ex(PR)essed

When we got back from vacation in late September, a letter was waiting in our stack of mail from Cumberland County “inviting” me to jury duty. To fulfill my obligation, my first jury duty experience began yesterday.

I have to drive to Carlisle for jury duty, so I must allot about 30 minutes for the drive and walk from the parking garage. Yesterday, I was tracking right on schedule until I actually got into Carlisle. I couldn’t make the turn onto Pomfret Street — apparently too many other jurors were trying to enter the parking garage at that time, and the traffic was backed up more than half a block. I waited in traffic there and got my first taste of what the rest of the morning would be like: waiting, herding, and more waiting.

Once I found a parking place (on the highest level of the garage), I hurridly rushed across the street only to wait in another line to enter the courthouse.

When I finally arrived to the courthouse’s fourth floor, I was lined up against the wall with my fellow jurors while we waited to check-in. A glitch with the computer slowed this process to a crawl for awhile. Finally, I was checked-in, given my juror number, and sent into an absolutely packed room to find my seat. I crammed myself in between a woman reading the Bible and a quiet man who kept smiling at me.

And the waiting began. I read, looked around, and read some more. Around 9 a.m., someone came in to ask important questions of the whole group — things that probably should have been predetermined — like whether we all actually lived in Cumberland County and were U.S. citizens. By 9:30, we were all herded…er, I mean escorted…to a courtroom where a judge could explain the privilege of jury duty to us. By now, the defendants and their attorneys were lining the hallways, peering suspiciously at us as we walked past. After Jury Duty 101, we were all escorted back to the jury room to wait for our number to be called.

My number was called in the third group, and I proceeded (once again in a straight line) to the courtroom where two attorneys began questioning us as a group. Within an hour, I went from being among 65 randomly selected jurors to a jury of 14 hearing a criminal case.

I listened to testimony all afternoon, and the case will resume tomorrow. (The courthouse is closed today for Veteran’s Day, so we’re all back at our regular jobs.) I’m anxious to deliberate with my fellow jurors tomorrow. I certainly already have opinions about this case, and I am curious as to whether the other jurors are thinking along the same lines.

Stay tuned for the next installment: Jury Duty, Part Two…