Hall of Justice

I was summoned last month December 8^th to be exact.
I’ll have to be honest, I was a bit intimidated when I first entered but the whole process was quite smooth.
You walk in, pass security and to the right would be the jury seating area. You’re greeted by a cheery gentleman that gives you the 3 items you need as a juror and wait til you watch the same video about how important you are as a juror. After that a mini break then the pre screening process starts. This day was prescreening for 2 week trials. Eeeek! So of course you’re assigned to a court room where the attorney, prosecutor and the judge get to ask you questions about you and to see if you’re a good fit for the case.
This wasn’t a quick process by any means. For me I was dismissed after a day and half but you are kept informed throughout and everyone seemed to be willing to lend a helping hand with questions
If you have to do jury duty anywhere it might as well be here

Jury duty! Took the trolley from old town, arrived at 730AM, check in is at 745AM. Btw if you take the trolley your cost will be $ 7 not $ 5, they charge you an extra $ 2 for a «compass card». You’ve got to walk through a metal detector, put your bag through a scanner along with your jacket and belt, but you can bring a coffee in with you. In the back corner there are three items that you have to pick up. There are cushioned seats at the front, a few power outlets around the outer walls. I chose to sit in the quiet room on the left hand side when you first walk in by the bathroom and vending machines. The quiet room has two outlets and four desks with chairs. Speakers over head let us know about announcements in the other room, but we can see the projector for the viedo. Some officials tell us how to fill out our paper work. They play a video explaining jury duty and a couple speakers come up and talk to us. When all that is done they give you the Wi-​Fi password :). In the first hour they called up people who didn’t fill out their paper properly. We were then given a 20min break. I grabbed a snack out of the vending machine. The machines take nothing above a dollar bill, quarters and the soda machine takes credit cards. Next they called three groups of 20+ people to go to Jury selection. For the rest of us not called, we waited around until lunch at 1130AM. We got a 2 hour break for lunch. The weather is not the best so I stayed in the court house. Many people left to get lunch. I ate at the subway in the court house. Netflix was very handy for the duration of my wait. If you don’t bring a computer or tablet, bring a book or something that will keep you busy for the hours of waiting.
Over all it was very well organized, the workers are friendly and helpful.
Hope that some of this helps you plan out your day if you get jury duty.

Despite the negative reviews on this page, my experience here was pretty awesome! I would actually love to be a juror again. It was way back in March when I got picked and the case lasted for 8 days. I met some cool people and the judge who handled the case is the oldest one in San Diego and also probably the goofiest and the coolest. Love that guy! I drove and parked the first couple of days then decided to take advantage of the free bus passes the rest of the time. There’s a $ 12 underground all-​day parking right behind the Spreckels Theater in the Spreckels Building. I believe it’s on Broadway Circle. There’s a wide selection of food places around but if you’re like me who wants to keep her money in her pocket then you can bring your own packed food from home and hang in the jury lounge. A lot of other jurors actually do this too. And also before I forget… don’t bring any glass water containers and metal forks inside as these are potential deadly weapons and will be confiscated once detected by the x-​ray machine!

After getting my California license (switching from NY — goodbye NY!) in March, I should have known I would get picked. As I am usually «that lucky.» To be honest, it was not too bad. I made small talk with the other poor souls who got picked and most of the time we were just all staring at our phones or such when we first walked in.
Walking into the big room where everyone was getting seated and if you walk straight in towards the end you just need to grab a sheet or two (one for work to clock in) and just following instructions. Definitely should bring the mail you got which told you, you have jury duty. They gave out any necessary transport cards that could be used for the day. The next thing you had to do was just listen for your name whenever they stated announcing for people to go to specific courtrooms. Be prep. to bring stuff besides a cell phone. There are limited outlets located around. For that, I just followed the group of people who seemed to know where they were going.
For parking I just asked a family member to drop me off and pick me back up. Public observer was not too bad. And you get to find out if you are really a biased person depending on whatever case you walk into.

Clean, secure, open to the public. I came here on a take-​your-​friend to work day and got to experience a joint in motion.
Turn off your phones and leave your weapons at home. Hope I don’t ever have to be on the other end of things (unless I go thru a career change and go into law), but as a public observer, it was interesting.
Bathrooms are clean, street parking will challenging, but I’ll be back… Because actually being on the floor of the courtroom is more interesting than what’s on TV.

