Sound Politics: Luck Of The Draw [Updated]

August 18, 2008

Luck Of The Draw [Updated]

Sent me home from jury duty this morning. More than forty potential jurors showed up this morning; twenty-six numbers were drawn and mine wasn't one of them. There is just one trial scheduled for today, and juries in this court usually (always?) have just six members, with no alternates. So there were twenty extras for that trial alone.

While waiting for the numbers to be drawn, we got to watch the usual video. After my previous experiences, I was amused to hear the video claim that the attorneys and court officers did not want to waste our time. (Advice for those who don't find that funny: Bring reading material, or knitting, or something else to pass the time, if you are called for jury duty.) All in all, just coming in and waiting for the numbers to be drawn took more than two hours of each potential juror's time. On the other hand, I think each juror gets paid for a full day, just for showing up.

One oddity: The summons from the Kirkland court does not mention pay, and the jury supervisor did not mention it this morning. They may be embarrassed to mention it, since the pay was just thirteen dollars a day, last year.

We were told that there will be no trial tomorrow, and that there may not be one on Wednesday. For this court, that means I have to check either their phone line, or their web site Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings to see if I have to come in the next day. (The phone line is updated as information comes in; the web site just once a day.)

Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.

Update: The court web site now has this message:

Tuesday August 19; 1 trial scheduled-- these jurors to call the juror information line at 425-587-3181 at 9am for instructions on Tuesdays Trial. Please note if the trial proceeds you will have 30 minutes to appear at the court. Thank you.

#1,2,5,6,7,8,12,14,15,19,20,24,25,26,31,32,34,35,37,39,40,41,43,44

Since those are the jurors who were called this morning, and the trial tomorrow had been canceled, it sounds as though today's trial was postponed one day, while the two sides wrangled. And that they are still wrangling, so that the jurors will not know whether they should appear until it is actually time for the trial to begin. (If those conclusions are wrong, please let me know right away.)

Fortunately, the attorneys and court officers do not want to waste the time of the jurors.

Posted by Jim Miller at August 18, 2008 10:54 AM | Email This

Comments

1. Thirteen dollars a day! Woohoo! Is that tax-free, does anyone know?

Posted by: jvon on August 18, 2008 11:05 AM

2. I did jury duty recently in King County Superior Court. $20/day IIRC, plus bus or mileage. On the first day a judge talked to everyone and apologized for the low stipend. He said that it was set by the WA State Legislature and hasn't been raised in over 40 years.

Posted by: Seabecker on August 18, 2008 11:09 AM

3. I got called to jury duty a couple years ago in Island County. Confirming I had to come in over the telephone hotline, I drove the 90 minutes to Oak Harbor for them to tell us the case had been settled the night before, but they hadn't changed the phone message. For that I got nothing as we didn't actually serve.

In contrast, a friend in Idaho served for 2 weeks on a jury at $10 a day. My employer paid for him to be away, but then fired him for not turning over the check from the courthouse to the company by payday. His thought process was that since the company was paying him to be gone, the court expense check belonged to the company and for him not to turn it over was theft.

Posted by: Ken on August 18, 2008 11:26 AM

4. I've experienced jury duty several times. I was always amazed how long "lunch" was, generally well over two hours. I could walk all the way into downtown Kent, have a leisurely lunch, and stroll back in plenty of time. Same thing in Seattle where I could grab a hot dog and walk all the way up the waterfront, through the Pike Place Market, buy a couple of artichokes for dinner and still be back in plenty of time. By then it was mid-afternoon and guess what? Perhaps there was time for one or two witnesses to be called and then it was around 4:00 and it always appeared to me that the judge couldn't wait for a reason for everyone to go home for the day. The lawyers and judges would have you believe they are hard at work during these times but I saw them hanging out just like us jurors during the breaks.

Posted by: Bill Cruchon on August 18, 2008 11:28 AM

5.
I'm scheduled for Wednesday; however they located me in the downtown courthouse and I'm right near the Norm Maleng Justice center in downtown Kent.

I emailed them for a change of venue, and they said it was "illegal" -- because any juror has to be available for all King County -- but they're working to change the law!

Nice system...I have to commute an hour each way when I could just ride my bike 10 minutes down Kent East Hill...

Posted by: John Bailo on August 18, 2008 12:03 PM

6. Sorry jvon. Hate to kill your buzz, but it's not tax-free.

Posted by: deedub on August 18, 2008 12:27 PM

7. I've been called 4 times in my life, but all in Calif. None here?

Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on August 18, 2008 12:42 PM

8. I got called for a murder trail but was "let go" because I felt that one low life shooting another low life wasn't a big deal. I was gonna vote "not guilty" 'cause it seemed like an even-Steven deal to me.

Posted by: Politically Incorrect on August 18, 2008 01:36 PM

9. Seems like if you want to "do your duty" you have to lie. If you answer any question about being a republican, conservative, listen to Limbaugh, or work 40+ hours a week, you are deemed "unqualified" for some reason. Then again, if you want to get out of jury duty, there's your ticket...

Posted by: Scott on August 18, 2008 03:04 PM

10. i served at kirkland muni a month or so ago.
All jurors went before the court to be winnowed out by the attorneys. After they got done, there were 6 jurors and six non-selected out of over 30 candidates.

BTW how can i find out what the sentence was?

Posted by: larry l on August 18, 2008 03:32 PM

11. Seabecker @2, it is rather funny how they haven't raised it in 40 years but look at the increases they've given themselves. Oh but that's to attract "quality people" to Olympia. I guess we don't need to attract quality jurors when they are threatened with "failure to appear" bench warrants.
I've done 7 jury duties, have carried in every book and belonging short of hand gun that could possibly get me out of it to no avail. Even wore a Limbaugh tie and answered the questionaire that yes I do have a relative on the police force.
Jury foreman on that one. Hmmm

Posted by: PC on August 18, 2008 06:31 PM