Worn Out Again- Brief Report from Jury Duty here in New York County-"That's the Way This Justice System Works, Man"

First, the Good News:

The woman who ran the main Jury Room was welcoming to everyone and had a great sense of humor. She made it clear they wanted to help people get on with everything they could with their laptops etc while waiting to be called and she and the other people there were as respectful and friendly as you get in NYC.

The Staff at 111 Centre Street was very professional, courteous and helpful. Nothing to complain about here whatsoever. 

There was just one exception to this whom I will get to later.

About the Cases I Got Called For:

The first one didn't seem that strange until the State's attorney started asking people questions of how they judged the testimony of witnesses--

Getting to-- get this-- it turnd out there was NO corroborating video,  no"smoking gun" or other kinds of material evidence of any weight.

In other words, the jury would have to listen the testimony of cops and civilians ( but not the defendant, who chose not to testify)-- and try to figure out:

a) What the hell really happened here, whose testimony made the most sense or sounded the most plausible and 

b) Decide whether this testimony was of such a nature as to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the guilt of the defendant.

I was empaneled during the initial process here as Juror Number One and questioned by the Judge...and then the prosecution and defense lawyer had their turns with me and the rest of the prospective jurors as well as their own comments on all of this.

I was not chosen for the trial jury. The more I thought about it, the happier I was I hadn't been chosen.

Jump ahead: when we had all been given our letters of finishing Jury Duty, I talked to this one young man who had been there on the same panel as me and whom had the most hesitancy about the whole case.

He told me--just before we went our separate ways-- that he had seen an innocent young man be sent to jail for ten years based on the testimony of criminal gang members who had conspired to frame him.

"That's the way this Justice system works, man," he noted.

The second case  I attended, where they had a huge call up of 

jurors, == we were led across to 100 Centre Street ( which in my memory I always think of as "the Tombs") by a guard with a big booming voice -- a snarky manner and who was enjoying himself immensely-- 

"Welcome to Jury Duty", he howled, in a tone that I associate with someone saying something with-- well, a not too pleasant sounding air to it-- like " Welcome to Boot Camp," or some place much worse. Like Auschwitz maybe.

The jury room on the 13th Floor was then packed with all these new prospective jurors, where it seemed like a "Voir Dire" was already going on.

The creepy young female judge started out with a spiel about how jury duty was in no way an imposition on anybody, forget about her making allowances for that--"It is a privilege that you have as the citizen of a Democracy." 

But then she said the murder trial in process was of such a gruesome kind ( lots and lots of stabbing) she said she wanted to see who felt for personal reasons they could not handle something like that,

A lot of hands went up, mostly female. 

Then she said the case would take at least two weeks or more and did anybody have a big problem with that. A good number of hands were raised, including mine, but not really all that many.

This made her very angry. "Don't think you can get out of doing your duty here this way-- you will be sent to be questioned by a special judge and you may end up having to be on a trial that takes SIX WEEKS OR MORE"! she railed.

Both groups of refuseniks were sent out to the corridor to form lines and have their names taken.

One black woman court worker was screaming in the hallway that more people were out there than had raised their hands in the courtroom. 

But the process went on anyway, and everyone who opted out was just sent back to the main jury room-- this still at the beginning of the afternoon.

Two very attractive young women were standing next to me and were laughing nervously about the whole situation." I start my new PAYING JOB tomorrow and I thought I would be finished this afternoon, "said one.

The other woman had her own reasons for wanting to get free.

We ended up waiting back at the Jury Room in suspense as to what would happen. In short, nothing.

The friendly woman who ran the Jury Room called us all into another big room at about 4:15 and said she was giving us all letters of completion of jury duty.

"It has a phone number there about questions about getting paid.

Don't call that number, you will get ME, and I can' t tell you anything I am not telling you right now," -- she laughed and everybody found themselves laughing with her--

"Takes an average of eight weeks or sometimes a little more, but take my word for it, the checks DO get sent out and everything should be fine."

Then she and her cheerful assistant called out our names and gave us our letters. 

You have rarely seen a group of people so happy and grateful to leave 111 Centre Street.