Jury Duty - Episode IV - Part 4

Home at last, and after a long, restful nap, I'll provide an update from the rest of the day.

When we last left our story, I had been selected for a prospective jury, my designation 11 of 40.  While I am now bound by a standard prohibition from disclosing any details about the case until it's over, I can still give you a bit about the process up to this point, and say that this is a criminal case, with an expected duration of less than a week.

The bailiff assembled us in numerical order (we were proud of our ability to handle that), then led us into the courtroom.  After providing us some brief details about the type of case we would be hearing, and the anticipated length of time, the judge asked for those with any undue hardships that would prevent them from fulfilling their jury service to raise their numbers.  Then one by one she asked each to explain his or her hardship, some of which were more hardships than others, but after all was said and done, most of the 10 or so who requested excusal were indeed excused from service.

Voir dire commenced, and both the prosecution and defense had 20 minutes to question the jury.  I was asked no questions by either the prosecutor nor the defense attorney.  Now, they both had a copy of my juror bio form, which had standard information such as name, age, education, and occupation.  Perhaps something on that made me either very easy to accept, or very easy to challenge.  But the day was over, so we are now returning to the courtroom at 9am tomorrow morning, where voir dire will complete, and we'll be whittled down to just the 12 + an alternate in the jury.  I may be in it, or I may be returned to the jury pool to start the process all over again.  We'll find out tomorrow.