Jury Duty

On Wednesday, January 24, I reported for jury duty at Superior Court in Martinez. Getting through the door into the court building did not start out well. I had to go through the metal detector three times - each time remembering something else like my cell phone. There were about 120 of us in the jury assembly room where we had to line up to obtain forms to fill out. Sometime around eleven o'clock they read 80 names, mine included, to be in the first court. The rest of the folks went home. We were taken to Department 4 on the second floor, seated and waited for the judge. She, Judge O'Malley, gave us a rundown on what the process would be to select the jury. She sent us to lunch. At 1:30 we all entered the courtroom after the first 12 folks were selected to sit in the jury box with an additional 9 seated in number seats in the first row. The the process of questioning began. This continued through the rest of the day and through the following day. Since the Judge had other things scheduled for Friday, we came back today (Monday). By eleven the jury and the alternates were seated and the rest of us (six people) were excused.

I felt let down that I wasn't selected - sort of like not being chosen to be on the baseball team in grammar school.