This review is an account of my first experience with jury duty in San Diego ‘proper’ — in North County, I went to the courthouse, but was always sent home by noon. Not so this time!
I was summoned to appear on a Thursday, and decided to take a Lyft so I wouldn’t have to worry about parking. Once inside, you go through a fairly lax security line where the officers are much more pleasant than at the airport. The jury lounge is to the right, and this is where many people’s jury service ends. But not before watching a video about how ‘wonderful’ jury duty is, and a slow, extremely detailed explanation of how to fill out the jury form.
On this particular day (I’m not sure if they ask this every day), they asked if there was anyone who could participate in a 2 week trial (most trials only take a few days). After checking with my company, I made it known that I could sit for a trial that long. Based on that answer alone, I was called into a jury pool. This is farther than I had ever been in the process before.
I did end up on a jury for a trial that was expected to last 2 weeks. Thankfully, it didn’t go nearly that long and it was over after 4 days, one of those days we were released a bit early because there were no other witnesses available for that day.
Here’s a list of why I thought jury duty wasn’t so bad:
–There was a break around 9:15 or so, for about 20 minutes. They also break for lunch for at least an hour and a half, and then there is a 15 – 20 minute break in the afternoon. This was very consistent.
–The judge explains everything to you, and the bailiff is also there to help you — any questions you have, the bailiff should be able to answer.
–You can waive mileage and get a bus pass instead. This worked out perfectly for me. If you haven’t experienced San Diego’s MTS, this is a great opportunity to try it out! No stressing about where to park and how much it’s going to cost you. Use Google maps to find the bus route that will work for you. Lyft was fine for one day, but too expensive if you are on a long trial.
–Meeting new people, and debating with them during deliberation is actually quite fun!
–Every staff person at the courthouse was courteous and friendly. They understand that jury duty is an inconvenience to most of us, and it shows.
–Long lunch hours were great for trying out new restaurants in the area. I can’t speak to the vendors in the actual courthouse though.
The only thing negative I can think to say about my experience is how emotional it can be. Deciding the course of someone else’s life is really daunting. But even if the decision isn’t agreed upon by everyone, everyone is heard.
I am happy to do my civic duty, and having been through the entire process, I don’t think I’ll dread it as much as I did before.
‘Murica!

So first of all, Thanks to fellow Unilocalers who have been so generous in sharing their experiences along with some wonderful tips on making your jury duty a not so painful one. If you asked me to review the Hall of Justice 4 years ago, I would have gave it 2 stars, but that was because I wasn’t as smart to read any Unilocal reviews back then before reporting to duty. So here is my turn to share other fellow Unilocalers (some of these tips mentioned have already been shared, but I’ll emphasize a few again):
(1) 4 years ago, I parked right behind the court house, and paid the $ 20 something parking fee. I did plan on paying for parking back then, but this time I decided to take public transportation. Since I live close to the UTC area, and after doing some intensive research on which bus or trolley to take (trust me, the MTS website is not very straight forward, and the app for iPhone is a joke). I found out that Bus Route 50 would take me from UTC mall (a transist center for Bus 50) to Front & «B» street in about 30 minutes for $ 2.50 (one way). It is then a 3 blocks walk from the bus stop to the Hall of Justice.
(2) Since I took a really early bus, I had enough time to find a 7 – 11 just a couple blocks away to get some snacks and a bottled drink for later. I then went to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and got myself some tea to take with me into the Jury Lounge.
(3) Security was straight forward, remove all jackets and sweaters before going through the metal detector. I noticed that the guy in front of me handed the security guard his coffee tumbler, which the security guard gladly took it from him so it did not have to go through the conveyor belt on the scanner system. When it was my turn, I tried to hand him my plastic ice tea cup, and he said that plastic cups are fine, and I can just walk it through the metal detector with me. After walking through the metal detector, the other security guard took my bag politely asked me if I had any glass bottles inside my bag. I explained that I had a metal bottle with water. He then very kindly asked if I can show it to him, and after I showed him, the security guard gave me a nod of approval along with a friendly smile. All security personnel that I came encounter with (even when I was at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf place) were very friendly and said good morning to me with a smile.
(4) Since I arrived fairly early, I tried to locate the Jury Reading room, which is on the left as you enter the Jury Lounge. I found an empty table right next to an outlet, and settled down. I brought with me my phone, an iPad, and my Gameboy, along with a couple of portable chargers and cable for emergency charging.
(5) During my arrival, there was already a jury clerk giving some useful tips to the early birds from anywhere from what to expect to where you can get coffee, tea and snacks near by that is cheaper. He even told us about the free wi-​if, but said that he didn’t have the password, and that we would have to wait for the the other jury clerk to arrive. The other jury clerk did announce the wi-​fi password during the orientation.
(6) After the orientation video (which you can only hear and not view from the jury reading room), a very organized and detailed walk through of how to fill out the form was provided by another jury clerk, she even gave instructions on what to do if you need to be excused or ask for an extension. At the end after explaining that lunch for the waiting jurors is around 11:30am for approximately 1.5−2hrs, she then started to handout a preloaded Compass Card good for one person for one day (if you are selected, you will get another one each day you serve). The card is good for 6 months from the issue date if not used immediately.
(7) Be prepare to spend some time just waiting. 4 years ago, my wait was about 3 hours before my name was called and I was later selected as one of the jurors on a trial. This time, besides the 2 hour long lunch break, there were about 4 long breaks anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes long throughout the day. At 2:30pm, there was an announcement (right before another break), that the courts wanted to hold onto the all potential jurors — ugh! You can hear the heavy sighing and see the body launguge of disapproval by the surrounding crowd, since by this point, everyone has waited long enough.
(8) At a little past 3:00pm, came the announcement that everyone was eagerly waiting — we were Thanked for our service and dismissed. We were also reminded for those of us who needed proof for work about today’s service to make sure we get our timecards stamped.
(9) Be sure to scope out the 10% off discount at a lot of the local restaurants for serving jurors (show your badge).
I hope this helps other fellow Unilocalers out there.

