Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center

Back again after 3 years for jury duty. The boredom is cumulative. Not how I want to spend the day. It really isn’t «one day, one trial» when we have to call in every day for a week and can have any given day during the week blown out of the water and won’t know until the night before. A judge is trying to tell us that all this is wonderful — «criminal law is REALLY interesting!» — but I’m not buying it.

Showed up for slave labor. I managed to get excused so I wasn’t there for long. But for the short time I was the people in charge spoke to me like I was a child. And despite their lip-​service to the contrary they seem to get off on the fact that people are there involuntarily. Disgusting.

the justice system is not about justice anymore! its all about monetary gain (money) !!!
if you «jurors» go to a trial and hear a case that is victimless without an honest victim, a person someone has injured or deprived of property, please find that person «not guilty»
things as far as traffic tickets or marijuana possession or sales that are minor and wasting our courts and peoples time and tax money!
all of the courts are using us to carry out our own demise as human people.
have your realized that our natural born rights have been hijacked by statutes and codes to make us criminals??? now everything is nearly a crime.
we the people dictate the law under god. as jurors. so look at yourself as the defendant. forget the facts of the «crime» did the defendant actually hurt someone or someones property?
then its not a crime. our own families are losing their freedoms by the hand of this corrupt system.
you as jurors can make a change! find all crimes that are victimless not guilty!!! then the shift from rich to poor will change. we will then continue to see middle class. remember its all about money and these courts are commercial courts operating under the law of the seas and not the law of the land and therefore corrupting the justice of each and every one of us.
the all capital mr or mrs or ms is a corporate fiction legal entity (name on paper) designed to represent you (natural individual) in order for the courts to charge you with the bogus «crimes» legislation «created».
god did not create these bogus laws. government did and god was against governments as in evidence of the story of the «tower of babel»
lets wake up ppl and stop ruining the lives of people who are not hurting anyone or depriving ppl of property. all honest jurors lets find the innocent «not guilty» of these created statutes and codes that are not law! god bless all !

Stay away, far away. If you can change your jury location do yourself a favor and avoid this venue. Dead roach in hall, filthy bathrooms, dirty public areas, constantly under construciton, guards eating while on duty, original décor, ugly, juror waiting room stuffy, felt like a third world country. Eating choices slim, go to the Plaza Café at the Cathedral of the Angels, park there too for $ 19. Much easier than the Disney parking option.

What can you cay about going to jury service?
I have done jury duty at this court before. This is a very organized jury system, they do a good job at getting you in and out and informing you throughout the day. The ladies are very professional and polite and stay in control of their jurors. Unfortunately, they talk way too long explaining things — out of past experience no doubt — but they cover everything at least four times, They even explain what we need to fill in on each line on the form, like my NAME? and ADDRESS?
The worst part about this court in this reporter’s opinion is the elevators. First thing in the morning at the beginning and end of lunch and at the end of the day the wait to get on the elevators is way too long. I decided to give my legs and Fit-​Bit a work out and took the stairs in the morning, at both breaks, at lunch AND on my way out — not taking the elevator at all.
Its a very organized jury system here, better than most I’ve seen.

I jinxed myself.
Don’t know why I said this out of the blue, «Y’know, it’s been a few years since I’ve gotten a jury summons.» And then I started talking about how this particular location was my least favorite.
Two days later, BOOM!
*sigh*
Tip– By all means, go on
and click on the blue «Jury Service» button on the left side. Then click on the «My Jury Duty Portal» button.
You can register, check on whether or not you’re to report in the next day, and best of all, DO THE ONLINE ORIENTATION!
By doing the orientation online, you can check in two hours later at 9:30 if you get called in. There’s 7 short videos to watch and an easy quiz afterwards. Very quick. Only took about half an hour to do this. Much better than sitting through this in the jury room.
Only reason this courthouse is my least favorite is because I don’t drive much these days and getting there is a hassle. Had to rely on family members to get there and back.
Oh, and getting hit up multiple times by aggressive panhandlers in the immediate area wasn’t fun.
I had planned on walking around the section of Grand Park next to the courthouse during lunch, but changed my mind.
Everything else about this location, I can deal with.

