When the letter arrived from the County of Lehigh, I knew what it was before I opened the envelope: a jury summons. Like many people, I had mixed feelings about jury duty. Most of us would rather not have our normal routines interrupted by a day, or several days, spent at the courthouse.

I have received a jury summons several times. Once, I spent a boring day in a waiting room and was not called into a courtroom for jury selection at all. Another time I was excused from service after I wrote on my summons reply, “Mother of infant triplets.” And once, I served on a jury in a two-day criminal trial.

While irritated by the inconvenience, I have to say I am, nonetheless, honored to serve. The alternative would be to live in a country where the fate of a criminal or civil defendant is in the hands of an individual who just might be corruptible.

Article 3 Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution ensures every citizen the right to a trial by jury and specifies the trial should be a speedy one. The annoyance of making up for missed work at the office, driving into the city, finding parking and not knowing how many days the service might take are all, to me, worth the effort in order to preserve this important aspect of our freedom and the American way of life.

The first date of service I was summoned for this year was in July, during a week my office would be understaffed because of scheduled vacations. I wrote this on my reply to the summons and was rescheduled for an August date.

Entering the juror’s waiting room at 8:30 a.m., I found the staff there to be very friendly, informative and helpful. About a hundred of us filled every chair in the room, with some standing along the walls. Many had brought books to read to pass the time.

Two trials were scheduled for that day, we were told – one civil, one criminal. Judge James Anthony came into the room briefly to introduce himself and thank us for our service. He would be presiding over the criminal trial.

After he left, we were separated into two groups and assigned individual juror numbers. Half would go to jury selection for the civil case, and they filed out of the room. My half would go to the criminal court. But first, we would fill out a questionnaire that included questions about our job, our spouse’s job, our residence and education and our ability to remain objective when faced with a number of different circumstances.

Then the waiting began. Judge Anthony had some arraignment hearings to preside over first. And then the lawyers for the prosecution and the defense had to review the questionnaires and prepare for juror selection. It was 11 a.m. when we finally stepped into the courtroom and learned that the trial we were to be selected for was that of Ulysses Rodriquez, charged in a homicide.

The assistant district attorney and the defendant’s lawyer described what the court case would be about and then asked us many questions to help them determine who might have the background and ability to sort out the facts of the case without bias toward their hoped-for outcome.

The process was tedious. When the questioning was finally completed, the defense and prosecution teams spent a long time crossing juror candidates off the list of over 50 names, a couple at a time, passing the list back and forth and at times conferring with the judge. It would be more than three hours before the final selection of 12 jurors and two alternates was made.

I was not one of them.

I would like to sincerely thank the 14 who were selected for the sacrifice they made last week. They served four long days and reached an agreement, bringing to Mr. Rodriquez a verdict by his fellow citizens.

I would also like to thank the court employees who kept us informed about the process and made the juror selection go as painlessly as possible. I am sure they continued to support the selected jury during their remaining service as well.

As always, this juror experience, like voting during elections, reminds me of the responsibility the U.S. government has placed in our hands as citizens.

I hope all of you take this responsibility seriously and with gratitude.

Linda

Wojciechowski

associate editor

Catasauqua Press