I would bet that anyone reading this bit has gotten a summons for this civic task and went and did as instructed.

My report day was yesterday June 10. I went early to ensure a good parking spot.Mistake.

The courthouse does not open until 7:30 a.m. So I waited. And waited.

They opened one minute early and all of us went in and began registration. All in one large room awaiting instructions. More questions were asked of me than the last time I pulled jury duty in Texas. I answered all of them and waited.

I asked one of the ladies watching over us as we wrote how long it would take. She learned 20 years ago not to say a word, but she whispered anyway that some of us would be there a day, some for a week,  if  selected.

Then another lady, a judge herself ,came to speak to us and tried to explain lawyer -speak to us. By then, people had been getting up to find and use the restrooms.

I guess she could tell that from facial expressions and people moving about  that after more than an hour people were tired of sitting in hard surfaced, straight backed chairs for that length of time.

We then had juror badges of different colors handed out to us in different colors, coded so we would know when to go upstairs to the actual courtrooms to meet our judge and get his instructions.

We had been told there were 12 person juries and six person juries, I guessed from the division of civil and criminal trials.

I had put “deaf”  on my check in interview sheets and when the judge got to me he asked if one of the attendants had offered any hearing assistance and the person next to me translated what he’d said. He asked me if I would try some out and I agreed.

So we went through the drill.Too soft, then too loud. My head jerked when they tried more volume. The judge was watching and he figured out I would not be able to hear the trial and dismissed me. I thanked him and apologized to my   other empaneled jurors and left.

Getting out was almost as tedious as getting in. The security at Arapahoe county courthouse is tighter than TSA’s at airports. Judges are often targets for various people .

I did not see anyone in handcuffs but I knew I might.I put my belt, shoes , and cap on and made my ‘getaway’.

All that said, I believe all of us have what I would call civic duty, if we can hear or not. Which is why I went and let the judge determine whether I was fit or, if not.

I, like most of us I suspect, would want fair minded people to sit on our jury if we ever went to trial, God forbid. The judge ‘found in my favor’ and I thanked him.

Que le vaya bien, eh?

Lentz