Electronic Readers and Jury Duty: Do They Go Together?

By Gail Farrelly

Sure, just like love and marriage, and a horse and carriage.   

That's probably what most jurors -- facing boredom, long waiting periods, and inactivity --would say.  After all, one can go to jury duty with a print book, but what if it you finish it, or it bores you, and you just want to dump it?  With an ereader, you can move on to something else if your first choice is a disappointment.   

But the view of jurors isn't necessarily shared by court officials.  Jurors aren't always allowed to bring along their ereaders.   Or, in some cases, ereaders are allowed in general assembly areas for jurors, but not in actual courtrooms.   The rules vary, depending on where you are doing your jury service.   

In my short story, "The Jurors Who Knew Too Much" (recently released by Untreed Reads), I didn't provide my two main characters, sixty-somethings Ike and Lorna, with ereaders.  These two jurors like each other and start hanging out together in the courthouse; but could their relationship develop if they had their heads in ereaders all the time?  I don't think so.   

There comes a point when Ike and Lorna realize they may have some inside information on the crime the defendant is accused of committing.  They're not sure what to do; but one thing I didn't want them doing was turning to their ereaders!   

Although the story is fiction, I did include in it the opinion (the real opinion, that is) of sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer who once noted that jury duty is a “good way to meet men and women, a partner.”  

At the Untreed Reads link to my story you'll also find links to the story at Amazon, Apple, and Barnes and Noble.  Eventually the story will be available at just about anywhere ebooks are sold.  It should also be in the digital collection of the Westchester Library System, but that will take a little time.   

There's a special March sale going on at the Untreed Reads store.  For example, all anthologies and series first are only $.99 each.    

Now -- a parting word about jury duty.  If you serve, please behave yourself.  if you decide to misbehave, don't blame me.   

Hey, remember, "The Jurors Who Knew Too Much" is fiction.     

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About Author Gail Farrelly:  In addition to writing mystery novels and short stories, Gail also publishes satire pieces at TheSpoof.Com, a British website.  Her next book, LOL:  100 Comic Cameos on Current Events, will be published later this year.  She's working on her fourth mystery novel, The Virtual Heiress.