Okay, I've gotten several e-mails asking me to post my court story, so here goes:
I was summoned to serve on April 10th at the 34th District Court. I wrote a letter asking to be excused, or at least defer my service date, due to the fact my baby is still breastfeeding exclusively. I pointed out that she is not able to be fed by any other means right now, not to mention the physical discomfort I would have to endure... To be honest, it only seemed a matter of common sense to me, since this situation is only temporary, and, as I wrote in the letter, I would be more than happy to serve when the nursing no longer posed a hindrance. I called and talked to the lady (Carol) who handle the requests to be excused, and asked her if I should send any supporting documentation, and if so, what kind. I wasn't sure if nursing was considered a "medical condition." She told me to send the letter as is, and if the judge wanted more info he would ask for it. Chad hand-delivered the letter on the 5th, and I called on April 9th for the reply. (It was a holiday weekend.) Carol answered the phone and tersely told me my request was denied, report tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. I was stunned, since I had not even considered they would deny my request. I had made it clear I could not be physically separated from my baby for more than a couple hours, and surely the court didn't mean for me to just starve her for the day. (I have tried giving her bottles, and she just screams her lungs out. There have been instances where I was very ill, and we tried every different bottle/nipple at Walmart to no avail. Trust me, it's not been easy dealing with such a particular eater, but I still thought it was putting her through unnecessary trauma to simply starve her, let her scream for hours, and just hope she could eventually be force fed a bottle. The pediatrician also told me it is very common in exclusively breastfed babies that they will refuse a bottle, and it can take days and a LOT of tears to force them to take one. She recommended I not even try, and just wait till she's old enough to introduce a cup.) ANYWAY, the court was not interested in this, and I was really feeling panicked. I asked Carol, "What should I do? I simply cannot be away from her for the day, should I just bring her with me?" Carol replied, "Sure, if you want to." I asked her, "I can do that? I can bring a baby to court?" She said, "Yes." and hung up on me. I thought this was totally ridiculous, since I didn't see how I was going to be able to serve if I was selected. Did they really mean for me to sit up there in the jury box with a 5-month-old?!?! I didn't see what else to do, so the next morning I packed a bag with diapers, wipes, toys, her blanket and a oatmeal bar and headed to court. I walked in and registered, and the bailiff said nothing to me about the baby. We sat down and waited for everyone to arrive. The judge, Brian A .Oakley, (which none of you in his district had better ever vote for again!) came in, court was in session, and they introduced everyone in the court. This included a VERY rude and arrogant court recorder named Paula. She came in glared at me and Selah, then sat down. The judge asked if anyone needed to be excused for medical reasons. I raised my hand every time, but he always asked someone else. He never did answer me, just moved on. (I was in the second row, I know he could see me.) At this point, Selah made a soft "baaaah, baaah" sound. Those of you who know her can vouch that she talks VERY softly. (Nothing like the shrieks of her older sister!) Paula turned and mouthed to me, "You MUST keep that baby quiet!" Several of the other potential jurors (mostly the women) snickered at this, and gave me supportive looks/eye rolls at her. I just ignored her. I was keeping Selah quiet, and we were still in the selection process anyway. Six names were initially called, and I was not. Hooray! I figured this would be easy enough if I wasn't selected, right? Well, it was a drunk driving case, and one of the jurors was a cop who specialized in training other cops to apprehend drunk drivers. He was cut, and they drew another name - MINE. By now, Selah had fallen asleep, and was completely covered in a blanket. I walked up to the jury box, and the judge said, "I see you have an accessory with you." He didn't seem angry at all, so I just said, "Yes, sir, I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice." They then asked me if I had any moral/personal issues with drinking that would hinder me being fair and impartial. I told them I would follow the law. They asked me a few more questions, and the prosecutor asked for a sidebar. They huddled for a moment, then the judge turned and said, "Mrs. Harvey, you are thanked and excused." (Later the prosecutor told me he had asked the judge to excuse me, so that neither he nor the defense would have to wasted one of their cuts. Neither of them wanted the distraction of a nursing infant in the jury box.) I thanked them and walked out. When I got to the door, the bailiff met me and said the judge wanted me to wait a few minutes in the hall. I asked why, and he said he didn't know. So, I sat in the hall... and waited... about an hour later the rest of the jurors came out. One of them said to me, "They have a jury, we can leave now!" I gathered up my stuff, but figured I'd better double check with the bailiff. He was coming toward me and said, "Sorry, but the judge said to wait a few more minutes." I politely told him that's what they had said over an hour ago, and he offered to ask the judge for a definite time frame. (The bailiff, Bruce, was very kind, although I think he knew more than he was telling me all along.) He came out a few minutes later and apologetically told me to wait a few more minutes. I was fast learning that a few more minutes was a lie, so I settled back into the chair in the hallway. Selah needed to eat, so I asked if I could go back in the courtroom, and Bruce told me I could wait either in the courtroom or in the hallway. (The back of the courtroom was the only private place I could see to nurse.) I saw the prosecutor and asked if he knew why the judge was holding me, and he said he thought I was an alternate juror. This seemed odd to me, since I had been sitting out in the hallway and missing all the testimony up to this point. I went into the courtroom in the back row and nursed Selah. She zonked out again, and I watched the proceedings. The defense moved for a mistrial, and the judge dismissed the jury to another room. I asked Bruce if I should leave, and he said I didn't have to. BINGO - I clearly was NOT an alternate juror. I then realized that I was just being held at the judge's whim. I sat and watched the proceedings for another hour or so, and then Selah sat up. I gave her a cloth book to play