Jury Duty: Not Needed
Category: Local... Society & Culture...
Posted Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 08:08 AM [GMT-6]

I was selected for one of two jury panels Monday morning, but because the trial wasn't to begin until Wednesday afternoon, I didn't have to report back for voir dire until Wednesday morning. Thanks to the excellent communications system set up by Midland County, I was able to phone in on Tuesday evening and find that the panel was not needed; presumably, the case settled out of court. I was not heartbroken at the prospect of not having to devote at least one more morning to this service.

Jury duty in Midland is a good excuse for people watching. I wonder if those who work near the courthouse observe the lemming-like Monday morning rush of prospective jurors between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m., each clutching their white postcards like first graders clinging to their Spongebob lunch pails. I suspect that most of those lemmings -- myself included -- don't get downtown all that often, and certainly don't spend a lot of time in the courthouse, so there's a bit of a sense of adventure in the journey, if nothing else.

If you do need to conduct business at the courthouse, you might want to avoid Monday mornings. The lines to get through the security checks have airport deja vu written all over them, although they're a little less stressful -- at least you get to keep your shoes on, and almost everyone gets wanded.

We in Midland, Texas, apparently take our jury duty service seriously. The jury pool on Monday filled the courtroom, with potential jurists sitting everywhere except in the judge's seat. I counted more than a hundred people in the room, not counting officers of the court. I also spotted not a single necktie among the male pool population. I guess the bankers got a pass this week.

In the comments to this post, Rob revealed that his biggest frustration with jury duty is the disorganization of the county clerk's office (I believe that Rob is in neighboring Ector County). I haven't found that to be the case in Midland, but it is easy to get annoyed with some of my fellow citizens on two counts. First, an arrival time of 8:30 a.m. seems beyond the grasp of more than a few folks, and that puts the whole process in the hole from the start.

Then there's the rush to the front of those who seek to be exempted from jury service. Fully 20% of our pool tried it; the judge ended up releasing only about five people, most due to age or illness, based on their appearances. But, there again, the remaining 80 or 90 people have to sit idly while each presents his or her case. It was fun, however, speculating on the various reasons each person was claiming to justify exemption, such as My mongoose and cobra are just not playing well together lately, and I need to be there as an intermediary.

In any event, all's well that ends well, and I should be exempt from the receipt of one of those ominous postcards for another six months.