Yea, yea, yea ... civic duty, jury of your peers, democracy ... we get it. NOT complaining about…read morebeing summoned today: Wed., 4/8/26. What's a SIN and a SHAME is learning today that the rules changed in October 2025 and this is more than likely going to now be an ANNUAL occurrence AND, to add insult to injury, I had to spend almost $10 on packs of crackers and chips in the Upper Marlboro Courthouse Cafeteria. BE WARNED TO PACK YOUR OWN SNACKS & LUNCH. *Sigh* The woman who does the orientation is STILL a hilarious and classy act ... she needs a raise. IYKYK Looking forward to hearing YOUR opinion.

To do your civic duty is such an unwanted task, but something you have to do or end up on the other…read moreside. This was my second time in being called to jury duty, first time after becoming a resident of Maryland. This time, was exhausting and threw off my daily schedule. I did as much research on this as I could. I seriously did not want to make a misstep with this journey. Do yourself a favor and do the same. Basically you'll want to make note of parking, time of arrival, time it will take you to be here (could be all day, could not), what you can and cannot bring with you, and a few other things. Prepare yourself, it'll be a long day. Parking is available nearby at the horse racing track. Once there you can do one of two things. Wait for the bus which will be packed with those of us in zombie mode or you can walk the short distance to the courthouse. Don't worry, it is much closer than you think and sometimes it is quicker to do the walk. Then condition yourself for the day's theme, 'hurry up and wait.' To enter the courthouse to fulfill your civic duty you will wait in a long line to get through security. Also to note, each time you go outside, whether it be for lunch or a smoke break, you will have to go back through security. Much like airport security, no belt, no watch, nothing in your pockets...you get to keep your shoes on. Once through security, you think you are free, WRONG. Make your way up three floors to discover that there is a line that is just as long to enter the jury waiting room. Once inside and checked in, wait. They tell you to be there at the courthouse by 7:30 in the morning, however, no matter what you do, they will not start on time. The amount of people called for jury duty is huge. So hope that you are there at least a little bit early to get a decent sitting spot. The jury lounge is currently in the midst of remodel and fills up fast. Once you find your spot for the morning, wait. I can echo what one reviewer said prior, the lady who does the rundown of the procedures and day should have her own talk show. 'Bug,' as she wishes you address her, keeps you alert on your already tiresome day. She commands the room and gives a rundown of how things will go for the day. She lets you know where the area food is once it is lunchtime and then you start to be divided up into your color coded groups. Take heed when they tell you to go to the restroom, once you have been called, use the restroom, it may be a long time before you have a break to do so later. This portion goes a bit smoothly, but the anxiety tied to it is not welcomed. Some color coded groups hardly had the roster called and were already being pulled to their respective courtrooms. It felt like forever before my name was called for my group. I ran to the restroom, snuck in a smoke break, and came back to the room. I had things to keep me busy all day, prepared for the long haul. No sooner than coming back into the room my color coded group was called. I had prepared to enter a room and see if I would be put on a jury. To my surprise, and everyone else in the color coded group, we were dismissed for the day. Whatever jury we were being pooled for settled before pulling us in. We were told to hold up our color coded number as we exited and were set free for the day. I was one of the lucky ones. Now, here's the thing, once you are dismissed or finish your day, whether selected for a jury or not, do not discard your summons. Keep it, take a picture of it, laminate if you want. You may be summoned again in a year, but since you showed up and did your civic duty, you are good for three years. Keep your summons so if you are called again, you can present proof that you already served. Overall, not a bad day, but not the best day. I would have much rather fought through DC traffic to drive to work, it would have taken less time. One last thing, I got a kick out of their dress code on their summons.

Coffee is bogus and over priced. But this 5 dollar breakfast Sammy is heavenly …read more Diner , dive vibes in the bottom floor of the courthouse

I was here when called for jury duty, not for any case of my own or any other reason. The location…read moreis pure Annapolis! Historic building, right off of Church Circle, very cool exterior, and very modern and updated interior... it's a great building for its use. Speaking on the jury duty experience, it's a lot of waiting, but they do a good job of keeping you informed. The chief bailiff was very helpful and kept us entertained while delivering instructions. The entire staff was wonderful.

It's crazy that in Baltimore city you can be called once a year for jury duty instead of ever 3…read moreyears.

