This Just In – There’s always more.
In a year that has delivered unto my family a rainbow of unexpected medical problems (some of them life threatening) I’ve stopped asking “what’s next?” for fear of getting more answers than I’m ready to absorb.
Rick came in from retrieving the mail last week, stopped at my chair and said, “And now, this.” It was a letter for me from the Clerk of Superior Court in Hillsborough. I’ve been summoned to jury duty.
I’ve been called to this duty twice before. The first time was in January, 1982. I remember the time easily because I had given birth to my first child about two weeks before. I showed up at the Durham courthouse and explained that while my mother-in-law was delighted to have her new grandson all to herself for a few hours, she lived in Connecticut and I didn’t have daycare otherwise.
With good luck wishes, I was excused.
The second time around was here in Orange County and I don’t recall the date as clearly. I remember that I brought something to read and my cell phone was not a device to be relied upon for entertainment, so it was a while ago. I’m guessing early 2000s.
I called in to see if I needed to appear. Answer: yes.
I sat in a waiting room with my fellow citizens from every corner of our county. Farmers, teachers, nurses, doctors and everything in between. Some sat doing puzzles or reading. Some constantly checking their watches and calling into work.
After a couple of hours that felt like days, we were called into the courtroom. The first dozen or so were directed up to the jury box where they were to be questioned by the lawyers and the judge. And this brought my very favorite part of the whole experience.
Each prospective juror was asked if they had any reason for being unable to serve on a jury. These can be things like having a disability, a medical condition or being the primary care provider for a sick family member (or newborn baby).
One woman raised her hand and explained (while sounding very put out) that she was an anesthesiologist and would have to be excused because she had to attend to surgical patients whose procedure might have to be delayed in her absence.
The judge was amused and unimpressed. Waving across the courtroom, he said, “Doctor, all of these people have jobs and people who are depending on them. Yours is no more important than theirs. Today, your job is to be a citizen juror, IF you are selected.”
The rest of us wanted to applaud, but we settled for the gentle hum of throat-clearing, head shaking and eye-rolling that followed.
Jury duty is such an experience everywhere, I suspect. Ordinary people report to their community’s courthouse to do their civic duty. That’s the beauty of it. As a rule, they can’t be dazzled by famous defendants. After you’re in a room for a day or two with a famous person, he or she is just a person sitting at the defense table. No trappings of fame. No flashing cameras or adoring fans. No autographs. Just a search for the truth and a fair outcome for the accused.
I didn’t get seated on a jury the last time I had the chance. The defendant reached a plea agreement with the prosecutor once he saw that the trial was actually going to happen. This is common, we were told. I look forward to another bite at this apple in September.
For the record, I expect that same thing to happen in Florida’s very high profile Espionage case involving the 45th President. If he listens to his lawyers at all, he’ll take a deal. That would be the smart move, so perhaps we can rule it out right now.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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