Social Commentary: Jury Duty

Photo: SCOTUS F. LoBuono

To serve or not to serve. That is the question.

Shakespeare . . . Ed Shakespeare

The dreaded notification came on my birthday, April 26th, of all days! "Dear Juror" was the salutation. Followed by; "You have been selected for jury duty, welcome". It went on to explain how my participation was essential in preserving one of our most important guarantees as a citizen; the right to trial by one's peers. It continued to soothe the shock of the impending commitment by recognizing that "jury service can be burdensome" and may interrupt our personal and business lives. This introductory statement was signed by the Rockland County Commissioner of Jurors, Patricia A. Zippilli.

I must say that it was well written, informative, and empathetic. It certainly helped to ease the initial shock of getting the summons. But just when I was feeling all gushy inside about my civic duty, I went to the back page of the summons to find, in bold letters, all capitals, ATTENTION JURORS: THERE ARE NO EXEMPTIONS FROM JURY SERVICE. Wow. That was pretty direct! You may have one postponement but must serve after that. Since I had already used one postponement and THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS, I read the directions of what I must do to serve on my assigned day, Monday, May 23rd.

I arrived at the Rockland County Court house about 15 minutes before the report-in time of 9:30. Just for a change, it was raining (ha, ha!). I waited on a fairly long line to pass through the security magnetometer only to discover I forgot the book I planned on reading in the car. Well, too late for that. I'd have to pass the down time there was bound to be in deep thought.

When I entered the large, 2nd floor jury room, it was already filled with people. What I noticed was interesting AND reassuring; there were people of every imaginable size, shape, color, ethnicity, and economic make-up in the room. And they were all waiting to ultimately see what their fate would be. Would they be called to serve? Or would they be dismissed with little inconvenience? The only other time that I was called to serve on a jury, I experienced the latter. I reported to the marshaling area but was not even called as a possible juror. I was only there for a few hours and was then sent home, free of any obligation.

Despite the obvious inconvenience of being there when you could very easily be somewhere else, doing something important to you, I must admit that I was kind of excited to be there. It IS an important service and, like voting, involves personal involvement in the democratic process. If I would be lucky enough, perhaps, it would be an involved case with intricate and challenging details. Besides, I am always looking for new challenges and experiences and this was one that I had never had before. I was also hoping that because I don't start my regular work shift until 4 p.m., I would be able to serve without major disruption of my work schedule. This was of major importance because as a freelancer, NO WORK - NO PAY. But, hell, I was READY to do my patriotic duty!!

Commissioner Zippilli was on hand to welcome everyone and give instruction as to how we would be processed. She was a petite woman with a "little girls" voice to match. But she had a bright and acerbic wit that she used to keep the process moving along. While she collected the forms we filled out upon entering the room, a video explaining the importance of jury service and what we might expect if we were actually called upon to serve was playing on a large screen in front of the rooom. It was interesting and informative. I only had one issue with it: one of hosts was Ed Bradley, formerly of "60 Minutes". He's been dead for years now. The other host was Diane Sawyer from her days with CBS. She's been with ABC for years. Ah, let's get with the program!

After the video, I was called along with about 40 others into a separate room where the final selection process would take place. We would be interviewed for our suitability by the lawyers who would be arguing their case before 8 jurors of their choosing. Before this final process, we were once again thanked for our attendance by a judge and the lawyers for the defendant and the plaintiff. The basic process was again explained and importance of the service emphasized. It was all very civilized. The first 8 perspective jurors were chosen by having their names picked out of a rolling "cage" (like a game of Bingo). The rest of us waited patiently and followed the process.

The case itself was a civil one involving medical malpractice. The plaintiff, the family of a young man who died of cancer, was suing the 2 doctors who treated him for medical negligence that led to his death prematurely. Each set of lawyers would look for people who could not only be fair (as they explained over and over again!) but without any preconceived prejudices for or against the medical profession. Obviously, it would be an emotional case involving the death of a 47 year-old man, his family, and the doctors who claim to have done their best to treat him.

The lawyers' questioned each person in a way as to weed out those they felt were not best to sit in judgement of this particular case. At first the questions were obvious: "Do you know anyone involved in the case. Have you ever been involved in a malpractice law suit", etc. They also gave people the option to discuss sensitive issues with them out of the room and in a more private setting. These issues may have included a bad experience with a doctor in the past that would lead them to have an issue with doctors in general. I would never really know because all of the consultations were done in private! :)

Anyway, what I do know is that after the first few people were dismissed after these private consolations and were replaced by others from the jury pool, more and more people were requesting these private consultations. And after everyone of them, that person was dismissed. They may have said that "they don't like vanilla ice cream" for all I know as an excuse! All I do know was that they were dismissed, never to have to come back (or for 4 years anyway)! It became painfully obvious that this was the way to get dismissed and get your life back.

There were more consultations, more names selected, and more rejections. Lunch came and went. Still they could get no more than 6 people deemed as suitable. The afternoon was no different. They kept spinning the wheel of fortune and people kept asking for a private consultation. Eventually, by 3 p.m., there were only 3 of us who had not been called and they still needed 2 more jurors. Much to my amazement, they called the other two people. I had not been this lucky in a lottery since I was assigned #258 in the draft lottery of '73! I was free and clear until, you guessed it; both asked for, and received, private consultations! Bingo!! Dismissed!

Well, that left yours truly as their last, best hope. It was my moment of truth. To serve, or not to serve. I was so ambivalent. I wanted to do my duty and the case itself sounded so interesting. But I was also disgusted by what I had seen. It became obvious to me that people intentionally made up these petty situations so they could be dismissed. There was also the factor that we were told the trial would last 2 weeks, with me potentially losing that much work. I decided to compromise: I would ask for a private consultation, too, tell them the truth as I see it, and then let the chips fall were they may.

The lawyers and I went into the hallway next to the room where I told them how I felt about doctors and hospitals: I hate doctors and hospitals. It's a self serving industry that over-prescribes and over-medicates far too frequently. My father died in the care of a hospital that, in fact, DIDN'T care. I haven't even been to a doctor in over 10 years. I eat well. Exercise, and have good genes. I don't need no sticking doctors (or something like that). The lawyers looked at me, jaws agape and, after composing themselves, said, "thank you Mr. LoBuono, your services as a juror will not be needed".

One of the court clerks then took my form back and handed me a note of service, basically saying that I had done my duty for King and Country and that I would not be needed for another 4 years. It was 3 p.m. and I made my shift in NYC. I guess discretion IS the better part of valor.