Free At Last

Finally, tonight I can say: the JD Drama is over. Monday, enough of us got called in to overflow the parking lot and the jury selection room. (Of course, there would have been more parking if so much hadn't been reserved for the media. There was high interest in the case: the "high-profile case" we were working on turned out to be trying the murderer of Jessica Lunsford. Selected jurors were to be whisked away to the town of Inverness, Florida, to be sequestered for the duration of the trial — which was estimated to take 2-3 weeks.)

I was there from 7:45 until nearly 10, alternating between sitting on the floor until my butt hurt, and standing up until my back hurt, before the judge came in to hear excusal requests. Mine was quickly dismissed out of hand (hey, you have to try, right?). Finally, they let most of us go about 12:15, and were told to report back on Tuesday. I made it to work half the day.

Tuesday morning, 7:45, I arrived again. My director at work arrived about 8:30, per instruction — she'd been one of the people who stayed all day Monday " and was one of the first called into the jury selection interviews. At 10:30, they told most of us to go to lunch … until 2:00. I assure you there is virtually nothing to do in Tavares, Florida, for 3-1/2 hours! I found a café with free wireless, and did some work over lunch, and came back at 2. At 4:30, they split the remaining 120 jurors into an 8:30 am group and a 2:30 pm group, to return yet again on Wednesday.

Wednesday, I went to work, then made it to the courthouse by 2:30 … and at 3:15 was told they might not need us at all. I would have Thursday "off" (actually a full day at work, where I was getting increasingly behind), but to call back Thursday night to learn about whether we had to come back Friday. I drove 2 hours round trip for 45 minutes in the jury room.

Well, tonight I learn that the selection has been called off for various reasons — mainly involving the fact that too many people (myself included!) knew too much about the case before we were ordered not to read any "pretrial publicity." I would've been disqualified within minutes of being interviewed, and yet I sat there on-and-off for three days, waiting for my turn.

I'm quite relieved to not have to go through the process anymore, but I also can't believe it was run as badly as it was. You'd think this judge (from a neighboring county) and the clerk of courts had never done a jury selection before. The cost to taxpayers was enormous, to boot. (Not to mention that I spent about 8 hours in my car, and about $60 in gas, in the to-and-fro from our very distant county seat.)

At least now, the worst part — the uncertainty and inability to plan things in my life more than a day out — is over.