Amy the Juror: Part 1

[AmySly]

A few weeks back, I received a summons in the mail asking me to come to the Skokie courthouse for jury duty. After having to go to traffic court just the week before because I failed to come to an absolute complete stop at a stop sign (which luckily, was dismissed), I really was not pleased to have yet another reason to cancel sessions with clients and go to another courthouse.

I was called in for jury duty about 5 years ago, but was sent home after only two hours because there were no cases needing jurors that day. So, I went in last Monday thinking it would be a similar experience. I canceled my sessions and rescheduled them for later in the week. No problem.

I spent the whole morning sitting in a room full of people reading a book (in between coughing, popping cough drops, and blowing my nose due to a bad cold I've been fighting). At lunchtime, we were given an hour break and were told to come back because there were two cases that might still require jurors.

At around 2 pm, more than half the people in the room were asked to line up (we were randomly put into groups when we checked in that morning). Of course, my number was called and by the time I gathered my belongings, I was at the back of the line. I assumed that I would not be chosen as a juror since I was so far back. While I thought it would be interesting to be chosen as a juror, I was not jumping up and down to participate since I am no longer a salaried employee at a company. That's one of the downfalls of working in private practice. I only make money when I am in sessions with clients. So, needless to say, I was not interested in doing my civic duty at this time. Besides the fact that I didn't feel well and actually wanted to be home in bed.

Anyway, we all filed into a courtroom and the judge started calling names one by one. To my surprise, my name was the second one called and I was asked to sit in one of the juror seats. The defendant, defense attorneys, states' attorneys, court reporter, and others were all in the room. Once all of the juror seats were filled, the judge read the charges in the case.

I think I sat there dumbfounded when he read that the defendant was charged with 4 counts, including aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder! This was no civil or minor criminal case!! After reading the charges, the judge and attorneys all asked me and three others various questions about our jobs, city of residence (including how long we have lived there), our current relationships with attorneys, police officers, or attorneys, experience/knowledge with substance abuse, and if any of us would have difficulty making a fair decision if the defendant did not testify during the trial.

I shared my history of working with police officers and attorneys in my previous jobs in the foster care system and my master's level internship working as an advocate for child sexual abuse victims. I also shared about my knowledge of substance abuse and its effects on people. Before I knew it, myself and the other three were all accepted as jurors!

I didn't feel comfortable stating any reasons why I didn't want to be on the jury (ie – the $17.20 per day that I would receive from the court is the ONLY money that I would make that week, etc.). The other three people were not saying anything except the last person who is Jewish and wanted to know if she would be required to attend court the following Monday which is Yom Kippur. The judge made it clear that he only expects the case to last a week. So, she didn't even get out of being on the jury!

When I showed up for court the next morning, I learned that it took three more hours to select the next ten people. Apparently, as time went on, people were more bold about listing commitments they had which would interfere with their ability to be on the jury, including one guy who just said, "I don't want to be here". I guess the judge was rather nice and excused all or most of them. I heard that, at one point, the State's Attorney rolled her eyes at the judge and he reprimanded her in front of everyone.

So, I came home Monday night and canceled all of my clients for the whole week!! If anything, I thought this would certainly be an interesting week - one that I could tell my friends, family, and clients about (AFTER the trial was over, of course).

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