After getting to the top of the stairs, we proceed around the corridor and approach a couple of huge, ornate wooden doors. As we file in I see what is a huge, modern looking courtroom. Pew style benches on the left and right as we enter (later I learn this is called the gallery). As I'm ushered to the right set of benches, I see the familiar (as seen in TV) fence, separating the trial area from the gallery. A group of lawyers on the left and another group of lawyers on the right, just over the fence. At the far end of the room is a HUGE judge bench, reaching almost from the left wall to the right wall, and also containing the witness stand on the right (the judge's left) and another area, cordoned off with more legal fencing (banisters) on the left (Judge's right).
I also see the "Jury" box against the right side of the courtroom..
There, in the middle of the Judge's area is the Judge. All regal and honorable in his black robes, clearly in charge and mildly intimidating.
After a couple minutes the Judge address all 170 of us and proceeds to welcome us, explain why we were here, to be in a selection process for the upcoming civil trial and highlight the days process.
He then introduces the left side lawyers (Defendant (Mutual Pharmaceuticals) and the right right side attorneys (Plaintiff (Karen Bartlett))
He then reminds us to get our little cards ready to follow his questions as he will as us later if we have any "yes" responses.
He also lets us know that the basic process will be for him to ask questions, then each of us will be selected to determine is we need to speak to him, then we will be put into the jury box. Then the Lawyers will ask us some questions, then some will be dismissed, some will be replaced and we will end up with 18, at which point each side will be able to dismiss 4 jurors for no reason at all, leaving us with 10 for the trial.
OK, the selection process starts next....
J4
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Reporting as ordered (cont)
Sitting there for about 90 minutes and people watching is always very interesting to me. I try to read the body language, facial expressions and mannerisms of everyone. I digress..
After about 3/4 the room filled up, 2 representatives of the court came to the podium and proceeded to greet us and provide us with some context as to the rest of our day.
Of all the instructions we received the one that stuck in my head was the one about fact that the Judge, during this selection process, will be asking us questions. They pointed out a small 5x5 cardboard square that we could take notes on (really?) and we should only record a "Yes" and the number of the question, so after they have all been read, we could respond to the judge that "we needed to speak to him" to explain of reason for answering "yes".
After all the instructions, and an almost 200 person dash to the bathrooms to prepare for a "long" court selection process, we were all herded to the double doors and proceeded to the 3 story climb up the granite stairs to the courtroom.
Next... Courtroom Impressions ...
J4
After about 3/4 the room filled up, 2 representatives of the court came to the podium and proceeded to greet us and provide us with some context as to the rest of our day.
Of all the instructions we received the one that stuck in my head was the one about fact that the Judge, during this selection process, will be asking us questions. They pointed out a small 5x5 cardboard square that we could take notes on (really?) and we should only record a "Yes" and the number of the question, so after they have all been read, we could respond to the judge that "we needed to speak to him" to explain of reason for answering "yes".
After all the instructions, and an almost 200 person dash to the bathrooms to prepare for a "long" court selection process, we were all herded to the double doors and proceeded to the 3 story climb up the granite stairs to the courtroom.
Next... Courtroom Impressions ...
J4
Friday, September 10, 2010
Juror 104 Reporting as Ordered....
Day One in Concord District Court.
Its Jury Selection Day. Its funny.. The day provided me some humor that reminded me of an old joke called "Fortunate/Unfortunate".....
It felt like.. fortunately, I had free parking ticket for the garage the court uses, unfortunately, the garage was 3 blocks away from the court house, fortunately, it was a sunny day, unfortunately the first hill to walk up was very steep......
All joking aside, it wasn't that bad. After I got to the court house and went through the obligatory security screening, I was very impressed with this fairly new, large, impressive building. It had a nice appealing architecture. The guards were very pleasant and I was directed to a large set of open double doors at the end of the large, long entrance way.
Since I am an early bird anyway, there was only 2 other people already seated in a very large auditorium. It appeared to be large enough to accommodate 200+ seated people, so I assuming they were expecting a very large turnout. 3/4 of the room was filled with 4 and 6 person tables and chairs, with several long rows of auditorium type seating in the front of the room, all facing 3 very large LCD flat screens on the wall, all currently tuned to CNN.
After checking in at the appropriate "window" and having my attendance properly recorded, I got a cup of coffee and proceeded to "people watch" as the official start time was about 90 minutes away....
"To be continued"...
soon..
J4
Its Jury Selection Day. Its funny.. The day provided me some humor that reminded me of an old joke called "Fortunate/Unfortunate".....
It felt like.. fortunately, I had free parking ticket for the garage the court uses, unfortunately, the garage was 3 blocks away from the court house, fortunately, it was a sunny day, unfortunately the first hill to walk up was very steep......
