So, yesterday they actually called up my “group,” after being in denial all week that I would actually have to go. I pack up lots to keep me entertained, and head off. 8am to 5 pm. Have I mentioned before how wigged out I get nowadays when I’m out of my house for more than a couple of hours. This is not gonna be fun…
1. For starters, I’m amazed after more than 10 years without a jury summons, they seem to have found me again. The hubby gets called every year, sometimes twice.
2. The jury assembly room is not NEAR as nice as it was 10+ years ago when I was last there. MUCH smaller and far more crowded. This is not helping my being out of the house issues.
3. People’s ideas of “business attire” REALLY runs the gamut! I mean, I was feeling a little bad wearing jeans, but I did have on a nice jacket. I tell ya what – I was looking good, which is saying a lot :o)
4. Once we were up in a courtroom, when one guy “got told” by the bailiff for reading his paper when he was supposed to be paying attention, I didn’t get figure I should pull out my sock and start knitting. Bummer…. all dang day at jury duty, and since I got called up to a courtroom after the first hour of sitting around…. I didn’t get much knitting done. Didn’t open my book, either.
5. I must have a very scary, unapproachable air about me. I don’t think so… I’m a happy, kind, thought I looked like a nice person, but no one all day, at jury duty or pretty much anywhere, really, ever asks me about my knitting. I read people’s blogs all the time where people get comments when they KIP – me, never. Hmmm, what’s with that?
6. I’m either WAY more conservative, or WAY more honest than the majority of potential jurors. I actually did get called upstairs into a courtroom – a group of about 45 of us the judge and lawyers were gonna grill to find their final 12. I’m actually pretty glad I didn’t get called into the juror box to answer all the questions.
A. For starters, they probably interviewed 35 people… ages ranging 18 to probably 70. One of the questions was how long have you lived in the county. No kidding, the person who had lived in the county the longest had lived here 17 yrs. Now, this has nothing to do with my being conservative, but I was NOT looking forward to saying I’d lived her 47 years! Dang, I’m getting old.
B. Here’s where I seem to be WAY to conservative, closed minded, or whatever… I’m still trying to work it all out in my mind…. am I a bad person, or are the rest of them just liars? (and… mind you, we’ve all raised our right hand and have sworn we won’t lie, perjury and all that, ya know) The “defendant” is in prison garb, has not been able to post bail or get someone to do it for him, is charged with 2 counts of domestic violence, 1 count of threat with a deadly weapon, and 2 counts of child endangerment. He has 2 prior felony convictions, and has been convicted twice before for domestic violence. Now…. we’ve all been told we are to consider him innocent until proven guilty…. and I’m seriously telling myself, honestly, you’re gonna have to prove to me he’s innocent, because I’m pretty sure he’s guilty. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not the juror they want. But one by one, when asked whether anyone has a problem with knowing all that about the guy, can you put all that aside and not let it color your weighing of the evidence, no kidding, all but ONE person said, oh, sure, absolutely. Not a problem.
Now, I’m wondering, am I awful?, am I just a big ol’ conservative jerk?, do I actually truthfully tell the truth if I get up there? Am I gonna look like some sort of conservative, stiff necked freak? I decide I’m telling the truth… but, I’m also secretly glad it never gets that far and I don’t have to say I’ve lived here 47 years and you’ve gotta be kidding me if you think I don’t already think that guy’s guilty.
Yeah. Well, I’m pretty sure I would have been excused… so it’s all good.
But, please, if you ever see me knitting in public, please come up and say hi, ask me about my knitting, say there’s no way I could have lived in the county for 47 years because I don’t look a day over 30…. and that all those other potential jurors were lying through their teeth. I’ll love you forever.
Read Full Post »