tried). Picking up a clipboard and a nametag holder from the rack on the wall, I followed the line of people into a large room full of rather comfy chairs. Mel was sitting close to the entrance, so I went and joined her. We chatted as we filled out our information sheets.


There were three copies of this form - one for the Defense, one for the Prosecutor and one for the Court.

When we had been there for about half an hour, a judge came in and spoke to us about how great the jury system is - she actually explained several things. Like how there can be different types of trials, and in ones where the constitutional rights don't guarantee a jury trial, a judge can actually act as the "jury" - and how there are both criminal and civil trials at this courthouse. Then we watched a movie, which was probably supposed to be inspirational, which walked us through the process of jury selection and defined some of the common terms for us. My new word of the day was "Voir Dire", which is the process of questioning jurors in jury selection in order to determine their qualifications and/or grounds for challenges.

Following the movie, the person in charge of the jurors began reading 45 names to go to jury selection for a trial. I was number 25.

We lined up in the central area of the 3rd floor according to the instructions from the bailiff. Then we filed down the hallway and into the courtroom. Jurors 1-13 filled in the jury box, and the rest of us sat on hard wooden benches. They reminded me of church benches, but they were comfortable enough. There were clips on the wall nearest me, as if some large picture had recently been removed. Behind the judge there were at least five full bookshelves. Maybe as many as eight.

In the courtroom the judge presides. He introduced himself, the bailiff, the court reporter, the two lawyers for the state (prosecution), and the defendant and his lawyer. The judge also introduces the case. The defendant was accused of one count of production of methamphetamine and one count of possession of methamphetamine. The judge also allowed the prosecution and defense to quickly introduce themselves.

Next came Voir Dire. The judge began by asking if there was anyone who felt they would be prejudiced in this matter. A couple of people raised their laminated number cards and were excused from the room. Then the judge explained how long he expected the trial to take and asked if this would be a hardship for anyone. A few more people were excused. The judge then asked a series of questions, such as "Do you know anyone representing the state in this matter? Do you know any of the witnesses (names were read)? Do you know the defendant? Do you know any members of the court? Are you related to or close friends with any member of law enforcement? Are you related to or close friends with any member of the courts in King County? Have you served in law enforcement? ..." And this continued for about 20 minutes. After asking each question, the judge would then read out loud the numbers of those people who held up their laminated cards, and sometimes he would ask them more specific follow-up questions. One fellow went to church with the bailiff, so the judge asked him if he thought that would interfere in his ability to act as a fair and impartial juror in this matter. That juror was not excused.

Following the judge, the prosecution and defense each had two turns of 20 minutes each to ask us similar questions. Actually, I think they could ask any questions they wanted, and then they would ask individual jurors to defend or explain their answers. The prosecution's questions were pretty straight-forward. The defense lawyer didn't make much sense to me - he spent most of his time talking himself instead of asking the jurors anything. At some point in Voir Dire we were excused to the jury waiting rooms (crowded with 17 people in each - 11 people had been dismissed so far) and we took a 15 minute break, used the bathrooms, etc. We were not allowed to go anywhere on our own - this may be to avoid running into people in the hallway that we were not supposed to talk to. The jury rooms were kind of down a back hallway from the courtroom - I don't know what else was there.

After the questioning, one last person was excused by the judge for medical reasons, and then the judge instructed the jurors one at a time, in numerical order, to fill in the empty seats in the jury box. There were now fewer than five people between me and the jury.

The prosecution and defense each were allowed to excuse up to seven people. The prosecution excused someone, then the defense excused someone. At one point the prosecution was satisfied with the jury as it stood, but then the defense excused another member, bringing me up into Jury Seat #1. The prosecution was satisfied again. I was one spoken sentence away from serving on a jury.

"And the defense would like to thank and excuse Juror number twenty-five..." Exhale. Stand up. Nod to the judge and lawyers once. Walk down the aisle. Place my laminated number 25 on the chair. Exit.

The longer I sat in that courtroom the more pressure and stress I felt about the responsibility of being a juror. Getting a dozen people to make a decision sounds like hard work, and the decision is so important because it determines a large part of someone's life... I think I'm okay with the rejection.

Of course, that just meant I was back in the jury pool. I went downstairs to check back in, but all of the jurors were released for lunch. Mel and I saw each other about the same time, so we walked to Kent Station (across the street) and had lunch together at Panera.


When I got back to the jury waiting room, I was told to go home and come back the next day.

So I did. Thursday morning I was taking a nap in a corner seat when the announcement came that the trials scheduled to begin that day were postponed, so we could all go home. That was the end of my jury duty.