The customer service was really bad. However, the judges I had to appear in front of were wonderful and down to earth. I didn’t like how misinformed I was the whole experience there though, there were no clear signs of where to sign in so we were runnig to wrong offices and wasting a lot of time and there wasnt a person to guide us. Elevators are a nightmare ugh, youd rather walk up the flights of stairs as you could be stuck for hours waiting. Clerks office: Holy crap, the people are rude. This bit**, and I mean she is an absolute bitch; she took extra money from me that i was meant to pay the court that the judge asked me to return to recieve the refund and she yells at me for her mistake; then tells me I have to wait an hour or «leave my number whatevr she doesnt care» for $ 30 she screwed up on and I have to wait for her supervisor who she cant even contact, what a big baby.
I am worth more than 30 bucks an hour thank you.
Pros: Awesome judges, convenience food store, small court rooms
Cons: rude unhelpful staff, long wait at elevators, lame public federal defenders

They have really great friendly workers here! Even the security inside are super friendly! Yes, jury duty is a long wait and could be boring at times, so come prepared with a book or laptop/​tablet with a charger because they do have outlets you can use to charge. They also have desktop computers for people to use too! I think that’s nice of them to provide. This place has free wifi too! So take advantage!

Picked for jury duty on the first year. Yay! Truly excited for the experience until I realized how crappy the scheduling was.
So much time is honestly just spent waiting for jurors to arrive on time, waiting for everyone to prep… just waiting. Three weeks of waiting. Ugh. On the bright side, it was definitely interesting meeting with other jurors like I met this one 70-​year-​old African American woman who honestly looked like she was 30! Another girl worked at Gelson’s and tried making DIY intelligentsia coffee using a microwave and towels. Anyways, I digress.
Cafeteria food is OKAY, store sandwiches STINK and on the edge of expiration, and glass bottles like a snapple WILL be confiscated. Btw, throwing stars are not allowed, according to the jury duty site, so don’t get any funny ideas… :-)
The judge, bailiff, and general staff are super nice and try their best to be accommodating, especially since they have to deal with people’s busy schedule, excuses, complaints, etc. Our judge even brought us donuts on the last day and sent us a thank you letter the following week! Super nice!
Even though it was cool seeing how the criminal justices system worked, this whole process can really test your patience. So wifi-​it-​up, read a book, wander over to little Tokyo (LA Times building is also SUPER close by) because you might be stuck here for a looooong time.

Great employees! They are pleasant and punctual. They have free wifi and comfy seats. It’s in an area near a ton of great restaurants!!!
My jury duty was a pleasant 5 days.

–No organic-​vegan options, was forced to eat tater tots.
–Court wifi blocked Urban Dictionary and Instagram.
–Believe there was an elderly Asian man masturbating in the bathroom.
–Person in elevator smelled of Cheetos.
–Shitty selection of puzzles in the waiting area.
Would not juror here again.

Jurors graciously thanked for their service, the court officer warned we would be killing (no pun intended) a good deal of time waiting for judges to call the assembly room in need of us. He suggested we network, take advantage of the wifi or finish that novel we brought along for the day whether it be reading or writing it.
Being of inquiring mind, I chose to do some research on Clara Shortridge Foltz, the woman the courthouse was renamed for in 2002 and the building itself as there are no working water fountains due to an obsolete plumbing/​pumping system in this 43-​year-​old edifice. (Complementary water cups along with for-​sale bottled water are available in the cafeteria and snack bars respectively.)
THE WOMAN
Clara Shortridge Foltz followed in her father’s footsteps and became a lawyer, the first female to do so on the west coast, as well as, the first to be admitted to the California Bar in 1878 (yes, you read that right)! She was also the first person to propose the creation of a public defender’s office. A failed marriage left her a single mom of five but didn’t stop her from practicing law or lecturing. Publicity for her speaking tours billed her «The Portia of The Pacific».

THE BUILDING
Ground was broken for the 850,000 square foot, 20-​floor courthouse, designed by Adrian Wilson, in 1970, completed in 1972 at a cost of $ 33.7 million. Since then this institution has been a venue for notable trials. O. J. Simpson’s and Phil Spector’s murder trials, Dr. Conrad Murray in the death of Michael Jackson and the BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant to name a few.

