Shelby County Jury Duty – My Experience

Two weeks ago I served on Shelby County Jury Duty for the first time ever. Overall it was an incredibly fulfilling, educational and positive experience.

How are names selected for jury service? (This answer comes straight from this website.)

A master list of prospective jurors for Shelby County Jury Duty is compiled from the Tennessee Department of Safety. The list includes all citizens over the age of 18, who have either a driver’s license or a state ID. Your name is electronically and randomly selected from the list of names collected from the master list.

The Jury Summons

I received my Shelby County Jury Duty summons in the mail in November. There was a website on it to which I immediately visited to choose my date. A fellow jury member later told me that his summons came in August 2017 and he had to choose a date the old-fashioned way, by going Downtown to choose a date. There was still an option on my form to go Downtown to choose a week if I wanted to.

Also on the online registration were several general screening questions such as “Are you prejudice towards xyz….” and “Have you been convicted of a felony….” etc.

Arrival Monday

All Shelby County Jury Duty weeks start at 8:30am Monday. I got an email reminder the week before with lots of parking options. (None were free). I chose to park in the St. Mary’s Church lot and chose the “jury duty” option on the machine which was $3.

I thought I left myself plenty of time but by the time I walked into the jury building (across the street from 201 Poplar) at 8:32, the orientation had already begun.

The Jury Pool

I was in a room with about 600 seated people. The orientation lasted 45 minutes. It was very thorough and covered payments, work excusals, parking, dress code. Honestly, Tiffany Kimmons, Jury Coordinator, Shelby County Jury Duty was clever, entertaining, not boring, and told quite a few cute jokes along the way. Everyone was smiling and engaged.

At the end, a judge came to personally thank the pool for their service and gave a little historical background on the importance of a jury trial by peers.

Waiting

In the jury room where we were required to wait, eating and drinking were allowed, you were allowed to come and go to the bathroom, and wifi was there for me to get some work done. There was actually a row of desks at the front specifically for people to get work done on laptops.

About every 30 minutes, a group of 30+ jurors would be called to leave the room and join a jury. By noon, my name hadn’t been called and those of us left were released for a lunch hour. I walked to meet my husband who works downtown. (About $9 lunch.)

The selection

About an hour after I returned from lunch, a group of 30+ jurors was called, including me. I packed up my laptop bag and got in line. The line was marched across the street to 201 Poplar, where we were screened through a metal detector. We entered the door that is only for jurors and court workers, which would be the door I entered the next 2 days.

Next, we were taken to the floor of the courtroom of the judge on whose jury we would sit. There was some waiting outside the courtroom before we were brought into the courtroom.

The group of us was guided into the courtroom by the bailiff, and we sat in the spectator benches of the courtroom. The attorneys and defendant were already seated in their spaces.

The judge then proceeded to give us his own mini-orientation which last about 30 minutes. I assume each judge has the liberty to do this as he pleases. It was a little bit of a review on the importance of a peer jury.

At this point, remember, there were about 30 of us. The judge casually asked, “Is everyone a citizen of Shelby County?” We all nodded. He then asked, “Is everyone an American citizen?” One man raised his hand, “I’m not, I have a green card.” He was dismissed. He probably should have never made is that far. Maybe that should have been caught in the pre-screening online process? I’m not sure. I don’t remember if or when I was asked that.

Narrowing it down

Next, there were 20 of us chosen at random by the judge to sit in the jury box to receive questioning by the attorneys. We were told generalities about the criminal case as the attorneys asked general questions about our opinions towards drugs and law enforcement.

When the questioning was complete, only 1 potential juror was excused for possible conflict of interest, and 5 more “spares” were also excused. This left 14 to hear the case.

We were excused by the judge to return at 1 the next afternoon (Tuesday) when the case would begin. The judge had some other items on his morning docket and would begin our case at that time.

I got home about 5:30 Monday night.

Note about groaning: look, I cannot stress how inconvenient this whole thing was. I had to reschedule meetings that week. I had to find childcare (not reimbursed but mine was free). I had to pay for parking, etc. This might have been a pleasant break in my normal routine if I was, say, younger, single, no kids, not a care in the world. It would feel like a mini break. But, you know, #adulting made this, not gonna lie, very, very inconvenient.