with, and I saw the judge say something to Bruce. He came back and told me I had to stay in the hallway, and again I asked why I was being held. I said, "Is this about the baby? I wrote the judge and explained my situation!" He shook his head, "You're fine, you're fine, don't worry about it. It will just be a few more minutes." I just sighed and sat down. One of the expert witnesses came out and talked with me while the lawyers were scrambling to find some past case on the Internet... He said he couldn't believe the judge was holding me, and that he didn't see why he didn't just excuse me. I was in tears at this point, but there was nothing I could do. I waited a couple more hours, pacing the hallway to keep Selah pacified and telling everyone that walked by that I was being held by Judge Oakley and had no idea why. Everyone was kind and sympathetic, but everyone also pointed out that a judge can do whatever he wants. I asked the bailiff if I could get something to eat. I had arrived at 9:00 in the morning, and it was now almost 2:00 p.m. He told me to go to Burger King, down the street, but as I was gathering the diaper bag he came back out and said, "I'm sorry, you'll have to stay here. You don't want to make the judge angry. Don't worry, it'll only be..." You can guess the rest. I had forgotten my cell phone, and I only had enough change to make about 3 phone calls. I called Chad's cell to tell him the situation and ask him to call a lawyer. (I had no idea how long I was going to be there, and I wanted to make sure it was legal for me to be detained. The lawyer told Chad the judge could keep me as long as he wanted.) Selah was hungry again, but I wasn't allowed back into the courtroom. I didn't want to nurse her on the uncomfortable "waiting room" style chair I had been relegated to in the hall, so I went to Collections and asked if there was a room where I could nurse. She didn't even look up at me and said, "You can use the bathroom or the office here." Okay, a courtroom BATHROOM?!?!?!? Disgusting!!!! And the "office" was a room right in the middle of the waiting room with floor to ceiling glass walls. I did not particularly want to be on display for all the thugs and other less than savory characters sitting there, so I asked her if she could PLEASE find anywhere else where I wouldn't be on display. She sighed and put me into the witness holding room next to the courtroom, a room where there was a steady stream of traffic by the prosecutor and the witnesses. I crouched in a corner in a metal folding chair and tried to stay as covered as I could. The bailiff, Bruce, popped his head in, and told me he was going to get me some food from Burger King. I was crying my eyes out and pretty upset at this point, so I couldn't even eat what he brought me. (Although I thought it was a nice gesture.) One of the witnesses let me use her cell phone and I called Chad back to tell him that the trial looked like it was going to take a while, and I still had not been told why I was being held or for how long. He told me he would come to the court when he could, but it would be a few more hours. Selah fell asleep again, and I sat in there until she woke up. I then went back to the hallway to pace with her, and dug around my purse diaper bag to find more quarters to call Chad. By now I was exhausted, emotionally drained, and sick of being ignored. I was on the pay phone with Chad when I saw Paula, the nasty court recorder. She stood there and glared at me, so I assumed she wanted to talk to me. I got off the phone with Chad, and walked out. She said, "The judge is releasing you. If you want an explanation, you can choose to wait here for the remainder of the trial and talk to him when the trial is over." Yeah right. I said, "Can you give me a hint?" She gave me a disgusted look, and said, "This was because you did not come prepared to serve on a jury. The judge can empanel you and call Child Protective Services to take your baby if he chooses." I felt like she had punched me in the stomach. I said, "I don't know what you're talking about. What does empanel mean?" She said, "He can force you to sit on a jury. You can't get out of it by bringing a baby, we can just have Child Protective Services take the baby away from you." I said, "I didn't bring the baby to get out of it! I wrote him a letter..." she interrupted me, "He reviewed your letter and denied your request. It was then up to you to make the preparations necessary to serve." I was getting VERY upset by this point, "What preparations!??! How do you prepare your baby to starve for a day!?" She just waved me off, "I don't want to discuss this with you, you can wait and talk to the judge. It is against the law to bring the baby to a jury summons." I told her that there was nothing on any of my paperwork that prohibited it, and was about to tell her about Carol TELLING me to bring her when she interrupted again and said, "Well, you should have enough common sense to know better than to bring her with you. Anyone smart enough to know wouldn't bring a baby to a court." I then finished what I was saying, "... not only was it not prohibited in the paperwork I had, I was not questioned about it when I arrived, by the judge when I sat on the jury, and was IN FACT TOLD TO BRING HER by a woman named Carol." By the time I finished she was already walking away. She yelled over her shoulder, "I'm not arguing with you - talk to the judge." I called back, "No, YOU talk to Carol. I was doing as I was told." I then decided to leave ASAP, before this very pleasant individual caused me more trouble. I went to one of the officers guarding the door and asked if there was a phone I could use if I was out of money. (Most of them recognized me and had been nice to me my whole time there.) I called Chad to tell him I was leaving, and looked up at the clock - it was 3:07. I had been there for just over 6 hours. I got home, and promptly when straight to bed. I was just so emotionally drained. It is so hard to just sit and sit for hours holding a squirmy 5-month-old, not knowing why and for how long you are being held! And it's even worse to get home and, after doing some research, realize that the judge was perfectly within his legal rights, even to the point of forcing me to serve and taking away Selah. Can you believe this?!?! In fact, there are some other stories, much worse than mine, at this link:
http://www.familyfriendlyjuryduty.org/HallOfShame/HallOfShame.htmIf you look on the left at the site, there are some stories specific to Michigan. I found out that there was a bill they were trying to pass exempting nursing mothers, but it was defeated. They can actually even force you to wean!!!! I was shocked to find this out, and am truly appalled that Michigan law does not protect the most vulnerable citizens - nursing infants.
