UPDATE Jury Duty. Civic Duty or Heck No?

Update
So, I was wrong, 74 people showed up out of the 450 called.  Also, I was shocked to be called in because I had looked at the Judicial calendar previously and saw that 3 of the 4 Judges were on vacation this week (Spring Break).  And I knew the 4th judge was just starting a 6 week trial because my co-worker had been called the previous week and was currently going through jury selection for that trial.

Before I update, let me be clear, I was dismissed Thursday evening!

When the Judge came in the first alarming thing he said was when he was talking about Covid safety and due to the length of this trial we need to be extra cautious, but don't worry, you will not be sequestered!!!!!!!!!!  The trial was set to be 6 weeks long.      Wait? What?  Another 6 week trial, that didn't make any sense.  Three judges are out, and there's another 6 week trial going on right now.  In our County, 2 of these types of trials at the same time would be really out of the ordinary.  I assumed pretty quickly that they swore my group in to make sure that they had enough jurors in pool to seat for the trial that was already seating jurors from the previous week.  I found out later, that was exactly what they were doing.

When he read the name of the Defendant and the charges, I was both mortified and relieved.  Mortified because it had to do with prolonged child abuse and murder of a 3 year old little girl, and relieved because I follow the local news daily for years and knew all about the case.  I figured that right there would eventually get me excused.  Because frankly, if even 20% of what the local news reported was accurate, there was no way I could give that woman (yes! woman!) the benefit of the doubt.   And I'm not sure my heart could take a 6 week trial about hearing the brutality that this poor little girl endured in her short little life.  

So, (this was Tuesday) we were handed out a 25 page questionnaire to fill out and turn in.  We had to call in Wednesday night but didn't have to report Thursday.  This was when it was confirmed I had to be right about the double jury pools.  Because the other group had been at the courthouse on Wednesday and had to report again on Thursday.  I had to called on Thursday night.  But before I called that night, I knew I was done.  Word spread pretty fast at work when we found out my co-worker had been seated on the jury.   That was around 3:30 and you don't call in until 5:00.  Because she knew I was in the other pool she told her manager that they had filled all spots out of her pool (12 + 4 alternates).  And sure enough, our pool never had to go back in, we were excused that night.

I was honestly thankful.  I was not sleeping well at night thinking about having to sit on a jury like this.  I've become somewhat disenchanted with the process.  The Courts complete disregard of potential jurors outside life is ridiculous.  I had talked to my co-worker on Monday (before I knew I was going to be in the same process).  We didn't talk about the case at all, but she made some interesting comments about jury selection process and reasons that weren't good enough for the Judge.  Examples:  A man and his wife had planned a year ago a vacation that was 100% paid for and non refundable.  It was thousands of dollars and apparently the Defense attorney asked "And that's a lot of money for you?".  Apparently there was audible gasp in the courtroom.  How out of tune with middle to lower class America do you have to be to ask a question like that?   Another man, who was elderly, and his wife were the sole caretakers of the wifes brother who was unable to care for himself at all.  He told the Judge that his wife can't do it alone because the brother is too big for her to handle and they have no one else to help.  The Judge wouldn't dismiss because of that (he was later dismissed apparently, but not because of that).  I just don't understand the lack of compassion for certain situations.  

Anyway, that was my experience.  For myself, I wouldn't mind being on a jury at all.  I think the process could be fascinating.  But being on this trial, and for 6 weeks wasn't not what I had in mind.  We'll see what happens next time.  That's the first time in the 12 years that I've lived in this County that I've been called.  So fingers crossed it doesn't happen any time soon.


Original Post
So, as I sit here, literally doing nothing while I could be working, waiting to go through jury selection process, I wonder some things.

I've never gotten to a jury selection process before. And while I actually wouldn't mind going through the process, right now is not a good time at work. But I know they don't care about that.

I've had a couple of people say that they just throw the summons away when they get it in the mail. Move on and forget about it.

I always thought a bench warrant was issued if you ignored it, but found out recently that this is not true. In Washington State there is no penalty for ignoring a summons.

Of the 450 people who were called today, I'd say about 100 showed up.

So, what say you? Always show up, or toss the summoning forget about it?