The process is much better. I check into room 240 and a pleasant young lady directed me to 1 of 6…read morekiosks, where they ask for your mailed summons and you scan the bar code and after checking in, you are directed to the payment line for proof of service and the mandatory $15 payment. It took less than 5 minutes. I was very impressed. Next, I was directed to take a seat in this room or one of three other juror assembly rooms in addition to a "quiet room", if that was your choice. *NOTE: Baltimore City has a one day/one trail pro ess so if you are not selected to serve on a jury you are eligible to be called the following year. Just because you were summoned to serve does not equate to serving as a juror. And as always, they have movies for your viewing pleasure, often the latest ones out on DVD and, if you are not chosen by lunchtime you are allocated an up to 90 minute lunch break where you can leave the building and report back at the time indicted. All in all, a needed improvement in the check-in process for jury duty.

Went on a *SATURDAY* to get passports for my 3 kids. The lady helping us was on fire! Like a…read moremachine! She sped us through the process and it was so easy. You do have to enter via Orange Street on the weekends and walk down a pathway. But it was such a great experience compared to a post office!

Case was continued without being heard. after waiting in the courtroom for 6 hours it was revealed…read morea third party had been recording. Following the removal of the third party, the entire case was continued and everyone was asked to leave. Its completely unreasonable for a third party to cause a "continuance" which really felt more like a dismissal since we never got called to speak. completely unfair place with pushy rude police officers. avoid at all costs. Zero stars.

From the judge who doesn't bother with silly things like facts or logic to a prosecutor who uses…read morecoercion to make the same unfair deal no matter the circumstances you won't get a fair trial here. The judge just wants to leave and so you are guilty until proven innocent and since innocence requires evidence and the judge doesn't understand evidence or logic, you are guilty - better take that terrible deal the prosecution offers. What a farce of an institution. There needs to be oversight over these people. Such evil needs to go back to the third world country it was stolen from. I watched the judge ask for time estimates. The lawyers all knew what she meant, but a regular man representing himself didn't understand what she was asking him for. In response to his question, this racist judge asked him if he needed an interpreter because he had an accent. It wasn't even that thick an accent and he did not need an interpreter. He just didn't know what the time estimate entailed. Had I not paid a lawyer I would have had trouble with such a question and I exclusively speak English. The judge didn't explain, but asked the man again, only more condescendingly. Obviously embarrassed, the man just agreed with what the prosecution had proposed - 5 minutes. All the lawyer estimates were around 5 to 10 minutes, with 10 minutes being the longest. The prosecution and judge clearly just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, facts and justice be damned. I was appalled by what I saw in that Kangaroo court. I lost all faith in the justice system today and honestly, as a woman watching a female judge and a female prosecutor teaching a younger woman how to be corrupt and incompetent (literally laughing at having to admit a mistake to her boss before the courtroom opened) I kind of get why some people oppose the 19th amendment. That's how bad those people were; they have me questioning my own right to vote. Where is the good representation I was promised as a kid? Where are the good examples to support the 19th? Not the judge or prosecutor I can tell you. ​​

I really try to avoid negative reviews, but my experience with the court is proving profoundly…read morenegative. I'll spare you all the details, but I am a litigant before the court, and the judge in question clearly has prejudged my case and is biased. In addition, he seems to have issues respecting the notions of due process, equal protection, and the First Amendment. I've asked for a new judge, and hopefully that will happen and the court ultimately will prove to be neutral and unbiased, and keep in mind that the real reason most people, myself included, go to court isn't to pull a fast one, bully someone else, or any other negative reason. We go to court because we are counting on the court to be fair, unbiased, and a means to resolving conflicts that we cannot resolve ourselves. Unfortunately, the judge in question appears to have lost sight of that.

Accessible…read more Friendly staff. Secure. Not a lot of interesting history on walls. But some open and bright spaces.

Jury Duty perspective:…read more The court house opens at 7:30am regardless of what time your jury duty starts. For me orientation began at 8:30am.... didn't actually start until 9:10. I arrived to the parking lot at 7:43am and there was plenty of parking. The lot isn't huge though so if you wait until 8am or after you may not have a parking spot. With that being said the Rockville metro stop is within walking distance and is a great option. The building was pretty easy to find from the parking lot and a quick walk. Security was easy and took maybe a minute total. I didn't see any signs at security indicating where I should go but the security guard informed me to take the elevator to floor 2. Once upstairs it was obvious where to go. Once entering the jury lounge the jury commission helped me check in using a kiosk. You're able to choose if you want to donate your $15 or not. Unfortunately I was unable to donate due to my employer policy. *side note- make sure you fully understand your policy at work. Once in the lounge I recommend trying to avoid the mass crowd seating and go into the smaller room with comfortable chairs. Here you'll find outlets and the seats aren't as hard. There are computers for use location in the main room- I didn't use them but appreciate them. There was also magazines and vending machines for our use. While there's wifi it's pretty spotty with a million people trying to connect to it. I would recommend bribing a book or a movie to watch because you could be there a while.