The epitome of inefficient processes. Sitting all day in a waiting room every year to see if you get called. $ 30 bucks to park. And, every year there are new unpublished rules awaiting. This year no outside beverages if they are in certain types of containers. I realize government is not incented to be efficient with our time but many other jurisdictions do a much, much better job. This is one way in which Maricopa County in Arizona does a far better job.

Came in early, around 0930, for a name change. Didn’t take too long.
The clerks were informative, helpful, patient, and welcoming.
Parking is $ 15 for 2 hours. Outrageous.
So either take the bus, or have a friend drive you and pick you back up. Or park on the street.

The AC is not on till after eight o clock someone said as I was walking in at 7:30.
Free wifi provided.
It’s my first time doing juror duty so this is both new and exciting. Never been inside the court as a juror before. This has got to be big.
The impressive look of the outside of the Hall of Justice reminds me a bit of the Justice League I watched many years ago in a cartoon.
Orientation was from 7:45 till 8:30.
On the two big screens they were giving us a few examples and testimonies from priors jurors. A lady representing the Hall of Justice Department went over instructions repeatedly.
AC hasn’t kicked in yet.
Or maybe there is too many of us. Easily a bit over a couple of hundred people.
Break at 9:10 till 9:40.
Nun sitting. Oh lord she will probably not be called due to religious bias.
People watching at its best.
Oh lord there is one guy wearing shorts. Might be only possible here in Southern California. Or am I overdress my wearing my long sleeves shirt to court?
Co-​worker sitting. That lucky witch got excused.
We are excused for lunch for two hours. Met up with a friend who works downtown and got my walking on.
Came back from lunch room is still warm. Most of the room has been called in.
I start panicking my battery is at a single digit and I brought my back up charger but forgot my usb cable. Let me continue reading my book.
Just as I decided to shut down my eyes for a couple minutes, the clock marked two thirty and the rest who were not called are now excused. We’ve done our civic duty and are free for the next twelve months.
Fun times.

If you took my current list of favorite places to be and turned it upside down, this would be at the very top

Can they at least have a specified parking lot for jurors? Parking around here is $ 1.75 per 12 minutes OR $ 28 max. They don’t pay you for it, so try parking further away & save your money…
I feel like I’m in an airport, better yet, on an airplane with rows of seats and you sit there for hours. No outlets, unless you go in the back left room!
Heard from person next to me that they normally turn on the tv for waiting jurors, but they didn’t bother this time.