Tuesday

I worked Tuesday morning and left in time to park Downtown. However, the Shelby County Jury Duty parking rate I got Monday was only available until 11am. Since I arrived after, I paid the full $5 rate since I liked that parking location.

I went straight to our jury room and the jurors started getting to know one another. We chatted for probably 45 minutes until the court officer told us the court was ready for us.

Note about my laptop bag: I normally carry it everywhere, to try to squeeze work in when I can. I assumed there would be some downtime and that at the courthouse it would be safe. BUT the court officer told all the ladies to bring their purses with them into the courtroom (and therefore my laptop bag which was a bit….clumsier….than a purse). He said, “the room will be locked but your possessions are not guaranteed to be secure.” By the end of Wednesday, I was so sick of carrying it back and forth to the courtroom that I risked it and left it in the jury room.

We listened to arguments until about 5pm, with one recess. We were provided a notebook to take notes. The courthouse looked just like TV. By the end of Tuesday, both sides “rested” and we knew the case would be decided Wednesday.

We were reminded not to discuss the case at all overnight. I was home by dinnertime.

Wednesday

Wednesday I arrived early enough to get the $3 parking rate at St. Mary’s.

We were to report back to jury at 8:30am. I should note, that, we heard rumors that those who were not called onto a jury by Monday afternoon were dismissed entirely. Also, we had to walk through the same bag scanner and metal detector each time we entered the building. Also, we were to bring or wear our JUROR nametag each day, which was a regular sticker nametag. It was quite tattered by the end of the day Wednesday. I brought coffee (grounds) since our jury room had a coffee maker.

Cannot wait to tell you all about the last three days. #jurysummons #juryduty #shelbycounty #eastmemphismoms #runawayjury

A post shared by Sally F. (@memphismoms) on Feb 7, 2018 at 6:08pm PST

We probably started at 9 to hear closing arguments. We also had been given (in our notebooks) the charge in print. The judge read the charge in its entirety which took awhile. Over 15 minutes. It took less than 2 hours for the attorneys to give their closing arguments.

(At one point during the closing arguments I had to ask the judge if someone could close the door because I couldn’t hear the attorney due to chatter outside. Everyone in the courtroom looked about me sort of shocked that I spoke up but then later in the jury someone told me they were glad I did.)

Then, the bailiff took out this box that someone would use in BINGO calling. I had been staring at it for 3 days wondering what it was doing sitting on the floor. He pulled 2 numbers, and those 2 jurors were dismissed before the decision. (So 14 jurors down to 12.) Those 2 jurors listened to the whole case and didn’t get to help decide the verdict.

We were then dismissed to the jury room. We elected a jury foreman and at that point, I think it was 12 noon. We decided to take a lunch hour. There is a Subway in 201 Poplar that almost all of us went to. I had packed yogurt, but no spoon, and literally could not find a spoon in the building. So I bought Subway. (Lunch was not provided as we were not a sequestered jury.)

I think it then took us an hour or 1.5 hours to decide the verdict. There was a light switch we turned on when we were through, which called the bailiff, and he notified the judge.

We all got along. No one was a bully. Everyone was different ages, colors, professions, etc. I felt like we bonded but we never really exchanged contact information or anything. We didn’t even know each other’s last names.

We went into the courtroom for the judge to read the verdict (but not the sentencing) and were then dismissed. We waited in the jury room for our Shelby County Jury Duty certificates signed by the judge. He came in to sign them personally and chatted with us about the case. We were allowed to ask him anything and though he had to remain impartial during the whole case, he could tell us after that agreed with our verdict.

I was home in time to take to ballet at 2:30.

Frequency and Money

The State of Tennessee says you can be called for jury once every 5 years but Shelby County promises not to call you for Shelby County Jury Duty for 10 years. I will get paid $11 per day but haven’t received a check yet. Remember, I paid $3 + $5 + $3 for parking each day, and also for 2 lunches, so I will have earned maybe $33 – $29 = $4

If you want to read more about the importance of this duty click here.

“Turning the dread of jury duty into a form of enjoyment begins with understanding why jury duty matters. Simply put, it may well be the closest you ever come to the Constitution — not just exercising a right it gives you, but participating in the process through which constitutional rights and values come alive in practice.”

#Murica