Two and a half hours later, my research complete, so was my service for another year. I barely had time to network.
When your summons arrives, do the online juror orientation to allow you to arrive up to two hours later on day one.
Be sure to call in between the hours of 7:00PM and 6:00AM each day of the week of service for reporting instructions.
If reporting to the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, free parking is available at Disney Hall, just scan your badge bar code upon entering and exiting.
While doing your civic duty, take advantage of great DTLA lunch and cultural experiences (check the Unilocal app.) and be sure to raise your complementary water cup to Clara Shortridge Foltz!

WHY CANT I EVER GET PICKED FOR JURY DUTY?!? I’m actually one of those weird people who want to get called for a case. I’m so intrigued with all the different things that go on in a court room, probably because I watch a lot of tv so I want to see what’s actually real or if it’s just exaggerated.
Parking: park at the Walt Disney concert hall, it’s free! You must have your jury summons so you can hand it to the parking person. Also, save your summons for when you leave the parking lot because they need to scan it a second time for you to leave. I was so close to throwing away all my jury duty stuff away after I was excused but thank goodness I didn’t because parking is $ 9!!! The walk from here to the court house is probably 15 – 20 mins depending how fast you walk.
BIG TIP: go to their website and do the online tutorial before you have to report for jury duty! You will save yourself 2 hours, because if you don’t do the orientation online, you will have to report to the court at 7:30am. Yuck, that’s too early.
The courthouse itself looks pretty old fashion, worn out and kind of dirty. You enter from the sides of the building. As you enter the courthouse they’re going to make you put your loose items and belts in a container, then they will scan your bags, purses and what not. You must look at your summons to see where you go, but I’m pretty sure everyone is suppose to report to the 11^th floor. You will then go to room 302, go to the front window and check in.
After you check in, you’re going to have to wait hours and hours and hours before and IF they even call your name. There’s some people who won’t be called at all and some people will be called first. It’s all at random. My advice is to bring something that will entertain yourself for a while day. I suggest you bring a laptop, iPad, phone charger, other chargers, books, magazines, etc etc. They also have computers for your to use too.
Lunch break is from 12 – 1:30pm. Its such a long lunch break that I walked all the way to eggslut, waited in line for 30 mins, ate, and walked back to the courthouse with a lot of time left.
I’m sad that I have to wait a whole year to be called again for jury duty. It’s a good break from actual work and I’m glad I had the whole day to catch up on my tv shows and have some me time. You just have all the time in the world to do anything online when you have jury duty.

Uhm. I may be one of those weird people, but I totally enjoy jury duty. When I was in college, it was a nuisance because, they would send me the letter and make me report at the worst time (like during finals week) and then I would have to push it back to summer time when all I wanted to do was play and laze about on my couch. However, ever since I became an adult and had to get a J-​O-​B, I think of jury duty as a mini vacation. (Especially because my work pays for jury duty. SCORE). When I got called into jury duty, after one extension (I had a work commitment), which was very easy to do, I reported for my civic duty at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. They provide you with free parking at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. There is TONS of parking and the spaces are pretty spacious. Once you walk out, you walk about 3 blocks to the courthouse (It’s about 15 minute walk so you need to plan accordingly). It is also a hill so make sure you are wearing comfortable shoes.
Once you get there, you go through the metal detectors and there are tons of signs to the jury room, so it is very easy to find. The elevators are SOOOO slow and often times, you are squished in with tons of people. After my first day (yes, I did get to be on a jury), I usually took the stairs. After all the introductions and instructions, it is just waiting. Make sure to bring something to read, your iPad, etc to keep you entertained. They also have free Wi-​Fi. I did not get called up in the morning, so I went on a lunch break of 1.5 hours (What work gives you that much of a lunchtime??) There is a cafeteria downstairs, but it did not look good. So, I ventured out to try other restaurants. The courthouse is really close to Little Tokyo and tons of other restaurants. (My personal favorite was walking back up near to the Walt Disney Concert Hall and going to Watercourt food court). After I came back, I got called for a court case. I actually got to be an alternate juror on one of the cases, which lasted about 5 days. I thought it was great, they started at 9:30 AM, gave us lunch for 1.5 hours and then we were out of there by 4:30 PM (latest 5). That literally was one of the shortest work week I ever had. I am looking forward to jury duty once again.
It gets REALLY cold in here, so make sure to bring a jacket. It was 90 degrees outside and I brought my Northface jacket to court and I was still cold.

