The New Jury Duty
I was called to jury duty for King County Superior Court today. I served two years ago, and things have improved markedly since then. The facility has been completely upgraded with comfortable, modern chairs, a well-lit, comfortable environment, and incredibly speedy wifi access (17Mbits/2Mbits unloaded, 11Mbits/2Mbits with about 75 computers in use).
We were directed to report at 8am, and I was here at 7:55. After checking in, I found a seat. At 8:45, they started the introductory video (didn’t have one of those two years ago). It’s really quite informative, and was complete without being tiresome. 20 minutes.
Jurors have to be residents of King County, US citizens, fluent in English, and non-felons (or felons with fully-restored rights).
So here we sit in the jury selection room. I got selected to a jury two years ago, but the defendant plead guilty before Voir Dire was complete. Of course, one thing that hasn’t changed is that there’s a lot of waiting involved (the wifi makes that much more tolerable). I hope they haven’t called too many more people than they need. I think they’re trying to do better.