If you’ve ever received a jury summons in the mail, you’ve felt that dread. If you’re like me, you may have even put it off as long as possible. But hear me out. The next time you get one, embrace it. Yes it can be an inconvenience, but I found that serving Massachusetts Jury Duty is an experience everyone should have at least once.
How You Get A Massachusetts Jury Duty Summons
Believe it or not, it’s completely random. Prospective jurors are selected at random from resident lists that are given to the Office of Jury Commissioner (OJC). This is given out every year by each of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. Names are then put into a large database, and randomly shuffled by a computer program. If you’re eligible to serve, you have the same chance of being summoned as anyone else on the jury list with you. This is even if you’ve already served before. So if you’ve ever been summoned several times before other people you know, this is why.
My Experience Getting Seated For Massachusetts Jury Duty
Here’s everything that happened from the time I walked into the courthouse, until I walked out for Massachusetts Jury Duty. My summons was for the Waltham District Courthouse.
- Enter the courthouse and go through a metal detector. I took a seat and waited to be sent to the jury waiting area.
- Handed my completed form over to the court officer, got my juror number (#1), and took a seat as other potential jurors.
- We had the court officers explain the process of the day, got a visit from the judge who thanked and welcomed us, and watched a video about the process.
- We waited.
- I read my book. I’m reading Goodbye Earl: A Revenge Story by Leesa-Cross Smith by the way. SO good!
- Officers came back and told us that the judge would be seating a jury for one case.
- We all sat in the courtroom, heard about the case (an OUI), and were introduced to the lawyers and defendant.
- I was juror #1, so I was the first one called to come up to meet with the judge and lawyers to see if I would be picked to serve. I was, and was seated in seat #1.
- The process continued with some people being seated, and others returning to the jury pool.
- Once seven jurors were seated, the trial began.
I won’t get into all the details of the case for privacy reasons, but I will say that it was a very interesting process. I learned a lot, and took it very seriously. We were all given notebooks and I took about 5 or 6 pages of notes. There were many things that surprised me about being on the jury.
NOTE: Keep in mind that this is based on my own personal experience serving Massachusetts Jury Duty, and your experience could be different.