Jury Duty: took the trolley in to Santa Fe Station, walked .04 miles around the corner to the hall of justice. On my way I noticed there were restaurants and cafes around the area for lunch. Some places also had a sign that read «Jurors with their juror badge get a discount on lunch items».
Juror Lounge located close to security check on the right. At check-​in table, pick up items 1 and 2 (3 if employed). Item 1 is the badge cover with pin, item 2 is Hall of Justice location information sheet and item 3 is jury service certification for your employer.
If you cannot serve later in the day the next day or in the next 2 weeks, go to Jury Services to postpone if more than 3 days. If you are able to return within 3 days you can just leave and return within 3 days to serve.
Very friendly the deputies are at security checks, jury clerk is very informative and willing to help. They brought in a judge to speak to jurors and thank for time of attendance and let us know how valuable our time and duty is to the justice system. I found my experience a very pleasant one compared to Riverside County.
In the Juror Lounge there are seats setup like theater seating and at the back end of the room you will find several tables and chairs close to outlets where you are able to charge your electronics. The lounge gets really full around 8am as jurors make their way in to check-​in and get settled so it is a good idea to get there early especially to make time at the security check area.
There is a vending machine filled with snacks and drinks off to a little corner located in the back end of the room. It seems like you are able to bring drinks into the courthouse. I wasn’t sure if I would’ve had to throw my cup of coffee away at the entrance so I didn’t chance it but I did see quite a few jurors with to-​go coffee cups, personal tumblers, and water bottles in the crowd.
Courthouse was organized and very accommodating. Allowed jurors to feel welcomed and at ease as everything was setup well enough for jurors to self help themselves and courthouse employees were informative with the juror process.
I didn’t get a chance to check if there was wi-​fi available. I will update my review when I return to the courthouse next week.

Although the process of jury duty can be painful, I was given some tips by Unilocalers and friends to help me get through the day. You’ll see all of these tips sprinkled throughout other reviews, but I will do my best to summarize.
1) Park a bit far away as the closest parking is around $ 25 for the day and they do not reimburse you. If you can, try to relocate to somewhere like Vista where parking is free, but if not, park a few streets down and walk. I saw parking as cheap as $ 9 for all day and not too far a distance. Most of downtown is easily traversable by foot.
2)Try to come in a bit early (I know, you don’t want to and you’ll be there all day) and head to the back left corner into the reading room. There are only a few spots and plenty of outlets there. There are some in the bigger juror’s room, but they will be taken quick and by obnoxious people who will push you out of the way. Once in the reading room, put a place holder down should you need to use the restroom or even step out for lunch. It’s also easier to ask others to watch your things, and there’s a smaller chance your stuff might be taken. Granted, it is pretty ballsy to try and steal stuff being in the middle in the Hall of Justice, but you never know.
3) Basic ergonomics; stretch, stretch, stretch. You may be sitting for quite some time.
4) They may tell you this upright when you enter, but don’t use the vending machines. Wait for the break and there is a small store in the building nearby that sells food for cheaper.
5) They have a fridge and a microwave. They clean the fridge on Mondays (or so the signs say), so the closer you are to that day the cleaner it will be.
6) Come with coffee or get some when you’re there, you’ll be here awhile.
7) On that subject, you can bring your own food and drinks in such as a breakfast should you be running in late. Many of us are use to airports where we can bring full water bottles and have a tendency to dump it out when seeing a metal detector. Not the case here obviously, but it is a force of habit for us weary travelers.
8) I’ve heard a rule of thumb that, if you don’t get called by 2:30PM you won’t be called. For me it was about 3:30PM, and by then they only called a third of the room in. Considering the latest they’ll hold you is 5PM and the courts usually get delayed as they go back to back, it can logically be seen why they would let you out around this time.
9) Take full advantage that you are off work, you are downtown, and you get a 2 hour lunch. I went and discovered a restaurant I’ve been dying to try out (and review), and even went as far as Little Italy. I was even half an hour early coming back. If you’ve been meaning to go shopping, Horton plaza is also a walk away and you’ve already a place to park!
10) Depending on your initial commute and financial burden, you may want to forgo the travel compensation in exchange for the day long bus pass. Should you be fortunate enough to not be called in, these passes can be used anytime in the next 6 months and useful should you not want to drive on another day off in sunny San Diego county.
Misc: I cannot emphasize enough how pleasant and nice the police and other staff helping with jury duty are. They all realize how boring and unpleasant the experience can be and do what they can to make things easier. That being said, there were a few attorneys there who were not so polite.

I could have had a 3 star experience but Unilocal community you prepared me !
Had I not brought my laptop and essential chargers or procured a nice spot in the reading room next to outlet with a table, this might have been a terribly long wait!
Wifi, browsing Internet and not being at work? Happy to serve sd county. Doesn’t hurt that the surrounding gaslamp offers a multitude of tasty lunch choices.
Did I mention that MTA rapid express from north county saved me from parking ! I took the PQ transit and it basically went straight from there to downtown. A nice 33 minute commute.
Know before you go! And even if u do park, get that transit ticket anyway since its good for 6 months ! SD metro system is coming up!
Know before you go people !

