FLDS: Relief registers with those passed over for jury duty
 
By TRISH CHOATE
San Angelo Standard-Times
 
SAN ANGELO, Texas — ELDORADO — Nearly 140 Schleicher County residents were exonerated from jury duty this week.

Fist pumps and cries of "Yes!" broke out Wednesday when 51st District Judge Barbara Walther released 46 prospective jurors the long arm of the law had put away in her makeshift courtroom in the Eldorado Memorial Building. A jury was selected, and they weren’t on it. "Yes!"

The minutes, hours and, eventually, two and a half days had ticked by during jury selection. Without a book, a magazine and certainly not a newspaper, prospective jurors, forbidden to leave the room, were left to entertain themselves. For a while, it was the perfect chance to catch up with fellow Schleicher County residents.

Eventually, out and out boredom took over.

Eyelids drooped, foreheads floated down to rest on the backs of hard folding chairs, and the 4-by-8-inch blue cards with black numbers burdening each prospective juror became about the most interesting thing around.

Besides the ceiling with 10 buzzing fans, the hardwood floor or the three walls and one folding divider forming their cell.

One man had it beat Tuesday.

He was playing with a deck of cards.

A Texas Ranger eyeballed the contraband and confiscated it, exercising skills learned as a member of an elite force to quell the insurrection.

By Wednesday, a potential juror spotted balancing her 4-by-8 inch card on her forehead had just about had enough.

"You can’t leave when you want to," she said. "You can’t take a break when you want to."

Upon winning freedom, the woman and a female member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints patted each other on the back in mutual congratulation on the way out the door.

On Monday morning, a bathroom break wasn’t even a possibility until the bailiff, informed of developing dire circumstances, unlocked a combination men’s and women’s bathroom in a back corner: one stall and two urinals.

Immediately, at least a dozen women fell into line. Ladies first, or else.

The options included two portable bathrooms standing at attention on the lawn near the Memorial Building as well as limited facilities in the nearby Schleicher County courthouse.

Walther, aware of the growing unrest, rotated groups of possible jurors in and out and told the attorneys to show up early for conferences in her chamber.

Still, a collective groan rippled through the room Wednesday when they saw it was happening again: a conference in the judge’s chambers.

The conference was mercifully short, about 10 minutes, compared to the way jury duty began Monday: two hours of mysterious behind-closed-door conferences in the judge’s chamber.

Freed to walk in the sunshine Wednesday, several prospective jurors declined to comment.

The ordeal was over. It was time for lunch.

Standard-Times Staff Writer Matthew Waller contributed to this report.

choatet@shns.com, (202) 408-2709
 
gosanangelo.com
Originally published October 28, 2009
 
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