`Firecracker' Approach To Ease Trials Of Jury Duty -- `One Day ... In, Then Bam, You're Out'

PROSPECTIVE JURORS for King County Superior Court no longer will face a two-week "sentence." Starting this fall, those called to jury duty will know on the first day if they'll be sitting in judgment. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Wait. Read. Knit if you know how. Watch the beginning of "Sister Act," selected for its innocuous content and easy-to-follow comedic nature.

Wait. Go to a courtroom. Learn the definition of voir dire (the screening process the courts use to choose juries). Be questioned, most likely be rejected. Return to assembly room in time for next showing of "Sister Act." Repeat for two weeks.

Jury duty.

For most people this seems like a two-week sentence in a torture chamber. It interferes with everything - work, school, taking care of the kids. The pay is terrible, only $10 a day, and many employers aren't willing to pay employees during jury service.

But King County Superior Court administrators are hoping to change that this fall with a new "one day, one jury" policy. Jurors will serve for one day and if they aren't selected for a jury, they go home. No more waiting.

"We call it the firecracker jury. One day you're in, then bam, you're out," said Thomas Munsterman, a jury-system expert hired by the county as a consultant.

Judge Michael J. Fox, chairman of the county's jury committee, said the court hopes to bring more diversity to juries by diminishing the financial burden on service and adding holders of driver's licenses and state identification cards in the jury pool.

"That allows us to go beyond voter lists. The experience in other parts of the country has been that racial minorities are underrepresented in terms of voting," Fox said.

The new policy will mean replacing the antiquated selection system - picking names out of a box - with a computerized system. It will be the first change in the procedure since 1860, Fox said.

Starting in November, notices will be sent out with bar codes on them. The staff will wave an electric wand over the codes to take attendance, then let a computer pick jurors.

While jury duty may be a less painful experience under the new policy, it does increase everyone's chance of being subpoenaed. Although King County subpoenas about 850 people each week now, only 250 to 300 turn up to serve. The others? Many are granted exemptions, some just ignore the notice - and the law. But as jury supervisor Judy Rutledge pointed out, the sheriff does have more important criminals to pursue.

Under the new policy, the court will have to summon three times more people and increase staff size to handle larger orientations.

Plans to change the system have been under way since December 1991, but this year's special appropriation of $100,000 from the county government will pay administrative costs for the changeover.

Despite the days of tedium, some people in the jury assembly room recently weren't happy to hear about the upcoming changes.

Paul Bailey, a minister at the Burien Church of Christ, agreed that it hadn't been easy to leave his church for two weeks. But he said there are advantages to the current system.

"Going into two or three different court rooms you get much more of a sense of how the justice system works. It's been a good experience."