Contact FACT Now!Summoned. A personal recount of a Jury member with autism.
Before the New Year had rolled in, my mother had informed me that I had been chosen to participate in a jury in January. I was shocked at first, realizing that I was the legal age to be recruited, but then I eventually decided to go through with it. A few friends of mine had informed me that I could call the court that had summoned me, tell them I had autism, and they would remove me from the list of potential jurors.
I turned down the idea, not only because I didn’t want to use my autism as an excuse to be lazy, but because I didn’t want to miss out on experiencing something new. Getting paid $15 dollars a day while I was still working wasn’t a bad deal either. Before the day was done, I called the courthouse I was appointed to, and confirmed that I would be participating.
About a month later, I reported to the Courthouse in Compton to be appointed to a court room and a case. There were other courthouses much closer to my house, but apparently, if I’m living in a place that is even an inch within the rage of a courthouse, I’m eligible to become a juror there. For a couple of hours, I sat in a room with a large group of other potential jurors. We were given forms to complete, instructed on what we should do for the first day of jury duty, and assigned badges. Afterwards, we were each called in groups, and given a courtroom to report to. I was assigned to courtroom “B” on the ninth floor of the building.
Along with the other jurors, I was seated inside of the room in front of the judge, and briefed on the case I would deliberate on. It was a typical dog-attack case: A pit bull pushed his way out of a wooden fence, and attacked a kid playing in the front yard. The case deciding who was to blame for the attack had already ended in a settlement between the owners of the dog, and the child’s caretakers.
This case was between the dog’s owners, and the California Gas Company. The owners accused one of the gas company’s workers of tampering with the fence, allowing the dog to escape. After we were briefed on the case, we were asked a series of questions that would determine if we would be perfectly impartial jurors. I was part of the few who were chosen to stay on the jury. Afterwards, the court recessed for the day.
For the next few weeks, I’d get picked up by my mom from work at 12:30, get dropped off at the Compton courthouse at around 1:00, grab an energy drink at the nearby gas station to keep me awake while court was in session, arrive outside the courtroom, and wait with the other jurors for the trial to resume. I wasn’t very talkative with the other jurors, save for a young-looking mother who was serving as a substitute juror. Even then, we just conversed for one day. However, I was more sociable when we had to discuss our verdict.
At the beginning of our deliberation, we all unanimously agreed that the gas company was not guilty, but we decided to review the case anyway, just to make sure. I discussed the case with the other jurors, had some real conversations, and even made a few jokes. The deliberation process had a much more relaxed atmosphere than the inside, and even the outside of the court room, so we were able eat snacks and talk frankly about our views of the trial. However, when we returned to the court room, we all found out that the trial had ended in a settlement between the family and the Gas Company. I was a little disappointed at the ruling, but as long as I was getting paid my $15 per day, I wasn’t really bothered. When the trail ended, I did what I did every night when court recessed, go to the Compton library just outside of the court house, and read comic books until my mom picked me up.
My first experience on a jury went well enough, that I actually considered looking for a way to be appointed to a jury without having to be chosen. There is one program that makes you eligible to become a juror for about a year, but I found out that you could be summoned for a trial without warning, so I passed on the opportunity for the moment. Besides, I was proud with myself, seeing that I had gone though my jury summons, and had not run away from it. And that’s something I’ll remember the next time I’m summoned to jury duty.