I Survived Jury Duty in Montana. Here’s How it Went!
You may have heard that I was summoned for jury duty. I don't know anybody that WANTS to have jury duty. But you either go or you can get fined up to $1,000 and up to three days in jail. So I appeared, on time, at the Shrine Monday with about 80 other good citizens of Yellowstone County.
This was the first time that I'd ever had to go. All the trials I had been called to before were canceled the night before the trial.
Not this time.
For this gathering, they drew twenty-seven names to come on down and sit up front. And from those twenty-seven the attorneys from both sides will pick twelve jurors and one alternate.
All twenty-seven of us were asked at least two questions. And some of the other potential jurors were asked a few more questions. And none of those folks were picked. Also, one guy was excused because his pregnant wife was going to be induced the next day. Thus, excused.
Then they take a break and come back and select 12 jurors and one alternate. I was picked third. This would be my first time being on a jury.
And as much as I hated to be there, I did learn a lot about the process that I had no idea about beforehand.
The next two things I learned were you can't wear shorts when you're a juror and the trial we'd be watching started about three hours after we were picked. Okey dokey.
So we heard about 2 1/2 hours of testimony Monday. It all wrapped up mid-morning yesterday.
I'm glad that it wasn't a longer trial.
And I was told that the twelve of us picked for this jury won't be called again during this eligibility period will be summoned again. But I don't know if that's true or not.
But I did my civic duty.