I got a jury summons. [View all]

[Jeebo]

Last edited Thu Dec 12, 2024, 02:53 PM - Edit history (2)

I got it on October 26. I have not answered it. I have not even opened the envelope. A follow-up summons came in the mail two days ago, on Friday. I haven't opened it either. I am like the proverbial ostrich with its head stuck in the sand. I dread what's in those envelopes so much that I just cannot bring myself to open them.

Why do I dread jury service so much? Several reasons. This will be a long post because I want to explain thoroughly how I feel about this subject.

First is the pay. The judge gets $180 grand a year, with benefits. Some of the lawyers get hundreds of dollars an hour. The court reporter and bailiff get solid middle-class salaries, with benefits. What do the jurors get? Six dollars a day. Not six dollars an hour, which also would be a pathetically sub-standard wage, but six dollars a DAY. That "wage" is a profound insult. I want very badly to simply refuse to respond to the summons because I refuse to work for six dollars a day, but if I do that, will the judge cite me for contempt of court? If this happens, the contempt will be coming from the court and judge, because what could be more contemptuous than requiring somebody to work for six dollars a DAY under threat of legal penalties if you refuse? I claim autonomy over my body, over my time, and over the fruits of my labors. What jurors do in a courtroom is just as important as what the judge and lawyers and court reporter and bailiff do, so why aren't jurors paid a decent salary? I don't expect to get hundreds of dollars an hour like some of the lawyers do, but I do expect a reasonable wage, 150 percent of minimum wage, let's say. I think minimum wage here in Missouri is about $12 an hour, so I would expect $18 an hour. That would be a reasonable rate of pay for what amounts to a part-time temporary job. Please don't say "Jury duty is not a job, but a civic duty." It is a civic duty, but it is also a job, and they shouldn't be able to get away with paying chickenshit wages by just calling the job something else. While I'm sitting in that juror box for $6 a DAY and listening to that slick lawyer giving me his smarmy spiel in his $2,000 suit and perfect hair and being paid $450 an HOUR, my resentment of that pay differential will make me very much inclined not to believe a word he says. I suspect those rates were set way back when six dollars a day was a reasonable wage. How long ago was that? I RESENT being expected to do this job for $6 a DAY. I resent it BITTERLY.

Second is that oath they make you take. I would have no objection to the oath if it weren't for the last four words, "... so help you God". Those words SHOULD NOT be a part of that oath. What the hell do they even mean? Whose god is being invoked? Hindu? Muslim? Jewish? Catholic? Protestant? Old Testament? New Testament? And what role is that god being expected to play in those proceedings? Doesn't God give us all free will to decide for ourselves whether we're going to tell the truth? And didn't Jesus tell us to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God that which is God's? Those four words tacked unnecessarily onto the end of that oath are an attempt to render unto God that which is Caesar's. If I object to that oath because of those last four words, will I get cited for contempt because I refuse to take the oath? If they have an alternate oath they give to non-believers, I still will be calling attention to my religious beliefs by objecting and other people in the courtroom will start wondering if I'm an atheist or something. Some of them might even ask me about it. Which shows why those four words should not be a part of that oath. If I have to swear to that oath, I will resent it. I will resent it BITTERLY.

Third is having to get up so early in the morning. I AM NOT a day person. They will require jurors to be there at 8 a.m. Keeping those hours will make me MISERABLE. I never was able to get my parents to admit it, but I've always thought that I must be descended from vampires. Go to bed earlier and get up earlier? That won't work because I won't be able to sleep going to bed that early, and also just because it will just feel WRONG being in bed at 9 p.m. or being up before 8 a.m. I worked for 45 years for a morning newspaper (retired now), which means I worked nights, which was perfect for my night-owl disposition. If I have to go and sit in that jury box at 8 a.m. and stay there for several hours, I won't be able to stay awake, and it might even make me physically ill. And I will resent being forced to keep those hours.

Fourth is my awareness that judges and lawyers keep a lot of information away from juries. There was a case in February 2003 involving a man named Ed Rosenthal who was growing medicinal marijuana under the auspices of the Oakland, California, city government. He was convicted in a federal courthouse in Oakland, after the judge would not let Mr. Rosenthal's defense attorneys tell the jury why he was growing that marijuana, or that it was in cooperation with the city of Oakland. After Mr. Rosenthal was convicted, five members of the jury were very angry when they learned those facts that had been kept carefully hidden from them. Those jurors petitioned the judge to be able to change their verdict. They demonstrated at the courthouse and attended subsequent court appearances with Mr. Rosenthal, offering him support. I have heard of other cases in which jurors regretted their verdict when they learned after the trial of information that had been kept from them. I decided when I heard about Mr. Rosenthal's case, and other similar cases since then, that if I ever sit on a jury, I WILL NOT be in the position that those regretful jurors were in. So during the trial, I will be aware that there is information that is being kept from me, that I am not being allowed to consider or even to be aware of, and that that hidden information very likely will have an effect on the verdict I will render. And that uncertainty about that "known unknown" (to borrow a phrase from Donald Rumsfeld) will constitute a reasonable doubt in my mind. And that reasonable doubt will be a reason for me to render a verdict of "not guilty". I will, in fact, render a "not guilty" verdict in almost any trial in which I am a juror. There are a few exceptions. I would have convicted O.J. Simpson, for example. I would have convicted Kyle Rittenhouse. I would have convicted George Zimmerman. There was a guy in Wisconsin some years back whose defense at his rape trial was that the victim asked him to use a condom, and that constituted consent. I thought when I heard that lame excuse that if this is the best defense this guy can come up with, he really IS guilty. But in almost any case, I would be a really hard sell for any prosecutor. Defense attorneys would love to have me in their jury, but prosecutors would move heaven to keep me off the jury.

I'm not going to include a link to the Ed Rosenthal case, but if y'all want to read about it, Google Rosenthal Oakland marijuana trial and I'm sure it will come up.

For now, though, I'm really worried that some cops are going to show up at my door to haul me off to court to face a contempt citation because I haven't responded to those summonses, and I'm soliciting y'all's suggestions, especially from those of you who are lawyers or judges. Or have some other courtroom experience, because I have none.

-- Ron