jury duty in downtown LA

When that jury summons comes in the mail, most people groan and are tempted to throw it in the trash as if it didn't arrive.. I on the other hand do not mind this "civic duty" and for me that envelope tends to arrive each year like clockwork. I kind of like the criminal justice system in that a group of your peers (what does that mean exactly?) sits in your courtroom and hears the evidence and decides.  If it were me in the defense chair, I'd prefer it was someone who WANTS to be there verses someone who feels stuck in the chair for the duration and wants out as fast as possible, and it could be at the defenses expense.  My job UPS pays unlimited jury pay, so I'm very enticing to have available without the "hardship" comment for wanting out.   I would have preferred somewhere closer to home and not dealing with traffic and the long walk each day.

On Tuesday as I sat in the jury "waiting" room, it is much like waiting for grass to grow. The first panel of 75 had come and gone. The orientation process was lengthy and I was now was wishing I had done the online version so I could have shown up at 10:30 vs 7:45.  Once they called my name and that placed us in a hallway just prior to lunch breaking, but I had arranged to meet a friend who works in the area for lunch, so I was anxious that they would just come out and tell us to report back after lunch for the start.  But no, they called all 75 of us into the courtroom, explained what the trial was about, and for us to consider if we could be on a trial that length and we would be discussing that following the lunch break.

the courthouse is the square building just to the right of the fountain..  I'm two blocks from there when I took the picture.  there is a "garden park" between that runs the course of 4 blocks (the 4 that separate us from the parking structure and the courthouse)

 

This is the street that leads up to the parking provided for the jurors at the Disney Music Center which is downtown and 4 blocks on the uphill side of neighborhood.. so you walk downhill to the courthouse and UPHILL back to the parking structure. Walking the "garden park" takes away some of the knowledge that it's uphill as there are stairs and walkways.. when I took the street side and just walked uphill directly it was so noticeable that it was uphill and I didn't like it at all.

                                                         


A friend I met through the kids being at the same elementary school many a moon ago works just next to the courthouse.  We met outside and walked downhill to Chinatown for a chinese lunch and some catching up. It was nice to catch up and hear the good and to also lament about our kids. Her oldest son just had twins and so lots of hearing "grandma's" perspective of how they have changed in their 5 weeks so far.  And then we hiked back up the HILL to part ways with the promise that if jury duty continues, we'd do it again..

Now as the week is at the end, it has been 3 days of jury selection and both sides of the table defense and prosecution eliminating people as they have gone and since we started with 75 eliminated all but 7 of those and called in another group of 30, eliminated all of those leaving only a mere 9 in the box.. they decided to give us Friday off so they could continue the process without us having to sit and listen (or pay us the $15 a day).. We were instructed to come back Monday, but on Friday evening I received a call that the judge now wanted us to come Tuesday instead.  So obviously they have worked there way through another group of people and need Monday to find the balance of the jury.  Now I suspect it's very likely that while they shuffle people in and out of the jury box, some of us who were already in the box, have been eliminated in favor of someone else.. That is what could happen on Tuesday, we show up and they tell us that "they would like to thank jury #.... for their service" and yet the judge will dismiss that juror #..

I yet undecided that Monday I will need to go back to work since I got alot of my work done, and work does think I'm at jury service... but then again...... are they really going to check that closely to the dates or remember when I worked or was gone, because it's been a start stop event.  I'm more inclined to sleep in, and shop at Hobby Lobby instead.

Well, got to go my new dishwasher and installer just arrived.