Jury duty - the whole story

Monday I didn't have to go in, so it was life as normal.

Tuesday I missed having to go in by 3 numbers.

Wednesday my number was on the list, so I had to report. I dressed very respectably for court. I decided to go with a purple sweater dress, black leggings, and my brown leather winter boots since it snowed Tuesday night. I also decided that my long brunette wig would be the hair of choice for my jury duty. I didn't have to go in until 11:30 since they started late due to the snow.

When I got there, I went to the wrong entrance and the guard pointed me to the jury entrance (they should have had signs at the main entrance to tell us where it was). Once I made it to the right entrance I went up to the window and handed the lady at the desk my jury notice and my drivers license. I had my TG ID card handy just in case it was needed. To my surprise, she didn't even think twice about it and simply checked me in. She wrote the code to the restroom door on my badge and went to put it in one of those plastic holders that you clip on your shirt and stopped. She printed a fresh tag and put that in the holder and handed me the one with the code written on it. I didn't think much of it at the time and put the one with the code in my purse.

I went into the jury waiting room and joined the 50 or so jurors who were already there and found a seat and took out my magazine to read. I didn't see a single off glance or anything. In fact, nobody paid me any more attention than they would anyone else. After a little while they started calling jurors by first name and # to go in for a case. This was it, everyone was going to know I was a guy when the lady called "Joseph" and I answered but I was ready for it. As the jurors dwindled, there were 3 of us left at the end and she hadn't called us. We had to go to the window where we checked in so they could figure out what happened. It seems that one of us wasn't supposed to report that day and the other 2 of us were supposed to be in the first group of jurors called, but our names were missed for some reason (we were on the list for the judge). The lady called over to the court (it was in a separate building) and told them she had 2 more jurors headed over. We (me and another lady) walked over to the courtroom together and chatted while we walked. I don't think she suspected a thing.

We made our way into the courtroom and took a place near the back as things got started. They started by dealing with the people who said they had some hardship and wanted to be excused. About 10 jurors were excused. Next they gave us all a questionnaire to answer. It was things like did we serve on a jury before, did we know anyone in law enforcement, etc. Then they started calling jurors one at a time to get more information and seat them in the jury box (after going over the questionnaire answers with the judge and attorneys). The order seemed to be totally random from what I could tell. It was not in juror # order, name order, or any other order I could find.

As we were going through things, I glanced at the other juror's badges and that was when I noticed that mine was different. All of them had just a 4 digit restroom code on theirs. Mine had "L"and a number "/" "M" and a number. The lady that checked me in had given me the codes to both the mens' and ladies' restrooms.

Since this was a criminal trial, there would be 12 jurors + 2 extras. As they seated jurors, each had to tell a little about themselves. I started thinking of what I was going to say - hobbies, family, etc. By the time the day was done around 4:45pm, they had 14 jurors in the box and about 30 alternates in the pool still. The next morning the attorneys would get their chance to excuse jurors, so it was still anyone's guess as to who would remain.

Thursday morning I need to be there at 9am. I went with dark jeans and a brown pullover top with my brown boots. On the way to court, there was a major accident and I barely made it on time. It seems that several other jurors were also caught behind the accident and had called in and ran much later than me, so I didn't feel so bad.

While we waited, I chatted with an older lady who had sat down next to me in the waiting area. Again, no indication that she suspected anything. When we were finally called in (as a group this time, no names since we knew which judge we were with), we all headed over to court. Eventually, one by one the pool shrunk and more jurors went away. It got down to the point where there were 4 of us left in the pool and the attorneys were finally satisfied with the jury. I was kind of bummed that my number hadn't been called because I was so waiting for the reactions when they called my legal name and I stood up. A few times they called a number a few away from mine and I started to get excited until I heard that last digit called. I guess that is just the luck of the draw. The 4 of us who were left went back to the jury assembly and were told we were done. It was time to go home.

I may not have made it to the jury box, but I did my civic duty and a whole bunch of people got to see a cross dresser up close, even if they didn't realize it. Oh well, maybe next time. I posted pictures of what I wore on my blog.