The Burden of Democracy: Jury Duty

Summoned for jury service back in March, postponed to May then again to July when I ran of excuses. The maximum penalty for failure to respond to the summons will be $1,000 and imprisonment for 5 days. I drove 30 minutes on the freeway to the county court house on the day of the jury duty. At 8:00 in the morning, the hallway of the court house was already packed. Probably there were about over 200 people there for jury duty. I saw one of my colleagues at the university. Most people were reluctant citizens who were not happy to be picked. The crowd looks kind of representative of the general population in the county. There are two of three extremely obese people either in wheel chair or in walker.  Back in China, you won’t see people this fat in public places.   There is also one old man who looks like either a drug addict or a homeless. Extremely think, long white hair in a pony tail, and wearing kind of funky clothes. The lady behind me in line was telling another lady that at age 37, she just got her driver license although she had been driving since she was a teenager. I took a quick glance at her and thought she could easily pass as a middle aged or at least well in her mid 40s. Anyway, the people there clearly were different from the people I see on a daily basis on the university campus. The process of jury selection is very tedious and careful. After a long wait in the hall way, our group was called to the court room. There were about 100 of us initially. By the end of the day, only 12 jury would be selected and 3 more would be substitutes who would not have any say in the final decision but would still had to be there during the two week trial. I was praying that I would not be picked. The judge asked the people who had a valid excuse to explain in front everyone the excuse and then decide whether the excuse is valid. To be considered a valid excuse, participation in the trial would have to impact the ability to pay rent or interfere with a prepaid trip which was planned before the summon notice. About a dozen people got excused after this round. The chiropractor whom his patients rely on him for treatment the next two weeks were not one of the excused. Two ladies who were the primary caregivers of their elderly parent were excused. The next few rounds include political, religious, or other backgrounds that would impact the fair judgment of the jury member.  18 people were selected and seated in the jury box. Each of them introduced themselves including their names, jobs, their spouse, jury service experience, etc. This is the second time I was summoned to jury duty. I still remember from the first time how shocked I was to see that everything was done in front of the defendant who could potentially revenge if he was convicted of the crime. A couple of them were excused after their introduction. Clearly one lady seemed too dumb to be able to make any sound judgment.  Another lady whose sister was kidnapped and assaulted a few years ago got teary when she was telling the story. She was also excused. A few more people got selected to replace the excused. At the end of the day when finally all 12 jury members were selected, I was picked along with 4 others to be screened for the 3 spots for substitutes. My heart sank to the bottom when I heard my name. luckily I was also excused in the end. Either because I told them that my in-laws are attorneys or because of my clear attitude of not wanting to be there. By the time I got out of the court house, it was almost 5 o’clock. The whole day was just spent on jury selection. It seemed to be such a waste of time and resource of the government and of so many people. As soon as I got home, I decided to go to visit the Red Wood Forest along the coast. Some cool ocean air seemed to be really refreshing after 9 anxious hours waiting around in the court house.