Jury Duty

I admit it - I was excited for jury duty.

I got my summons maybe a month or so ago, and I was kind of anticipating my two days of service. Well, yesterday I was not needed. Instead, I got 12 hours of blissful sleep and after that worked on my masters comps. Which, by the way, is going to be more time consuming than I originally thought.

I was needed today, so I got up bright n early (after getting only 6 hours of sleep, ugh) and was all excited to go.


So what is jury duty like, exactly?

This is how the day ran:

8:30 - arrive, check in, spend 2 minutes filling out some demographic information
8:35 - wait
9:00 - lady seats us in order
9:15 - lady gives us a few rules and regs
9:20 - wait
9:30 - judge comes in to tell us how we are "signing our names on the Constitution every time we sit on a jury". How it is "not a disruption" but rather "one of the most important jobs a citizen can do".
10:00 - judge gets off of his soapbox
10:01 - wait
10:45 - file out and upstairs to the court in order
10:55 - we all rise and are sworn in
11:00 - questioning begins
11:40 - questioning is finished
11:41 - wait while the attorneys are striking names from the panel
12:15 - panel is selected, I am not on it
then - lunch with mom



So that is jury duty. A lot of waiting. A lot of sitting. A lot of older people talking to captive audiences.

Naturally I am not supposed to talk of the trial, but I can tell you it was about a DUI case. Hmm... wonder why ever I would not be picked to be on that jury!!!

I felt sort of bad though... basically in a criminal case, they ask you a bunch of questions about whether you have witnessed crimes, been a victim of crime, had close friends or family commit crimes, etc. It is hard to stand up in front of 60 people and admit, like the girl next to me, that she was a victim of domestic abuse. Or the woman across the row who got a DUI two years ago. Or heck, even me, saying that my dad and brother have both gotten DUIs. I am mostly sure that strickened me immediately. As much as I would like to think I could be fair and impartial, I probably couldnt be.

To be totally honest, as soon as I heard it was DUI case I was like ugh, what an idiot. See, judging right there! The whole time I was like soooooooo how can you bring this to trial? You were drinking, pulled over at 5 am no less, and you are trying to prove your innocence?! Hardly.

But then I saw the guy. He was ready to pee his pants. He looked like a loser, despite the suit, but he looked genuinely nervous. So then I realized that yes, I could be impartial. Yes, I could give this guy a fair trial, even though I have all this negative experience. I did not want to stick it to him, I wanted the truth for him, so that he could either be free or get help. Or both.

Alas, I was not chosen, no shock there. What can ya do?

In the mail, I will get my check for $9 and $.17 cents per mile traveled. Woohoo! If I hadn't have taken my mom out for lunch, I would have made some money today!



Bottom line though, I think it IS a good thing to do... and you shouldn't try to get out of it. I think the justice system IS important and we have to do as best we can to be a part of it.

So there ya have it folks. Stop whining and moaning about jury duty. You are helping condemn or free someone. You are helping the system work. At least the seats are comfy, if none of that appeals to you. And you get to read a lot, if you are into that sort of thing. Yay jury duty!



10:35 - file