Well, this entire process was a complete clusterfuck…read more While on my drive to the beach, my overenthusiastic driving through Annapolis caught the attention of a MD State Trooper. He did not give me any breaks, writing the ticket for exactly what his radar gun said, 81 in a 55. I pondered with what to do with the ticket for 2 weeks and decided to take my chances in court. MD requires you to request a court date within 30 days of receiving the ticket; if you don't pay it or request a court date prior to the 30 day mark, they automatically suspend your license. I mailed in the form requesting a court date. Several days later, I noticed that nothing changed on my online case status. I called the courthouse, who said they never received my request for a trial. OK, no big deal, as long as it's postmarked before the 30 day mark, it'll be good right? Apparently not, because according to the clerk, the form must be RECEIVED by the 30 day mark to be considered valid. At this point, we were approaching the 30 day mark, so I asked if I could submit the form electronically. Nope. I ask if I can fax it in. Nope. The only option they gave me was to go to another District Court location and then THEY can fax in the form for me. So I trekked it up to Rockville, searched forever for a parking spot, and went into the courthouse. I went to the clerk's office and gave them the form; they assured me they would fax it right away. I then called the Annapolis courthouse back to see if they got the form; apparently, all of these forms go through some kind of processing center. They gave me the phone number for the processing center; when I called them, they claimed they hadn't received any faxes all day. They did, however, provide me their fax number so I could fax them the form directly (so the trip to the Rockville courthouse was totally unnecessary). I faxed it to them, called back to confirm they received it; they had. I had to request a continuance because I was scheduled to be out of town the date of my initial court date. In other jurisdictions, this can be accomplished via the internet or a simple phone call. Not in MD! You must submit your request in writing directly to the courthouse. Thankfully my motion for a continuance was approved. Court time was 8:45 AM. The judge didn't actually appear until around 9:15 AM. When I arrived in the courtroom, I noticed that the officer who wrote my ticket wasn't present. The judge must have noticed this too; my case was one of the last ones to be called. I guess the judge was hoping the cop would show up at the last second. When my case finally was called, it was clear the judge was not happy about dropping the charges; since the officer didn't show, he had no other option. So that was lucky. There is no street parking nearby; the only parking option that I know exists is the Naval Academy lot down the street which costs $5. The machine charged my card twice when I was attempting to exit. One last fuck you from the state of MD.

Mixed feelings about the court, but since I was speeding I got to experience Maryland's version of…read moretraffic justice. I don't get it, so many people dressed like slobs and then expect the Judge to seriously consider their point of view. Everyone was polite and respectful, especially the Judge. I would have given them 4-stars but they only had one cashier and stood in line for greater than 30 minutes to pay my fine and court fees/costs. When I left the line was longer than when I first got into the line. The cashier kept apologizing because the other person was out sick. If they had a backup person it would have been so much better!!!

was sited a while back for a vilation with big truck this place does not love us Truck drivers as…read moretyey think were the outlaws of tye highways much like the Bikers.......with out truck drivers you wouldnt have yor foods and Items used each day in everyday life ...but we are regulated by 2 the goverment with there rulesvas well as local ...which these l8cals need to get on same ball of wax as they make up some crazy stuff .. Ill explain ......I had a ticket back in 1993 which is over 20 years ago maryland claims I never paid fine ....but ive had renewable class A licences renewed since then which would be like 12 or so renew Maryland suspended licence saying somehow I snuck under the wire What the heck ..are they tring to make up loss for the snow remov vee el and riots in baltimore ....and th7s 7s how they get extra income ......they dont wanta know anything c3pt you owe it and fine u big time for it the female judge here in harford county will not take any expination she hangs you out to dry ive seen k7ds get 3 dui and no suspension but throw te book at us truck drivers who are checked each day at state scale houses and port of entrys for vilations how coe it just came up now after 20 some years. what a crock. im ticked off and refuse to ship ino 8r outta Mary land as well as our other 200 trucks ...its who can we F**k to make a buck here in Maryland im pacing up and leaving this state as well as my company my relitives as well as friends if there gonna kep up there stealing corup ways Harford county is by far the worse county 7ve ever delt with .....this is my opion sorry if I ofended anyone but I think you all need to know th7s .......Crabcakerex21040@gmail.com.

Don't miss out on this great little town. Historic Buildings within a block and a great spot for…read morelunch or coffee.