More like 3.5 stars for CSFCJC.
Although no one really wants to do jury duty, (well, maybe there are a few who do) I can at least say that the Clara Shortridge center makes the civic duty much more comfortable than other places I’ve shown up for jury duty for. They have you park at the Walt Disney Concert Hall which is about a 10 minute walk, so plan for that when arriving. As well, they have quite the security line and getting an elevator is no small task. I don’t know if anyone cares if you arrive on time since they don’t call roll, but I got there right on time anyhow.
During the orientation they show a patriotic video explaining the importance of serving in a jury and what the procedures are. You can opt to do this the night before and arrive later. Not sure why I didn’t do that. Also, a judge comes out and thanked us for serving as well. Nice personal touch.
Once that show is over, the rest of the day is a waiting game. The assembly room is large and has comfy chairs. They have some work stations in the back and free wifi. Jury duty nowadays is a breeze compared to when I did it 10 years ago before smart phones and free wifi. I pulled out my laptop and connected to my work email and worked for a couple of hours. They called some people for jury selection. Then, 20 minutes, another selection was called and I was called as part of that selection… drat!
You suddenly become a number and they eventually escort you into the court room. I was towards the very end of the group and they had selected a majority of the jury by the time I got to the stand so I didn’t have to end up serving though the process took two days :\ Once excused I was allowed to get a slip excusing me from service for a year and I high-​tailed it out of there!
Other elements to jury service: You get 1 ½ hours for lunch and Grand Central Marketplace is a 10 minute walk so you can get some good eats. I’d plan to eat out just for the fun of it. There’s a lot of construction around the area so it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like in about 5 years to serve there with everything around. They should do a makeover of the court building though. It’s not aging well! Also, they say business attire, but very few people were dressed that way. I didn’t even dress that way and I wasn’t scolded by anyone so don’t go out of your way to dress up.

Everybody hates jury duty. But I have to say, this was a positive experience for me in a few ways. I got to miss work, I got to enjoy DTLA and I gained a new perspective on our Judicial system.
There’s free parking at Walt Disney Concert Hall with your juror badge. You enter the courthouse and have to go through security. The people in charge of the Juror Assembly room were super nice — and they had to be bc they’re stuck with a room full of people who are quite disgruntled about being there! You do get some cabin fever as you’re sitting there with whatever you’ve brought to entertain yourself. Luckily, the lunch break is pretty long: 1.5 hours. Which means I got to walk to Daikokuya and not have to wait for a seat! YEAH!
I was called to be potentially chosen for a criminal case. After much waiting and deliberating I was excused. I was both happy and slightly disappointed because I would not have minded hearing more about this particular case (GUILTY!).
Yes, it sucks — it’s boring, but it runs very smoothly and do make sure to bring your phone charger!

GUIDELINE FOR THE FIRST TIMERS DOING JURY DUTY.
First off, I empathizes with you. No one truly gets excited about being summoned to jury duty.
What to expect: A long BORING day of sitting and waiting around! So bring your phone charge, books, mag, ipad, laptop… anything that will keep you busy for 9 hrs. Yes, you’ll be there all day, if you don’t get called. Which is something you hope for. Snacks and even lunch if you don’t want to spend money.
You’ll be sitting in a large room with people just waiting it out, so make some friends. I did. You’ll first watch a video on how wonderful it is to be a juror.
You’ll then have a judge guest speaker talk about to goods about your civil duties. And then you’ll get a break. Their snack bars suck. And I didn’t hear too many great thing about their cafeteria either.
Lunch is btwn 12 – 130 — I went to the Grand Central Market for some Eggslut. There’s plenty of places to walk to for decent lunch and enough time.
Security check: lobby floor and 9^th floor: like the airport TSA. Put your nail clippers away.
Back to waiting. And when they get the call to release you for the day: Cheer on and say peace out, for you are clear of your duties for 12 months.

