Behind the scenes at jury duty

Afew weeks ago, the Imperial County Superior Court system sent me a kind invitation to present myself as a candidate for juror in a criminal case whose trial will begin next week.

I’d received a similar invitation in November, which I politely declined. Of course, I was only postponing the inevitable, so when the latest notice arrived, deferment was not an option.

For those of you who have somehow never had the pleasure of jury service, what happens is this: You get a postcard in the mail assigning you a juror ID number and advising you that you may have to report to the courthouse at some point in a specific week. In order to find out if and when that will occur you are required to begin calling or checking online every evening starting the Friday before your week begins to find out if you’ll have to show up in court the following business day. Sometimes the entire week will pass without a summons, but since that outcome isn’t officially counted as jury service, it just means you can look forward to another RSVP invitation from the courthouse relatively soon.

In my case, my number was called, so I had to appear in court the next morning. After arriving very early to work, I went to the courthouse on Main Street to continue the process. After a brief talk, in which they explained the dates and the procedure in general, the judicial authorities asked us to return in the afternoon.

Upon my return, I observed a large number of people who were candidates for the jury. Until then, everything seemed a mere bureaucratic procedure.

However, moments later, when we walked into the courtroom, things began to change. While I had been in court to observe cases that deserve news coverage, I have never had the opportunity to see things from the perspective of jurors. The courtroom, the judge, the officer asking everyone to stand up, the prosecution, the defense and the accused party were all present, like in the movies. Honestly, it was something of an other-worldly experience for me. For the first time, I was part of the real judicial process, unlike anything else that has happened to me in my almost half century of life.

Eventually, Judge Christopher Plourd, with the endorsement of the prosecution and the defense, began to question those present about possible conflicts of various kinds in the case. Some were questioned about possible health problems that could affect their presence at the trial.

There was a case that caught my attention. A young man, who had just been hired in a job expressed concern about how jury service would affect his ability to pay his bills, since his new employer apparently does not pay employees on jury duty. The judge questioned whether this would seriously affect his income during the time of the trial, which the young man acknowledged it would. So the judge decided to excuse him and allow him to return to work.

One of the problems with jury service is that it awards compensation of $15 a day for jurors summoned to court until either they’re excused or the trial is completed. That’s the same rate minimum wage workers would be paid by the hour starting in 2022. So it’s a hardship for many.

On the other hand, those who decide to ignore a summons for jury duty face possible financial penalties of several hundred dollars in fines.

In my case, my employer does provide limited-term compensation for jury service. Plus I was intrigued with the process. I was even more intrigued when I entered the court with the other prospective jurors and learned the case on the docket was one involving a member of the county school board, Annette González-Buttner.

She faces four felony charges in connection to allegations misrepresented her permanent residency when running for the Imperial County Office of Education board of trustees in 2017. González-Buttner, who also chairs the county’s Democratic Committee, has continued to serve on the ICOE board while her case continues, and she recently won a seat on the Imperial Valley College board using the same home address that’s being disputed in this case.

Because I’m a working journalist with previous knowledge of the case, it didn’t take long for the judge to decide I probably wasn’t well suited to be an impartial juror, so I was excused.

I paid my respects to the court and went on my way, albeit with some lingering curiosity about how my continued participation on a jury would have played out.

González-Buttner’s trial is scheduled to begin next week in Brawley.