I’ve been picked to serve on a jury. It couldn’t have come at a worse time, but then again, anytime would be a bad time. I’m busy! I have way too much to do business-wise, and this will mean I have to work at night (or at 4:30 in the morning, as I am right now).
I have very strong feelings about serving on a jury. It’s not just the luxurious pay scale that lures me to serve: 32 cents a mile (times 5 miles—$1.60 each way) and $15 per day. And while I hate having to pay for parking while I sit on that jury (they really need to do something about that), I believe everyone deserves fair and impartial judgment from their peers if they desire it.
If, heaven forbid, I ever find myself in a situation where I need a jury to hear my case, I don’t want it to be full of people with nothing better to do than sit on a jury. I want that jury to be made up of people who are engaged in my community, who are too busy participating in life to serve but who do it anyway.
I have been on three juries prior to this and find the whole process interesting and sobering and my duty as a citizen. But many of my friends have told me about the excuses they use to “get off” serving because they just have better things to do. Well, so do I; running a company comes to mind.
What I don’t understand is why I am called every single year. That is not hyperbole. I know people who have lived here all their lives and they have never been asked to serve on a jury. I would like to know how I can remove my name from the “preferred” list of potential jurors. It seems I do my part and then some. My husband has been called once. My daughters have never been called to serve. But I, on the other hand, can set my watch to the arrival of that annual summons (I’ll now get to wait two years because of this jury service).
Yes, it is beyond inconvenient to have to put my life on hold while I sit on this jury. Yes, I hate having to pay $10 a day for parking. And yes, I wish the county would please find some way to ask all the other nice people in the county to serve on a jury. But the bottom line for me is that sitting in that courtroom is someone who’s future is in my hands. That person deserves my undivided attention, even if I am peeved at being called—AGAIN—and sleep deprived from having to work at 4:30 in the morning.
Barbara Lanz-Mateo
Publisher
May 15, 2008 at 10:40 pm
While I was attending paralegal school in San Diego, I was called upon to do jury duty. This was the moment I had waited years for!
When I requested time off my boss she said we were way too busy for me to just go off and serve on jury. My heart sank a little closer to my stomach while I stood in front of her desk. How could she knowingly interfere with my long term career goals even when she knew there was absolutely no work to do?!!!
It’s been four years since I’ve received my one and only summons for jury duty. If my calculations are correct, I should keep my eye open to find something in the mail this year.
Sorry you have such bad luck of the draw. I really can’t believe the County hasn’t come up to par. Have they not been to the gas station lately? Maybe I should send them a letter which includes the current home values in their area.
Jessica Homsi, Realtor
Century 21, Butler Realty, Inc.
http://www.feelinghomsi.com