Jurors in Massachusetts are summoned from 9 am to 4 pm on they date dictated by the state, but are asked to arrive by 8 am for processing and instructions. Shortly before 7:30 am I found a place to park in Worcester (not after driving in a circle or two) and made my way to the courthouse. While walking to the building, another juror who was also confused by the crazy roads was parked randomly on the street and asked me if I knew where the courthouse was. I told her (right in front of us) and asked, due to the confused look on her face, if she had jury duty. She confirmed and I pointed her to the lot I used, supposedly for jury pool parking.
Woman: Then where do I go?
Me: Well, I'm going to walk in the front door of the courthouse and see what happens.
I've never been summoned before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect, but anticipated I would just be waiting. Worst case I would actually be called in for selection and potentially impaneled. I was hoping that if it got to the point a lawyer would ask me questions to determine my biased, I could tell them I spend all my free time watching Law and Order marathons in every flavor. This wouldn't be completely inaccurate.
Guess what I learned upon walking in the courthouse? It's better to crochet than knit! I had brought a bag of projects to work on and when I went through security (bag scanners and metal detectors, something caught the officer's eye.
Officer: Crochet hooks?
Me: Yes.
Officer: But no knitting needles?
Me: Correct. I didn't even bring scissors.
Officer: Ok, no problem.
Apparently I'm not dangerous with a hook. (Insert your own conclusions here.)
Upon arriving in the Jury Pool room, I was registered and got my juror number: 80. I looked at the room with enough chairs for about 120 people. This did not seem like a good number.
I took a seat, read a case for work, had some snacks and generally just began the waiting process. What really amazed me was the number of people who were just sitting there. the vast majority hadn't brought a book, magazine, newspaper or even a cup of coffee to keep themselves occupied. What's more is that as the day went on, I learned may of them had been summoned before, so it's not like they didn't know the day was spent just sitting in a room.
Between 8 am and 9 am we watched a little video on what it means to be on a jury and the aforementioned judge came to give us a pep talk. Shortly after 9 am, the first group of jurors (#1-74) were called to go for selection. That's when the fun began.
Those jurors went to a small room off to the side and were (presumably) lined up and given instruction before walking out of the area and up to one of the courtrooms. While this group was lining up, another woman summoned for the day came in. Her name, for all intents and purposes, is Princess.
Apparently Princess had a juror number that fell into the range of the first group. She didn't understand why Rose, the court officer in charge of the jury pool, wouldn't let her just go with them. There was some conversation I missed prior to this, but here is where my ears perked up.
Princess: I don't understand. I belong with that group.
Rose: But you were late. You were summoned to be here at 8 am and it's after 9:30. You've received no instruction and the selection is about to get started. We can't delay it because you were late.
Princess: But I'm here for the morning session, so you should just let me got with them.
Rose: There is no morning session. Our day goes from 9 to 4. You have to be here for the whole day. If you can't I'd be happy to reschedule you for another day when you can be here all day.
Princess: I can't reschedule. I took off work to be here today.
Rose: Then you'll have no problem being here until 4 pm.
This little interchange caused the rest of us to snicker, raise our eyebrows and roll our eyes. From where we were sitting, we couldn't even see Princess, so we were eager to see her come around the corner. When she did, let's just say I was unimpressed. She was dressed nicely enough (even though she wore a velvet jacket. And it was 55 degrees yesterday) but had a sour, annoyed look on her face. I wanted to shake her and ask what she expected. Jury duty has a reputation for a reason! Oh and she was another one of these people who didn't bring anything to do and just sat there wallowing in her bitterness. At some point I heard a strange noise and looked up to see her rolling her purse-sized lint brush on her outfit. I must have had a bizarre look on my face because the guy sitting at the other end of my row just started laughing when he saw me.
A few minutes later, she went up again. Several of us just giggled as we watched her approach Rose's desk.
Princess: When will the next group be called?
Rose: I don't know.
Princess: Well, I need to know.
Rose: I can't tell you. It's up to the judge. He may call in 5 minutes, he may call at 2 pm. I have no idea.
Princess: Well, can't I just go and join that other group now?
Rose: No that's not how it works.
Princess: But my number was in that group.
Rose: That group went to be selected for a trial that is probably going to last 2 and a half weeks. You said you couldn't even be here all day, but you can be here every day for 2 and a half weeks? I'd be happy to send you.
Princess must have mumbled something (she didn't strike me as the type to not respond) but I didn't catch it. And Rose was quickly becoming my hero. She was probably in her 50s and couldn't even be 5 foot tall, but she was a spitfire (who was very nice to the rest of us) and held her ground firmly.
About an hour and half later, the original group of jurors came back (minus those who were selected). Rose continued to give us updates about the status of the other jury trials pending for the day, which had been at 4 and were now decreased to 2. Rose had also mentioned (before Princess arrived) that lunch break was generally an hour long and usually started a 1 pm.
Shortly after the first group of jurors returned, Rose announced that some jurors would be released. She was very careful with the words she chose.
Rose: Those of you who went to jury selection early can leave now.
She didn't say numbers 1 through 74, and I honestly believe it was because she didn't want Princess to have the opportunity to leave. Priceless. There were some more Rose and Princess interchanges and it got to the point that the rest of us didn't even try to conceal our disdain. We laughed audibly at the exchanges and several people catcalled Princess as she approached Rose's desk.
Rose kept calling to see if the rest of us could be released. She hoped to let us know by lunch so that we would know to either go to lunch or head home. Finally at 12:45 pm she announced she was going to go straight to the courtroom and find out. Now, knowing this was the difference between going to lunch and then returning only to find out I could have gone home, or just going home. I was more than pleased to sacrifice a few minutes of my lunch time to clarify my overall time commitment.
At 12:59 pm, Princess announced to the rest of us, "I think it's illegal for them to keep us past 1 pm."
I laughed. Loudly.
One of the guys behind me said, "Yeah, I don't think you have any clue what you're talking about so you might as well just be quiet." Also said loudly. And also causing the rest of us to burst out into laughter. "In fact," he continued, "you should stay later since you weren't here on time."
A few minutes later Rose came and much to our delight announced we were no longer needed. We all thanked her and I'm pretty sure most of the group considered punching Princess in the face. Outside of the courthouse, of course. Ok, maybe just I considered it.
I wouldn't say I enjoyed jury duty, AKA sit around and wait day, but at least I can say I appreciated the entertainment. And I complete 2 1/2 chemo caps for charity.
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