Just turned on Channel 4 News which seemed to be covering trials, the length of them and if juries can understand their complex nature. As soon as I had turned the television on, it was covering the fact that a trial had to be postponed for a day because a member of the jury’s hearing [...]
The rest of the Commissioner’s Letter Here’s the rest of the Commissioner’s letter from the other day. I was startled to see the fact in the following: The current schedule for ASL interpreters has deaf jurors scheduled one each Monday from now until January 31, 2005. We can only schedule one (deaf juror) per week [...]
Sacramento County, CA Jury Commissioner Letter I had told a friend of mine, another attorney who has a profound hearing loss but is not technically deaf, about my recent and ongoing experience with the Sacramento County call to juror service. She decided to send an inquiry to the Commissioner to see why deaf people have [...]
Taking notes Before the actual trial began, the judge and attorneys let us know that there were notebooks and pens on our chairs so we could take notes during the trial. They said it was up to us as individuals if we wanted to take notes, that some people found it helpful, particularly when there [...]
It must be contagious! As I was walking into my office building this morning, I noticed an interpreter walking toward me. We stopped to say hello and catch up before going to our respective offices. She then informed me that she is on jury duty this week in Sacramento County. I told her of our [...]
Deaf coworker gets a jury summons! Now for a pause in my writings on my own experience as a juror! A deaf coworker stopped by my office this morning to let me know she too had received a summons for jury duty! What a coincidence? However, knowing the Sacramento County jury summons system, I am [...]
My second experience on Jury Duty A few years ago, I received my second notice to show up for jury duty. At that time, I had changed jobs and was working for the state of California. The state allows its employees to serve on the jury and still get their wages during the performance of [...]
Continued: During the voir dire, when the jury pool was being questioned, the attorneys for both sides would ask particular questions to make sure the potential jurors would not be biased or prejudiced during the trial. When the attorneys knew I was a lawyer by training, they asked me if I could make a fair [...]
My First Time as a Juror I received my summons to show up for jury duty in 1993 and postponed the summons several times as our agency did not have a full time Executive Director and I was the acting Executive Director at the time. Finally our agency had a full time ED and I [...]
Hands On TV Program in Ireland I did some ‘googling’ on the Internet to see if stories from other countries pertaining to deaf people and jury duty would surface. One item that showed up was a Jury Duty segment on the Irish program, Hands On. I contacted the folks there and they very kindly gave [...]