A Brush with Jury Duty

I wanted to share an amusing little story from my recent brush with civic duty: my call to jury duty. It's been quite a while since I last found myself in a courtroom as a prospective juror. This time, I was sent to Airway Heights Municipal Court, just east of Spokane. The case on the docket was a serious one (an abandonment of a child case) so we all paid close attention.

As we settled in, the judge ran through the standard courtroom formalities about the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof. Then she started with the usual qualifying questions. When she asked, "Is anyone here under 18?" of course no one raised their hand since we we were all clearly adults.

Then came a more pointed question: "Do any of you have any experiences with law enforcement that might affect your perspective on this case?" I raised my hand and explained that I was a former police officer who served with the Spokane PD for over five years. I mentioned that it had been about 20 years since I left the department, and while some of my former colleagues were still on the force, others had retired.

The judge asked me if I felt I could remain fair and impartial despite my background. I assured her that yes, I absolutely could, especially since it had been two decades since I wore the badge (Good Lord, time flies!).

Here’s the funny part: after I said I could be impartial, the defense attorney leaned over to his client and whispered something. The client eyed me, frowned deeply, and shook his head. The defense attorney promptly crossed my name off his list. So even though I said I could be impartial, my brief history with law enforcement was enough to have me excused right then and there.

So that’s my jury duty tale. Sometimes our past follows us into the jury box, and it gets us out of serving before we even start. Hope it gave you a little chuckle.