+2
I have only been called for jury duty once in my entire life. I had seen many colleagues and family receive the call, but had never found a letter in my mailbox. Alas, finally in 2013, there it was. And for US Federal Court, no less. I was to report to the City of Boston Federal Courthouse to fulfill my civic duty.
For anyone that has ever had the pleasure of driving in Boston, the Federal Courthouse is in a bad location when it comes to getting out of the city and heading West. Actually, there are no locations in Boston that are easy to get out of, but this one is especially bad. Of course, during the selection process, they end up releasing us each day after 4PM, when rush hour is already in full swing.
Each day, you ask? But what jury would require multiple days for selection?
When I arrived for the first day of selection, I parked in the nearest lot, which about 1200 miles for the courthouse, or at least it seemed like it, and a trudged over to the monolithic edifice that was the entrance to this particular hall of justice.
Hmmmm, FBI agents. Dogs. People with automatic weapons. I checked in with my summons, turned in my cell phone, and headed to the giant hall where the rest of the potential jurors waited. There had to be almost 1,000 people there. Turns out to be a bit over 800 when the official count was announced a bit later. We all sat and waited, until it was announced that we would now be introduced to the judge, attorneys, and the defendant.
After a short while, a bunch of people in very expensive, crisp suits paraded in, along with a man in an orange jumper, who was bound in shackles. He was introduced and one Mr. James Bulger. You could have heard a pin drop in the room.
What followed was a tedious few days. I will sum it up by saying that I made it down to a pool of about 60-70 people on the final day of selection, and even made it as far as being brought into the courtroom itself as the one on one interviews proceeded along. I did not get called in to meet with the attorneys. When there were perhaps 25 or us left in the courtroom, all of which we beginning to get quite nervous, thinking we had a chance of ending up on this jury, we were finally told that they had finished selecting their jury, and we could go.
Whew!
I think it took me over 2.5 hours to get home (30 miles away), but I was quite relieved as I lurched and puttered along in traffic.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell