My time in the box_____________________________________________________
I got to the courthouse a little after 7 on Thursday morning and the sheriff’s deputy behind the security desk questioned my being there for jury duty. “That’s on Monday morning.” Well, no, they split the jury pool and told us to report to judge Moss’ courtroom on Thursday. So she went to ask her supervisor who told her to let me in so she ran me through the metal detector and gave me directions. Of course no-one was there so I plunked myself down on a wooden bench and waited. Other moaning prospective jurors began to trickle in and by about ten until 8 eight there were quite a few, (something over thirty, I never got an accurate count) at eight they took us into the courtroom to begin filling out paperwork in triplicate, one for the judge, one for the defense, and one for the prosecutors. A bit of conversation between the middle aged bleached blond bailiff and some of the candidates for juryhood established that the jury pool was split because there usually wasn’t a jury trial in this court, in fact this was the first one this year, ”after all you don’t usually have a jury trial in misdemeanor court.” That got my attention…a jury trial in misdemeanor court? Why? There’s a story here After the paperwork was done they showed us a piece of propaganda about the inalienable right to a jury trial…that killed another twenty minutes…then we waited. A bit after nine the prosecutors, the defendant, and the defense attorney showed up…once they were seated the judge came in and began the process of empanelment. It was a six person jury with an alternate so they called the first seven victims up and started asking questions like “do you own a hand gun or any pets.” And “are you a member of an animal rights organization” and, “ are you a vegetarian” There must have been a purpose for that juxtaposition. People did their damnedest to get out of that jury box…radical peta members were crawling out of the wood work along with diehard hunters and meat eaters…the prosecution dismissed a doctor with two goldfish and the defense got rid of four animal rights extremists…two of the first seven remained in the box and five more went in…all sorts of questions …”have you, a member of your family, or a close personal friend ever been a victim of a crime?” “ have you, a family member, or close personal friend ever been charged and convicted of a crime, including driving under the influence ?” Four of those five were dismissed. I was in the next four to go up there and try as I might to rant about the bias towards wealth of the system I somehow remained in the box when only one of my group was dismissed…shit…this is a pain. The next woman up was chosen as the alternate and at ten-forty five the judge announced “we have a panel” and adjourned until 1:30 for lunch…this set the pattern for the entire trial which experienced far more down time that courtroom time. Lunch was free but the catch ( aside from the jury business) was that it had to come from the courthouse cafeteria…I always feel threatened by institutional food, and for good reason…the antibiotics I was taking for my mangled hand we already causing some gastric discomfiture…the courthouse food rendered it into full blown distress…we were pinned with huge orange buttons that said JUROR on them and turned us all into instant pariahs…people fell over themselves avoiding us as we walked down the hallways…quickly cutting corners, hugging the walls, ducking into rest rooms, cowering in doorways until we passed…no-one wanted to be tagged with jury tampering…which in itself is odd…it’s lake county Indiana after all and jury rigging is hallowed tradition amongst the legal fraternity dating back to the time when the governor of Indiana offered the county to Illinois at a fire sale price ( which was refused, at which the governor simply wished the damned place would slide off into the lake)…after we filled our trays the bailiff led us down to an empty table near the back of the cafeteria. As we were about to sit down he pointed to the enclosed smoking area and asked. “ do any of you guys smoke?” before we could answer he looked directly at me and said, “I mean cigarettes. You guys in here with your marijuana charges…if the ever legalize it or I retire I’m gonna try it just to see what it’s all about.” I was stunned into silence…it’s the hair…I know…stereotypical thinking…I do it too (bleach blond bailiff…that was an assumption)…I will try harder not to. 1:30 and the show began… the seven of us were sworn in as a jury and the defendant was introduced as a doctor…and the scales fell from my eyes…we were a jury in misdemeanor court because the doctor had the means to hire counsel and counsel felt that the good doctor would get a better break with a jury that with a judge. Much easier to fool the laity with a bunch of trite emotionalism and the proper amount of legalese. It seems that on the evening of august 15, 2007 ( the wheels of justice grind slowly…a bailiff who is entering law school next fall told me that this was purposeful…that things were done slowly and deliberately to minimize rash and hasty decisions…I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now…the bailiff is part of the system and like most of us not terribly objective about things we’re close to) the doctor shot and killed a neighbor’s dog with a .380 handgun alleging that the dog was mauling his…the owner of the dead dog and a handful of eyewitnesses took exception with that and the doctor was charged with cruelty to animals ( much was made of the definition of the word “beat” in this trial) and criminal mischief…both class a misdemeanors carrying fines and the possibility of a one year jail sentence. Opening statements were rhetorical masterpieces…prosecutors set out to prove the doctor a socio-path and a madman…a loose cannon with a .380 cannon while the defense characterized him as a loving son ( middle-age and still living with mom? All sorts of sirens, red flags, bells and whistles) and doting dog owner who had been victimized by a raging lone wolf of a golden retriever named max who was wandering the post storm ( there had been a doozie and all the power was out…a significant factor in all the confusion) chaos in a snarling, un-neutered frenzy of blood lust…I surmised the truth ( if you can find such a thing in a courtroom) lay somewhere between the two extremes. After opening statements there was a recess so the parties could arrange their displays, flow charts, graphs, aerial photographs, and dog obedience awards ( don’t laugh…they used all that stuff and more) and figure out just how they were going to pitch something so idiotic as a misdemeanor jury trial to seven shmucks off the street.
