Jury Duty, Moment 2

On Tuesday, 2/23 Whit dropped me off at the CJC and I made my way to Dept. 124 on the 13th floor at 10:30am. Both the security line and elevator ride weren't nearly as tedious as the time before, thank goodness. I read BORN TO RUN until the bailiff summoned us at 11:00am. Before Judge Champagne interviewed the final six selected jurors, she reported that we had an additional juror in the room by mistake. She took roll call and asked the remaining juror to raise his or her hand. A hand went up at the back of the room.
"Weren't you excused yesterday?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, but I wasn't sure."
"Please report back to the 11th floor, where you had first reported, to get your paperwork." He left to do so as she shook her head. Crazy.

The seventh juror didn't seem to have too many problems, except that his sister-in-law's kids were in trouble with the law and one had been deported back to Armenia.
"How do you know the sister-in-law?" the judge asked. "She's married to--"
"An alcoholic," he replied. The audience could not contain its laughter. "My wife's sister," he corrected. Crazy.

The eighth juror seemed normal enough as well: single, dating a girl who worked at Walgreen's, had a 16-month-old with her, worked baggage at LAX.
"Have you known anyone to be a victim of a crime," the judge asked, "or to be convicted of one?"
"My girlfriend was raped when she was eight years old," he replied, "and my cousin was convicted of murder." Crazy.

The ninth juror was a normal girl like me, who probably found being there a large inconvenience and had no choice but to stick it out as quietly and quickly as she could. Poor girl.

The tenth juror's friend's baby boy was beaten by the father, lacerating the baby's liver before he fled. Oh, and the juror himself was arrested for assault and tried in court. Apparently he was jumped in high school by a gang, got the better of one of the guys and beat him so badly that if the Sheriff hadn't showed up when he did, the juror would've probably killed him. Since becoming a public bus driver for the past 10 years, his only problem with the law was getting pulled over by a cop for speeding. Apparently the cop pulled behind the juror, who was riding his motorcycle at a legal speed, and pulled up so close while putting on his high beams that the juror sped up for his own safety. The cop pulled him over. When the cop even grabbed his taser during one point in their conversation, the juror decided to fight the ticket - after all, it would affect his job as a public driver.

During this point of the interview, a woman's cell phone went off, ringer and all. We waited through the moment when she could quickly silence the ringer and hide the phone in a purse for the vibrating voicemail, but instead a voice resonated through the phone's speaker and throughout the whole courtroom: "Giiiirrrrrl, answer yo' phooooooneee!!!" The judge turned to see a flash of pink running out of the courtroom, still in a panic to end the call as she shook her head. Not so much crazy, but my gosh.

The eleventh juror had friends six years prior that were picked up by a stranger. The stranger killed one, raped the other?, and was sentenced to prison. As far as the juror knew, even though he admitted he really wasn't sure, the stranger was out on parole, somewhere. Oh, and the juror's uncle molested a child and has been in prison since the juror was an infant. Crazy.

"Every year I've been called," the twelfth juror began, before continuing a little less audibly, "Every single year..." The majority of the audience heard and responded with a chuckle. Except me; I laughed a bit more audibly than perhaps I should have. What can I say? It was a funny comment. He was a husband and a helicopter pilot, transporting children to hospitals within the LA area. Oh, and his girlfriend in high school was molested in her youth. (Oh come on!)

At noon we were all dismissed. "Except," said the Judge, "Can the lady in pink please stay for a moment?" Oh, yeah, the cell phone interruption. I looked over to see Sleeping Beauty seat herself in the front pew. Ha! Crazy.

After the lunch break, the kindergarten teacher as well as the very persistently annoying, pessimistic juror were released. The kindergarten teacher was replaced by a juror whose wife was molested by a former employee. His brother was arrested for shoplifting and his sister was arrested for something else. The annoying guy's replacement was an Armenian man who spoke such little English that even the stenographer and translator had to ask him to repeat himself numerous times.

During this time, I had to deal with whom I'd like to call "Chatty Kathy." She sat right behind me in the pew and would make a comment on everything each juror said, hoping that she wouldn't be sitting up there next. "Stop saying because," she'd say, "just yes or no." Another juror was excused (I have no idea why) and a new juror took his place ("Phew," Chatty said, slouching back in the pew). He was an outreach educator for a museum (oh, good. excellent) and had two tickets (uh-oh) but overall didn't mind the court process (thank goodness) but minded the jury process (why would you say that?!) and his girlfriend was raped three years ago (well, looks like he's gone).

Juror 4 is excused - the man who had been raped in his childhood. A "nice Jewish boy," as Chatty put it, sat in his place. Out next was Juror 5, the incomprehensible Armenian man. His replacement was molested as a child at age 6 and had been through 8 years of "heavy duty" therapy. And she had two cops demand to enter her apartment on claims of violent crime when it was just her and her two cats. When they demanded to use her phone, she figured she wasn't a fan of the LAPD. Needless to say, she was excused immediately. New girl is a medical assistant, much like the normal Juror 3. Poor girl.

To Chatty's dismay, the nice Jewish boy was excused. His replacement couldn't be understood by anyone. He's a letter carrier for the USPS, and had no idea what his daughter did. Had he ever been in a courtroom? No, he said. Well, yes, he said: he was in court once before on ground of divorce because they claimed he did domestic violence. He said it was untrue. Had he ever been in a court room otherwise? No, he said. Well, yes, he said: for child support.

Even though it was only 4:00pm, the Judge sighed and decided to call it quits. Dismissed again, come back tomorrow.

Damn. At least I got $15 for it.