I feel kind of weird writing a review for a courthouse because im not really sure what to be rating, so instead I’ll just write about the whole process to make it easier for future prospective jurors.
You are given free parking at the Walt Disney concert hall, and the entrance can be found at the corner of 2^nd street and grand. Just hand them your juror papers to scan and you can park there the whole day — you can even just start exploring dtla after jury duty if you’re let out early! When parking downtown is like, $ 3 per 15 minutes, this can be a hidden blessing disguised as the much detested jury duty.
From the parking lot go up either the escalators or elevator and walk north on grand. You can either turn right on temple street and walk a few blocks or walk through grand park to get to this court house. Once here you’ll have to go through some metal detectors and the such before heading up to the 11^th floor to the jury assembly room. Here you will be given an introduction and eventually assigned to a specific court.
Note to jurors who are assigned to this courthouse: it is a criminal courthouse, meaning that the cases are criminal cases and not civil. This means that if you are picked for jury duty you will most likely have to come in for a while. The idea is that in civil cases the parties involved have a likelier chance of just settling outside court so that cases will wither end early or not begin at all and you guys will just be let go. In a criminal case ppl generally don’t want to settle for a «guilty» plea. I’ve personally been here for 3+ weeks on one case, so make proper arrangements if it seems likely that you’ll be picked!
Cafes on the 13^th and 5^th floor, cafeteria on the first floor. Lunch breaks are 1.5 hours though, so I’d suggest you make the most out of your jury duty and free parking by trying out new food places nearby. Worth mentioning are grand central market, little Tokyo, and Chinatown — all within a 10 minute walk away! Have fun to all with jury duty, at the least take it as an educational experience on how the legal system works.

I never win raffles or lotteries but somehow I always get super LUCKY when it comes to jury duty. Don’t even try to escape it! If the letter comes in the mail, you just gotta deal with it. Trust me, you don’t want to deal with the monetary consequences of not reporting.
Honestly, this courthouse has its perks (WIFI, location near cool stuff that you can check out during the hour and a half lunch break etc). They try to make the process comfortable. But even as much as they try to speed up the process, it’s jury duty so you can’t expect it to be the smoothest, most efficient thing ever. If you come in with realistic expectations, it won’t be as painful of an experience.
Tips:
1. Do the online orientation so you can report at 9:30 am instead of 7:45 am. And if you’re running late trying to get there at 7:45 am, don’t sweat it cause they don’t really call people in until 8 am.
2. The main juror assembly waiting room is FREEZING cold. Be sure to bring a sweater/​jacket/​scarf so that you can sleep comfortably if you’re planning to nap. Dress comfortably (they don’t require formal dress… only closed-​toed shoes) since you’re going to be here for at least a couple hours.
3. Bring your laptop/​headphones so you can surf the net or do work while waiting around. Or bring a book/​magazine/​game/​sudoku etc. Also, bring snacks!
4. During the lunch break, you can go out to places within walking distance. If you walk one block over, there’s a Farmer’s Market on Thursdays on Main Street. The Walt Disney Concert hall is also nearby, in addition to Little Tokyo and Chinatown for good food!
5. Talk to people around you! There are people from all walks of life and interesting experiences, and most of the time, people are friendly. It’s nice to have a friend to talk to or complain with while going through this annoying process.

I served my time, I mean ah, performed my Jury Duty at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center formerly known simply as Criminal Courthouse.
This was a much more positive experience this time around than in years past. Chairs were newer and more comfy in the Jury Assembly Room, along with 6 computers to go online, check emails, table and chairs to sit at to read or snooze and a few study cubicles for privacy to read. Also provided was WiFi in the room.
One Judge came to Thank us for showing up and supporting our democratic rights in America. Even thou this honestly was a pain to get to and serve, I am Thankful of our democratic and Judicial system.
Lunch was 12noon to 1:30. There are many choices around downtown to choose from for lunch. Chinatown and Little Tokyo were pretty solid choices. Grand Central Market was an option only about 4 blocks away. We did not receive the restaurant guide normally passed out to jurors because they apparently ran out of them. This would have been more helpful to the 80−90% of the jurors. I ran over to the top floor of Stanley Mosk Superior Courthouse, and ate at the Panorama Café, a pretty good choice only blocks away from Foltz Criminal Courthouse.
I am glad I served my civic duty at least for the next year or so. Next time take the Metro as an option to avoid all the traffic and get a little walking in for exercise. Don’t forget your Juror badge and paperwork to get into courthouse and Disney Concert Hall parking lot.