Jury Duty

Let me preface this entire post by saying that this is a week where I had been scheduled to work four days in a row, which I hate. I realize that the majority of the full-time working world works FIVE days in a row, but since I only work four days a week, I like to break them up. You know, two on, one off, two on. Or three on, one off, one on. You get it. This week I had scheduled myself to work Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, have Thursday off, and work Friday... but I was called and asked to work Thursday instead, which put me on for four in a row. Yuck.

Then I got a summons to serve as a juror in the mail.

It was supposed to be a four-day trial, beginning today, which would have covered my entire workweek, had I been selected. Josh assured me I would be eliminated right away since he is a trooper. I didn't doubt it, but I wasn't sure of it till the end when they sent me home.

The day began with 100+ people packed into a little room watching ONE television screen, which rambled on for 22 minutes (we were told) about the history of the court system and what an honor it is to be a juror. Next we were herded into a different courtroom,where a select few of us were excused right off the bat (a local judge, police officer, and wife to a local ADA). Then they told us the nature of the case (several counts of sex offenses), and those who had had a personal experience with a sex offender and felt they could not sit on a jury impartially were invited to speak up, and most were excused. Following was the actual jury selection.

For those of you who have never been to something so riveting, I assure you that when your turn comes, you will feel just as lucky as we all did to be held captive in a boring room with nothing to do but listen to other potential juror's personal information. They randomly called 18 potential jurors at a time to sit in the jury box and answer questions. I was very fortunate to be in the first 18, as it took nearly two hours for them to be done with us. I think they gathered 6 or 7 jurors from that initial group, so I know there was a least a second, if not a third, group called. And I can't IMAGINE sitting in that courtroom listening to all that foolishness all day only to learn that 12 jurors and two alternates had been selected without my even sitting in the jury box!

So, to shorten this post a bit, it all ended up with me being excused... thankfully. I am grateful to have gotten out of a day's work, honestly; as boring as it was, it was a whole lot easier than being a nurse for eight hours. An interesting aside: when we were informed that we'd most likely know who the jurors were going to be by lunchtime, and that we'd be excused from jury duty for six years after appearing today, whether we were selected or not, most of us cheered internally... except two nuts sitting in the front row. One guy asked, "If we aren't selected for the jury, can we still sit and listen to the case?" (The answer was yes, as court cases are generally open to the public.) And the OTHER guy asked, if you can BELIEVE this, "Whether we are chosen or not, is there any way to waive that six years? And be a juror again sooner that that?"

What?!

The answer to this question was no, oddly enough, and we were further informed that although your name returns to the eligibility list in six years, this doesn't guarantee you'll be selected again right away. As the guy up front likely snapped his fingers and said, "Oh, darn," I turned to the guy next to me and said, "Who are these people?!"

Ha ha. So I hope y'all had a happy Monday... I have the afternoon off!