Duty calls

I had brought a book, my smartphone and my laptop, planning to get some work done. Fortunately, the Hall of Justice has good Wi-Fi. However, I had only been connected for a couple of minutes before it was announced that jurors were needed in a courtroom upstairs. I turned out to be one of them, so I and about 60 others trooped up to the building’s eighth floor, where our courtroom was.

The courtroom was not nearly as impressive as those that you see in the movies or on TV. The room had wood paneling, but was otherwise fairly utilitarian. Plus, the room was considerably smaller than what is normally portrayed. The gallery only had four rows of about 12 chairs each. In front of the gallery was the bar, a low wooden fence that separates viewers from the main part of the courtroom. Beyond the bar was the counsel table, the jury box, the judge’s bench, and desks for the clerk, the court reporter and the bailiff.

There is a reason why you don’t often see the jury selection process on screen. For this trial, which was expected to take about three days, selecting 14 jurors (12, plus two alternates) that were acceptable to both sides took a day and a half. About 45 of us were interviewed in order to come up with the needed 14. To my regret, I was never even interviewed.

Although jury selection took a long time, as instructed I paid close attention throughout the entire process. The answers that each juror gave to the judge’s and the attorney’s questions were interesting, and gave interesting insights into the juror being interviewed. I amused myself by trying to discern what the attorneys were looking for in each juror, and found myself predicting, none too successfully, whether a given candidate would be accepted or excused. Finally, I was pleased to note that both the jury pool and the eventual jury really did seem to be a cross-section of the San Mateo County population, which the jury should ideally be.

In our case the jury selection process may have taken longer than usual for the simple fact that spring break was either that week or the week following (it varies from school to school). Since, for scheduling reasons, the trial was likely to extend into the following week, numerous potential jurors were excused when they explained that they had plans with, or needed to be home for, their out-of-school children.

After being excused I headed home, but perhaps I should have stayed to watch. The seats were comfortable, the trial might have been interesting and the hours were short. For this judge, at least, court was in session from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a 90-minute lunch break and one 15-minute rest break each in the morning and in the afternoon. And because the Hall of Justice is located in downtown Redwood City, I would have had plenty of great options for lunch within easy walking distance.

Even though I didn’t sit through a trial, I’m glad that I went. I’m now off the hook for another year, although it’s likely that I won’t hear from the court system for another couple of years at least. Thanks to last week’s experience, when it arrives I believe I’ll actually welcome the next letter from the San Mateo County Superior Court.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.