The envelope looked official and came with a delivery of anxiety. I was being summoned for jury duty for the Akron Municipal Court.
I’ve served once before and been called without serving, but for some reason this time had me freaked out. Too many unknowns and nebulous but dire consequences for mistakes.
Like taxes, actually.
The notice said I had 5 days to respond to the survey and I waited a day before hopping online to complete it. Except, it had my residential address wrong – though the mailing address was right. So, I wasn’t allowed to complete it online and had to send it in. And I had already wasted one of my 5 days I was allowed to reply. So, a little worrying there – though I later learned that as long as it’s before the week of the duty it’s not a big deal. And that you can call in if the week is inconvenient to get the obligation moved. Interesting.
I got that completed and in the mail and then waited until it was my week to start calling to see if I needed to report. My summons color was Yellow and my group was 3 – and the week of March 20th was my week.
The Sunday beforehand, I got some anxiety. What if I missed something in the directions? What if I couldn’t find the right entrance on the terrible map? What if I set off the metal detector? If I was called, who would let the dogs out at lunchtime? And when would I get to eat? Would there be enough time? Should I pack lunch? What if I was late? What if I got lost? How long would the trial last? What if I did something wrong in the trial? Would I go to jail?
With my brain melting down, I talked to Jim who gave me some calming techniques. He noted that people usually can’t think of more than one thing at a time and making the mind/body connection could help – though, he said that if anyone could think of more than one thing at a time, it would be me. I took that as a compliment.
Settled down a bit, I called the number Sunday after 5 and was off the hook – no potential jurors would be reporting for Monday. Monday night I called again, this time it was Purple, groups 1-12 for Tuesday. Tuesday night’s call for Wednesday was Purple, groups 13-19.
As I was leaving work on Wednesday I got a text and an email – I was due to report on Thursday at 8 am. I called after 5 to confirm and got the instructions – and then bought lunch meat for a sandwich for the next day. I also sent an email to my co-workers and set up my out-of-office message. I packed a lunch, a book, and some paper – along with the paperwork – and decided what I would wear. I was as ready as I could be and that helped a little.
This morning I was up early and got to the courthouse at 7:30. I did set off the metal detector despite my careful planning – it might have been my belt – but the guard let me through anyway. I guess I didn’t look like a bad guy.
I found the right room and got checked in. (No, I didn’t need my parking validated nor did I need an excuse for work.)
Folks started to roll in after that – including a few that got there after 8. Which would have just killed me if I was that late. One guy was putting his belt back on as he walked in. I guess he looked like a bad guy.
And then we waited.
At around 9, one of the bailiffs for Judge Larson came in and called our names to be moved forward in the process. I was picked and assigned #10. We followed him through the courthouse building through a path I could never have duplicated, then took us up to the jury room in two groups. There were doughnuts, but I figured I didn’t need any sugar. Just before 10 am, we were brought in order to the courtroom for the “voir dire” (which I somehow got right just now) as the potential jury review.
Both the attorneys asked us questions and we learned:
- It would be a jury of 8, with one or two alternates.
- The defendant was accused of disorderly conduct during the Jayland Walker protests/riots in Akron.
- The trial wasn’t expected to last even the full day.
- The witnesses were University of Akron police officers.
Interesting.
There were a few potentials that had poor opinions of law enforcement, were related to police officers, or had work hardships.
I wasn’t the only UA person there – a guy from the Carpentry shop knew both of the officers. When they asked what I did at UA, I told them I was the Webmaster – which is not my official title but sounded less pretentious in context than Director of Web Services.
(The woman sitting next to me whispered, “cool title”. Which it is. )
I noted that I wouldn’t have a problem with a Not Guilty verdict – against the officers’ testimony – since I didn’t know them, but might have trouble with objectivity with the defendant depending on where the crime took place since I’ve worked at UA for 25 years and got my degree from there. I’m a little protective of UA.
The defense asked a lot more questions of nearly everyone. Two of the guys had prior criminal records and one lady had been involved in a peaceful protest. And another woman was a federal court clerk that knew one of the attorneys. One guy said he had cognitive issues because of Huntington’s disease. And someone didn’t smell great – though that was just something I noted and not part of the questioning.
It was close to 11:00 before the voir dire finished and the judge and attorneys went to the chambers to figure out who would stay for the trial and who would leave. I got out some paper while I was waiting and this sparked some conversation since they had seen what I worked on in the assembly room. I folded a small person and noted that this was the most complicated thing I knew how to do. Then I said,
“If I make 7 more of these, none of us will have to stay,”
The potential jurors around me thought that was a great idea and laughed – then one asked if they thought we could get away with it.
“Maybe,” I said, “If I used legal-size paper,”
That is pure comedy gold right there, folks.
The baileff said it might take a while and we were sent back to the jury room for a bit – I had a doughnut since I didn’t know when lunch would be and I was getting a headache.
Not long after, though, it was back to the courtroom. And both myself and the other UA guy – along with a few other folks – were “thanked and released”. (Sounds like something you would do with a fish.) No real surprises in those that were released – we were either too involved or too extreme in one direction or the other.
The UA guy and I talked as we headed back to our cars – speculating on what had gone on and wondering why we had even been in the initial pool.
I got home around noon and had my lunch – and checked in with my boss with the news that I would be online tomorrow.
I had to call again after 5 and it was back to the Purple summons – I was done with this round of service. It all turned out to be interesting and not as stressful as I expected.
Civic duty = completed.