Court Reporter

I’m sure both of you have been wondering how things are going down at the courts building, jury-duty-wise.

There’s not a whole lot I can say, but I can give you a couple of snapshots:

1. As someone who has auditioned thousands of times for acting jobs, knowing that many others are also auditioning, I can assure you, even that is less frustrating than sitting for an entire day, in the hopes of working for free.

2. The County of Los Angeles has decided, and they’re probably right to do so, that nobody will listen to what they are told the first time, or properly follow instructions. Complicated matters such as sitting down, reading your form, finding your 9-digit number on that form, and knowing where to go to the bathroom, all had to be repeated numerous times in a silent room with great acoustics. We’ve all watched too much t.v.; we aren’t accustomed to hearing information that takes more than 10 seconds to impart without zippy pictures and a music soundtrack. This requires too much concentration.

3. Nobody, and I mean, NOBODY, wants to do jury duty. The matronly woman, effervescently smiling as she knits, will tell you you’re wearing a lovely shirt, thinks that what you do is fascinating, and hopes to God that she can get the hell out of there.

4. Because of 3, if anyone does find a way out of jury duty, everyone will try to take that path. One poor woman from another country—I can narrow it down to Asia—finally stood up during our orientation and said, “I know unstand??” She was afraid to not show up, but had no idea what we were being told. The clerk directed her to a personal interview, to ascertain whether she knew enough English to sit on a jury. Thirty seconds later, one at a time, 15 different people suddenly came down with “I don’t understand” disease. There was one fellow who got up to say it, and the clerk actually said, “I already talked to you before sir, and I told you, you understand enough to stay.” The fella still got up to complain three more times, then got assigned to a courtroom, where so far, he has claimed to be a crime victim, a convict, an ambassador, a college student, and an employee on maternity leave.

5. If you judge a book by its cover, we, as a society, understand the importance of the Justice system, but wish it would take care of itself. The courtroom I saw was lovely and modern. The initial building of the place showed a certain economy mixed with style and power. But once those good intentions were erected, they are hard to maintain. Now, all the hallways in the building wish they were as nice as those in public schools. All the bathrooms have grafitti etched into the walls and mirrors. These are not prison bathrooms. These are the bathrooms for jurors and the gallery. It’s bad enough that people show the court this kind of disrespect; what’s worse is, knowing you’re about to make decisions about people’s lives, and then going inside to this dingy sliced up bathroom, and getting a twinge in your gut that tells you everyone must be guilty.