Jury Duty Part 1

Yesterday, I had to report to the County Courthouse because of a Summons for Jury Duty I had received a few weeks ago. Yesterday morning, I was happy that I was able to sleep in for about ten minutes because, instead of being at work at 8:00 am, I had to be at the County Courthouse at 8:30 am. I know, ten minutes doesn't sound like much time to sleep in, but at 6:30 am, every minute feels like ten. After I had cleaned up and gotten dressed, I remembered that I had never been to the courthouse before and that I didn't know how to get there. At first, this didn't bother me at all, because I thought I would just use my GPS receiver. But then I remembered that I had recently gone to St. Louis and that my GPS receiver had the maps for St. Louis on it and not the maps for Fort Wayne. Again, I thought that it wouldn't be a big deal since I could just download the maps onto the receiver. After hooking the receiver up to my computer and starting the transfer, I realized that it was going to take a good 30 minutes to download the maps I needed. It was then, 7:30 am, that I started panicking.

At first I was planning to leave at 8:00 am, knowing that I can get to anywhere in downtown Fort Wayne in half an hour. But then I started thinking... I do want to be a little early; I don't want to give a bad impression... what if I get lost on the way... what if the traffic lights aren't in my favor and I have to stop for every light on the way... what if the morning traffic is awful... what if a road is closed... I'm going to be late!! By this time it's 7:45 and I'm worried sick. The map won't be done downloading for another 15 minutes, 10 minutes if I'm lucky, and I don't want to wait until then to leave. So, instead of waiting, I look on-line at a map of Fort Wayne. I typed in the address of the Courthouse and tried to find a road I knew how to get to. Once I did that, I left, hoping that I would know where I was going. Once I got in the area of the Courthouse, I used the map on the back of the Summons I received and realized that it was actually very easy to find. I then parked in one of the parking lots near the Courthouse and make my way over.

The Courthouse has doors on all four of its sides, but all of them are locked, except for one set of doors, which just so happens to be on the other side of the building. After walking around the building and finding the doors, I go inside and have to go through security. Just on the other side of security, I find a sign, which says 'Jury' and has an arrow pointing to the left. I follow the sign and come to a window that I have to check in at.

After checking in, I had to sit in a waiting area while all the other potential jurors arrived. After waiting for about fifteen minutes, all the jurors had arrived and one of the workers in the Courthouse come out and showed us a video about being a juror. The video was just a little introduction to what we would be expected to do and I think it also tried to help potential jurors relax in case they were nervous and also to make them feel proud to be a potential juror... that's what the video did for me at least. Once the video was over, the Courthouse worker came out again and told us that the bailiff would be coming soon to show us where to go, what to do and just take care of us. I was very impressed with the people I interacted with at the Courthouse. The Courthouse worker I had mentioned was wonderful; she was very polite, very easy-going and just helped things go very smoothly. The bailiff was also wonderful. The bailiff was very friendly, made sure everyone did okay and did a good job of just watching over all of us; he made sure we had everything we needed, answered all the questions we had, recommended where we should eat, gave us little tips and just made sure we were all okay.

Once the bailiff arrived, he explained to us how everything would work. First, twelve potential jurors were selected to sit in the jury box while everyone else would sit in the 'audience' seats. The Judge and lawyers would then ask the potential jurors in the box questions and decide if they wanted to excuse anyone. If a potential juror was excused, that person was free to leave and go; the bailiff would then call out one of the potential jurors in the 'audience' seats to replace the excused person.

Once the bailiff explained the process to us, he told us where the courtroom we would go to was. However, before we left, the bailiff told us who would be the first people in the box. Now, everyone had juror numbers (mine was 54) and that was all that was used once we were in the courtroom. However, the bailiff told us that he would call off our names, instead of our numbers, to tell us who would be the first people in the box, but that this would be the only time and that after that all that would be used would be our numbers. Well, I was sitting there, looking around... quite a lot of people. I was number 54 and I assumed that meant there were at least 53 other potential jurors (which looked about right). I was thinking... 12 out of 53... not much chance he's going to call my name. Realizing this, I decide to listen, just in case, but not with any hope of being called. So, he looks at his list, and as it just happens to turn out, he calls my name... not only so I start off in the jury box, but I'm the first person called! Once he calls off all the others who start off in the box, we all head up to the courtroom, which is on the top floor, giving us an excellent opportunity to look at how beautiful the courthouse is.

Once we are at the top, we quickly find the courtroom and line up, with me in front, ready to enter the courtroom. Once we are lined up, we walk to the doors. As I get closer, not knowing what to expect, I lifted my chin, put on a blank face, straighten my back and confidently approach the doors, ready for anything.