One day last November I went out to the mail only to find that I was sent a Jury duty summons and was to show up for my service Nov. 3rd, the same day that I and my siblings were to lay my father to rest. Needless to say I had to call to reschedule the jury duty in which they did and I had showed up this week, Monday morning.
Jurors are to be in place by 8AM and you first have to pass through a security check point just as you would the airport, and like the airport off goes the shoes,belts etc. Once I passed the security up to the 3rd floor I go to sit with a few hundred others waiting for instruction. We were all first shown a short movie about what to expect once we were in the court room. Next the court clerk told us that there were only 2 cases that needed jurors which was highly unusual for a Monday morning. They started calling numbers, about 60 and had everyone line up in numerical order ....I am not chosen for that group, and based on my number
I am sure I will be in the next group. About an hour goes by and again they start calling out numbers but this time they took a whole other sequence of numbers and I'm thinking.....only 2 cases now they have both covered and I will be going home soon.
Just about that time the court clerk started to tell us they just put up another case and you guessed it ...I'm in the next group of people to go in the court room. This time they lined us all up and had a Marshall come over to tell us that this was a criminal case and could be as long a a 6 month duty. Now I really didn't mind doing a week of jury duty but up to 6 month????
Once in the court room the Judge started explaining the case to us and what was expected of us, we were all sworn in and seated. I was one of the 24 seated in the jury box. The judge then went one by one down the line asking us all a series of questions. After we all answered his questions he asked if there was anyone who thought they would not be able to serve and why. A few people were let go at this point. Now it was time for the lawyers to start asking questions to the jury and making notes on what everyone had said this process took another hour and we were sent out of the court room for them to make a decision on who they wanted to make up the jury for this case, luckily I was not chosen. All in all the process was very smooth and everyone was really nice and the judge really put everyone at ease making jokes during the process. The worst part about it was the parking, they expect you to park 4 blocks away which doesn't sound that far but our blocks in Las Vegas can be very long. I decided not to park in the pre paid parking area and parked across the street in the metered parking lot.