So pretty much my FB post. They have free wifi and that’s all that matters. Spent all day there with morning break for 45 minutes and a lunch break for over 2hours only let to me go home at 2:30ish.
Jasmine
Have fun lol
March 17 at 8:48am · Unlike · 1
Melanio
GUILTY! CHOOSE your punishment? Guillotine, Firing Squad or Lethal Injection!
March 17 at 8:50am · Unlike · 1
Yvonne
Things I’ve seen already; a pregnant woman getting bumped by car in the crosswalk.
Since I live in hillcrest I’m use to assholes blowing through crosswalks so I waited
March 17 at 9:12am · Like
Yvonne
Hipster (he’s pretty hot) taking way too many selfies #doingtoomuch
No Jordan, i didn’t take a pic
March 17 at 9:13am · Like
Melanio
for me.though.
March 17 at 9:13am · Unlike · 1
Yvonne
A 68yo white man sitting a few seats down referring to Asians as Orientals. Yes I did laugh out loud. It’s 2015, really?
March 17 at 9:16am · Like · 1
Melanio
you should have whispered. CrankyOldWhitey!
March 17 at 9:40am · Unlike · 1
Todd
What a cracker head.
March 17 at 9:43am · Unlike · 1
Mitch
Trial by combat!
March 17 at 9:53am · Unlike · 1
Yvonne
^lol
March 17 at 9:55am · Like
Yvonne
Game of thrones is gonna get me every time
March 17 at 9:56am · Like · 1
Yvonne
Cool thing is that I’m sitting next to a nurse so she can save my life if need be
March 17 at 10:25am · Like
Yvonne
Okay I saw a real life monk here… He looked like the friar for the San Diego Padres
March 17 at 2:07pm · Like · 1
Daniel
March 17 at 2:28pm · Unlike · 1
Melanio
are you sure it’s not just Ace?
March 17 at 2:31pm · Unlike · 1

Employees are very helpful and kind. Understand that most of us don’t want to be here. Wifi available for free but you must log in every 20 – 30 minutes due to it dropping. Lots of seating, also has a snack shop for those who don’t bring cash and vending machines for those who did. Only real bummer is there is NO free parking and court parking is $ 25 for the day I believe. Hopefully I can come back after lunch w/​o having to pay more!

It’s jury duty.
I wish the seats were more comfortable.
I wish I didn’t have to log back into the wifi every 20 minutes on my ipad.
Not much else to say.

Why is it that we are required to report for jury duty, but they seriously cannot pay for our parking? They offer free public transportation passes, but I’m not going to take a bus from East County! I know the other courthouses in San Diego (i.e. El Cajon) does not require you to pay for parking… they really need to get a lot for this place.
Plus side includes: clean enough bathrooms, free wifi, plenty of places to sit.
Things to improve: food options in lounge, more comfortable seats. More tables! — not just rows and rows of seats, outlets on the wall, free parking structure.
I should’ve read these previous reviews because I did NOT bring a coffee and I was dead tired the majority of the day. If you opened up a coffee shop in the jury lounge, it’d make bank. lol.
When i was finally dismissed I spent like $ 50 that day… on a decent lunch and parking… wahhh…sad story. At least I didn’t get picked to serve!

Reporting form the ‘jury duty lounge’ right now thanks to free Wi-​Fi and a lot of time to kill while waiting if I will be picked up for jury or not.
Please do not underestimate the time needed to find a free parking (most probably you won’t) and you, like me, will arrive late and still having to fork $ 25 for the closest parking to the Hall of Justice. So don’t be like me and take the bus, If you can decipher how the maze of public transportation works in this city.
The lounge is huge and clean, and you can get some snacks and sodas at the back of the room, read some of the publications available to the public or, like me, chit chat as well to a fellow human being, like the South African lady sharing table with me and soothing this kind of harsh atmosphere with her sweet soft accent. She commented that the room seems filled wih recently naturalized citizens and we are called to our civil duty right away!
People working here instructing and explaining seem very professional and considerate.
What else? Take your eyes off your phone for some minutes and go take a look at the old pictures from vintage San Diego exposed at he back of the room. Black and white magic, you will get mesmerized if you pay attention to every single detail of each photo and time will fly while you daydream about times we haven’t know.