SERVING JURY DUTY DURING COVID-19
The health and safety of jurors is of utmost importance to the
Judges and staff at the Marion County Circuit Court. They recognize
that they must make it safe to serve as a juror, to protect
individual jurors, and to help protect against the spread of COVID-19
in our community. Jury trials are being held with precautionary
measures to limit the exposure of jurors to COVID-19.
This was my experience:
Being called for jury
duty during “normal” times can be stressful enough (taking time off of
work, wondering if you’re going to be selected, etc.). But what
about during a global pandemic?
I got to the Marion
County Courthouse about 7:30. As I passed through a metal detector,
it went off because of my metal knees. After being “wanded,” I
was sent to the jury corral. This was the first change I noted. Anybody who has been summoned to the courthouse for jury duty knows what the
jury corral is, a room that typically would hold up to 200 people
pre-Covid. This day, they had 42 people in it, and in another room
down the hall that had been converted to a jury corral were another
25 possible jurors. When I arrived in that room, I was told to take a seat that had been marked for jurors (social distancing).
Around 9:30 a.m., the clerk started calling out about two dozen
names. Would I be one of them? Did I want to be one of them?
Courts have adopted varying protocols in enforcing social
distancing during “voir dire” — the process by which judges
question prospective jurors to assemble a jury. They have you stand in line 6 feet apart and knowing who is in front of you...you must remember your place in line as they have already made a seating chart in that order. After being sworn in,
the questioning began. First, the judge asked a few general
questions. Next, the defense attorney asked his questions. This
process went on for a long time, probably more than an hour. One
question that seems so easy but I found hard to articulate was “What does beyond a
reasonable doubt mean to you?” In that moment I
wished I had my phone so I could google it. The defense attorney went on to ask other questions, hypotheticals, etc. Lastly, the
state asked their questions. The DA did ask me the last question of
this process that took 2 hours. We were then ushered back to our
room, and the other group went down to the courtroom while we watched them on CCTV.
Finally, we were told that 14 names were going to be called...I
found myself counting as the names were called....Again, “Would
I be one of them? Did I want to be one of them?” I
had counted to 11 and then my name was called...sigh. As the
names were called, we were told to line up and were led to the courtroom.
The days of packing jurors in jury boxes across the state, and
sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in a jury box are over, at least for
now. Rather than sitting together in the
jury box, only three jurors sat in the box while the remaining jurors
were socially distanced, 3 to a bench, occupying the space usually
reserved for the public.
On the second day, during a break for technical difficulties, I
left the jury room to use the restroom as the other was full and I
had to go (apparently, this is a no-no). Well, when I tried to enter
the way I came out, the doors were locked. Oh my, what do I do now?
There was a courtroom and a hall between where I was and where I was
supposed to be. I went down to the receptionist to see if she could
call the clerk to let me in, but she was on the phone so I went back
up and started knocking VERY LOUDLY. Somebody came out of another
room and opened the door for me. Unfortunately, every other juror was
back in the courtroom, everyone but me. Nothing like making an
entrance, parading by the judge, the defense attorneys, the suspect, and the prosecution. Thankfully, the judge thought it was funny but from then
on he counted the jurors, and we were told NOT to leave the jury
area.
I learned so much during this process. I learned what “beyond a
reasonable doubt" really means. I learned that there are three
different levels of the burden of evidence and depend on what type of trial it is.
I learned that jurors spend a lot of time in the jury room.
Again, because of COVID-19, the 14 jurors were divided between two
jury rooms. You try and make conversation with total strangers,
trying to find something in common to talk about, but the only thing
you have in common is this case you are listening to, and you cannot
discuss that until it is time for deliberation. For any of you that
have done jury duty, you know what comes next. The time for
deliberation to begin is when it really gets interesting. No two
people see the story the same. Your opinions and your life experiences
play into it.
I am humbled to have done jury duty. After finally sitting on a jury, I realized just how important our civic duty is. That is why our country is the best county to live in. While the system may be flawed, it is the best system out there.