Jury Duty, Early Mornings, and Golden Tickets – Thoughts from December 7, 2025

In November, I got a jury duty summons. It was for Tuesday, December 2. The good news was I didn’t have to report until noon. For someone who works at night, this takes planning to get there at that time. I normally get up at 11:00 am, but that day I got up at 9:00 am. I arrived at the courthouse, went to the jury room, and we all waited, filling out questionnaires. Eventually, we went up to our assigned courtroom. The judge told us what kind of case it was, and he sent us back down to the jury room for another questionnaire. The case had to do with sexual assault. That’s what many of the questions were about. I wrote that I knew someone who had been sexually assaulted. The truth was, I knew more than one person who had this experience.

One question they asked was, “Do you want to be on the jury?” People often try to get out of jury duty by expressing an extreme point of view. I could never do this. The only extreme point of view is about religion, and they never ask you about religion. I answered that I didn’t want to be on the jury. The reason I put was because I work at night. Morning hours are the opposite of my regular schedule. Later, I thought of other reasons I should have put. After turning in the questionnaire, we could leave. We were told to come back on Friday at 9:00 am.

Coming in at 9:00 am on Friday took even more planning than coming in at noon. I had to get up at 6:00 am and go to bed early the previous night. I was off on Thursday and Friday so I couldn’t get paid time off from work for going that day. It ruined my days off. I got up on Friday and did a shortened version of my routine. We went directly to the hallway outside the courtroom. I was early but there were already many people there. The bailiff eventually started reading people’s names. I was 85 before and I was still 85. As she read, she gave everyone a group number. I was in group 1. Noticing who had gotten group 1 or 2 around me gave me no clue whether group 1 was good or bad.

The bailiff called group 1 into the courtroom. I wound up in the jury box, which was good because the judge was on my right. I’m always aware of people I need to hear being on my right for my good ear. Once everyone was seated or at least in the room, the judge thanked us and said we were being excused. Apparently, my answers on the last questionnaire were enough. It was all I could do not to jump for joy. I’m sure others felt the same way. Looking at the jurors who were staying, I thought for a second about expressing my condolences to them. I thought better of it. The bailiff gave us all pink jury verification slips. I tried not to look so happy as I passed group 2 in the hallway. When I got outside the courthouse, I called Patti and told her I had a golden ticket, even though it was pink.

I’m sure some readers agree with my adulation at getting out of serving jury duty, but some do not. Patti would love to serve on a jury. She watches enough courtroom dramas and has enough knowledge of the law to be a perfect jury member. My least favorite shows are courtroom dramas, and I defer to Patti with legal questions. They play the video in the jury room, letting you know how important juries are to justice in America. I have conflicted feelings about America on a good day. These recent years have led me to extremely negative thoughts about our current America. Being an impartial juror is not something I can be right now. I don’t know if I can ever be impartial again. Luckily, I don’t have to serve on a jury for at least another year.