All joking aside, it wasn't that bad. After I got to the court house and went through the obligatory security screening, I was very impressed with this fairly new, large, impressive building. It had a nice appealing architecture. The guards were very pleasant and I was directed to a large set of open double doors at the end of the large, long entrance way.
Since I am an early bird anyway, there was only 2 other people already seated in a very large auditorium. It appeared to be large enough to accommodate 200+ seated people, so I assuming they were expecting a very large turnout. 3/4 of the room was filled with 4 and 6 person tables and chairs, with several long rows of auditorium type seating in the front of the room, all facing 3 very large LCD flat screens on the wall, all currently tuned to CNN.
After checking in at the appropriate "window" and having my attendance properly recorded, I got a cup of coffee and proceeded to "people watch" as the official start time was about 90 minutes away....
"To be continued"...
soon..
J4
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Chasing the Calendar....
I remember, a few months before I actually got selected I received this large Manila envelope from the State of New Hampshire. I was thinking to myself, "Uhh ohh, what am in trouble for?". Realizing that I haven't done anything, lately (lol) I was probably being unreasonably stressed. After opening the envelope it was a letter from the State, explaining I was part of the current cycle of the Juror selection process.
From the documentation, 8 times, over the next 2 months, I was to call in to a specific number, on a specific day, after a specific time and listen to instructions on what to do next..
The first time I called (sometime in early July 2010) I got a recorded message telling NOT to report for jury duty at this time, but to call in at the next date and time for instructions.....
I was thinking to my self that the odds of there being a trial at this particular time and the fact I haven't heard anything in the news about anything major, there was little chance I would get called.
So, when the next date and time came, I did the same thing, with the same results.
Same thing the 3rd time.. and the 4th, 5th, 6th... I was thinking, this was my only shot and so much for that
However, the 7th, and next to the last time, the message was significantly different.. It was informing me that the following juror numbers needed to come to the Concord, NH courthouse, the next day, to enter the selection process..
The message then continued to rattle off a very long series of numbers, starting at 004 then 006, etc, etc..
Since I was Juror number 104, needless to say I was listening for a some time, until they finally got my number as part of group call (IE; "Juror's, whose numbers begin and end in 102-110").. So.. there it was.. I was asked to come in.. Cool..
More Shortly....
J4
From the documentation, 8 times, over the next 2 months, I was to call in to a specific number, on a specific day, after a specific time and listen to instructions on what to do next..
The first time I called (sometime in early July 2010) I got a recorded message telling NOT to report for jury duty at this time, but to call in at the next date and time for instructions.....
I was thinking to my self that the odds of there being a trial at this particular time and the fact I haven't heard anything in the news about anything major, there was little chance I would get called.
So, when the next date and time came, I did the same thing, with the same results.
Same thing the 3rd time.. and the 4th, 5th, 6th... I was thinking, this was my only shot and so much for that
However, the 7th, and next to the last time, the message was significantly different.. It was informing me that the following juror numbers needed to come to the Concord, NH courthouse, the next day, to enter the selection process..
The message then continued to rattle off a very long series of numbers, starting at 004 then 006, etc, etc..
Since I was Juror number 104, needless to say I was listening for a some time, until they finally got my number as part of group call (IE; "Juror's, whose numbers begin and end in 102-110").. So.. there it was.. I was asked to come in.. Cool..
More Shortly....
J4
The Day After
Good Morning,
There was a Civil Trial in New Hampshire over the last few weeks. You might have read about, maybe not. I found myself drawn into this drama because I was called up to serve as a Juror for the State of New Hampshire.
I thought I would use this opportunity to share the behind the scenes of what its like going through the selection process and the trial, from a Juror's perspective, and the deliberation process and the rest of the up's and downs from something few of ever really experience, except maybe from the TV or movies.
Consider this a Juror 101 for the rest of us...
Please note: I will be glad to answer any and all questions I can. however, I will completely respect the privacy and dignity of everyone I was involved with, especially the complete privacy of the plaintiff, her family and friends and the total and complete privacy and anonymity of my fellow jurors. I am proud and blessed to have met and severed with each and every one of them.
More shortly...
J4
There was a Civil Trial in New Hampshire over the last few weeks. You might have read about, maybe not. I found myself drawn into this drama because I was called up to serve as a Juror for the State of New Hampshire.
I thought I would use this opportunity to share the behind the scenes of what its like going through the selection process and the trial, from a Juror's perspective, and the deliberation process and the rest of the up's and downs from something few of ever really experience, except maybe from the TV or movies.
Consider this a Juror 101 for the rest of us...
Please note: I will be glad to answer any and all questions I can. however, I will completely respect the privacy and dignity of everyone I was involved with, especially the complete privacy of the plaintiff, her family and friends and the total and complete privacy and anonymity of my fellow jurors. I am proud and blessed to have met and severed with each and every one of them.
More shortly...
J4
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