A couple of months ago or so I received a summons to appear for jury duty. This was my third summons in less than two years. The first I received when I was pregnant and that was for Federal jury duty. Luckily, they didn’t want pregnant chicks on their juries so my letter from my obstetrician stating my pregnant state excused me from going. Then when Andrew wasn’t quite a year old, I received one to appear in my county’s juror pool. I called at the time to see if I could be excused because of the baby’s age. They told me I could be deferred until next summer. While it isn’t technically summer yet, my time came up recently. I tried to get out of it again, citing being a full time mom with a child who has never been in daycare, but that didn’t fly. My county provides free daycare to the children of jurors in the court house, helping to eliminate this issue from potential jurors. It is wonderful that they have it; however, I just couldn’t see leaving Andrew there. He is fearful of strangers and I just didn’t trust leaving him there for up to eight hours a day. Needless to say, I overreacted to the situation and lost lots of sleep over this. (He had a fun day with his Grandparents and my dad even changed his diaper--very impressive!)
Serving on a jury can be very interesting and is definitely an important service. I’m not arguing that. My past experience for jury duty was not pleasant, though. Jury duty in Philadelphia was a nightmare. They treat you as a non-human (not all, but that was the impression left with me!) I then served in Bucks County, a suburb of Philadelphia. That was definitely better than Philadelphia, but not enjoyable. This most recent time was in yet a different PA county and I have to say it was actually an enjoyable time. While I was still nervous about getting stuck on a long trial and worrying about what to do with my toddler, the judge that spoke to us explained that they were able to estimate the length of a trial and that if there were hardships, they would take that into consideration.
Unfortunately, I had a valid hardship to report and requested to be excused from sitting on the jury that was being selected for the civil case. The case that was seeking a jury was a malpractice case involving a couple suing their doctor for monetary damages. I didn’t learn many details, but did decide that I didn't trust the plaintiffs’ lawyer and he was seeking lots of $$. My hardship was the death of my grandmother, who passed away the prior week. I was not selected for the jury, so I was relieved. The judge was very understanding and listened to everyone's reasons for hardships without argument. I met many wonderful people while I was there and it was nice speaking to so many adults!
At the beginning of the morning, one of the county’s judges came to the jury marshaling room and spoke to the waiting potential jurors about the importance of having a good pool of jurors. He thanked everyone for showing up, and even joked that we didn’t really have a choice. He also took questions and seemed to answer honestly. What I thought was so interesting was that the judge explained that most criminal cases in the county are resolved without jury trials because of the strong pool of jurors. The defendants are made aware by their lawyers that the county’s jurors are intelligent, caring, and get “it right” every time. This helps lead to resolutions prior to trials beginning. Just by showing up to form the pool supports this issue, according to the judge.
I made my “jury duty friends” for the day and we all went to the courthouse coffee shop to pick up some lunch and dine outdoors. I had driven by the courthouse many times, but never paid much attention to it. On one side was a sculpture in memory of the 9/11 tragedy that includes a steel beam from the Twin Towers. It was fascinating. We had to return after lunch to see if we were needed for the other jury case of the day. When I returned, the Jury Marshall inquired if I had a nice lunch and chatted for a bit with me. Again, this was a delightful surprise, considering my prior experiences.
So, my day of jury service is done now, and I shouldn’t be called back for at least three years. By then, Andrew will be in school, so daycare won’t be such an issue for me then. I made a whopping $14.10 for the day. After the cost of lunch, tolls for the turnpike, and gas, I made approximately $1.50. Whoo-hoo!
My good friend actually had to serve jury duty the week before me in Philadelphia. She is employed as a nurse at a large hospital and her department is currently understaffed. If she were to serve on a multi-day jury, her job would really suffer. In the past people employed in the medical profession were excused immediately. Not in Philadelphia anymore. She had to sit through two jury pools of questioning and both times the judges were nasty to her for stating her work hardship. The one judge even argued with her that her excuse wasn't valid. One of the lawyers was flip with her as well. It was for a malpractice case that was closely related to her job, so she probably wouldn't be an unbiased juror anyway. What a different experience we both had!
