I received a summon to serve on the jury in the Brockton Superior Court a couple of months ago. At first, it was a feeling of despair and powerlessness that overtook me. What can I do? I have so much going on right now, I can't afford the time off for this? Surely I should not be subjected to this unfairness?
Yesterday, with a little hope in my heart, I called the Jury hot line, and was told to report to the court this morning. Rats! no reprieve!
This morning, like a good citizen, I set off to Brockton early, arriving at the court at 7 AM, an hour before it is time to report for duty.
One of the big question of the day is: What should I wear for jury duty? According to the juror handbook, and I paraphrse: "you are a representative of the court, and should dress accordingly." Checking other websites, various opinions have been offered:
. if you want to be NOT picked for jury duty, dress to the hilt. The writer wore a suit, bow tie, shinny dressed shoes, and hoped to give an impression that he is a wealthy capitalist, and will not be picked. (this will not work, as I found out)
. wear sensibly, because you will be doing a lot of sitting and waiting, so you might as well be comfortable.
. Do not wear tank top, shorts and flip-flops.
Well, most of them are wrong. People wear anything to court, and the court officials did not blink an eye about whatever you wear.
The gate to the courthouse opened 10 minutes before 8 AM. People trooped in through the metal detector and baggage check. Women wearing tank tops, t shirts, shorts, flip-flops, tevas, as well as men wearing t shirts, shorts, sneakers are common. Men over 50 wearing long sleeves and long pants, dress shoes are common as well. So, it is a free for all.
For the Brockton Superior Court, there are two Jurors' room. (I have pictures, but need to extract them out of my iPhone, so I will add them to the blog lat
er.)
I chose a lesser used room, and was the first to walk in, so I had a pick of one of about40 chairs. I picked a far left corner, and bunked down for a long wait. The air conditioner was running at full blast in the morning, so it was very cold. (Note to self: bring a jacket next time)
I had brought a lot of reading m
aterials: technical notes, mysteries books, Judge Dee books, so I am good in this department. I forgot drinks, so I had earlier walked over to a Dunkin Donuts and bought a bottle of water ($1.81 - note to self, bring water from home next time)
Around 9 AM, we the jurors were rounded up and ushered into an empty court room. We were shown a video on "Our civic responsibilities" that talked about the jury system, the one-day one-trial jury system, and how it is an honor to serve our community, etc. After a video, a real-life judge (Maria Hopkins) came out to greet and thank us, telling us what a great thing we are doing for the country and the community.
We were herded back to the jurors' rooms, and there I sat, reading, dozing off, waking up and reading more, until around 10:30 AM, when they moved us to another court-room.
In this court room, a Judge (Barry) came out and explain to us that this is going to be a civil case, as in a plaintiff suing a doctor and the doctor's group for malpractice. From the questions he asked later, I surmised that the plaintiff had a prostate cancer operation that went wrong. Both him and his wife, and the doctor were present in the court room, as were their lawyers.
It is funny, or apparent that the plaintiff's lawyers were dressed plainly, in a couple of cheap suits, while the doctor's lawyers came from law firms with better sounding names, and wore better and more expensive suits. The contrast is that obvious.
The next thing they have to do is to select the jury. In order to do so, the judge asked a list of 17 questions: like
. do you personally know the people involved in this case: the plaintiff, his wife, the doctor, the firm, etc
. do you personally know any of the witness who will be called to this trial? he then list the names.
. do you have any knowledge of prostate cancer and its cure?
. do you think you can give an unbiased opinion and ruling to this case?
. do you know (some medical procedure... apparently related to this treatment)?
. do you personally know or relate to anyone who has had prostate cancer?
. have you at any time considered suing a medical professional for malpractice?
...
each time you have a Yes for an answer, you raise you juror number card, and the court bailiff will read out the number and record it.
After all the questions have been read, the judge called the jurors, one at a time, to have a side bar with him. He will question you on the Yes answers, and the lawyers from both sides listen in, and ask questions as well. Based on the answers, they will decide if you are suitable as a juror or not.
Well, one of the things the judge also said, was that this civil suit will take a couple of weeks. He expect both sides will rest NEXT Friday, witness being called next Wednesday. With deliberations, this could extend to the week after next. This is if they do not sesquest us. If they do, I won't see mom or you or Tim or Lena or JP or Timmy or Becky or my laptop for the next 14 days. Bummer. I don't want to be picked !
Well, I am juror number 43. So we went down the list, each person going up for side bar. Number 1 went up, spoke to the judge and lawyers, and was told she has to sit through the trial. Number 2,3,4,5,6 were excused. Number 7 was picked, while 8 to 17 were excused. And it went on and on. Finally, number 42 was called, spoke, and was excused.
I was ready to stand up and go over to talk to the judge, when he stood up and said "We have worked very hard this morning, let us take a 10 minute break", so everybody just stood up and left the courtroom.
I was just getting my books back into the backpack, and stood up, when the court clerk came over to me. He is an older man, about 60, slim, glasses. "Hi, your are Mr Mui. I noticed you are from Mattapoisett." I acknowledged.
"I am in the Tangerwoods Chorus group, and some time back, I met this young lady, Sarah Mui, in the chorus group, and we became friends. She is just a fantastic person, so unforgettable. " I said "Oh, that is my daughter Sarah."
"Please, please, please, say hi to her for me. Tell her what a nice person she is and that I will never forget her. My name is John Barr." I said I will.
"She was going out with this nice young man, who is going to become a lawyer...", I told him about Tim, and the children, and he was very happy to hear things are going so well for Sarah.
He hope there is a chance you can be back and join the Choral group again.
When the 10 minute break is over, people trooped back into the courtroom. I was the first to go up to talk to the judge and lawyers. The judge started by asking me about the person I know who died of cancer. I was thinking of Stanley, but I interrupted, and said, "Your honor, I was mulling over question 4 you asked earlier, in which you asked if I can be unbiased in this case. I don't believe I can. My daughter is a medical doctor, her friends are doctors, I have doctor friends, and I completely sympathize with how hard they work to achieve success. I cannot be unbiased. "
Judge Barry looked at me for a few seconds, and said, "then I will have to excuse you."
Ok, so I turned around, and walk off the courthouse.
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