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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

peer pressure

I am an 18 years of age or older citizen of the United States residing at least 50% of the time in this county and can read, write, speak, and understand English who does not have sole responsibility for the daily care of a permanantley disabled person living in my house.

*INHALE*

And I was randomly selected for jury duty.  How special.

The day could certainly have been worse.  I was a little concerned, though, when it started with me making the courthouse metal detector beep, backing up and taking off my watch and belt, making the metal detector beep again, and then being subjected to the wand.  And I still couldn't get them to kick me out.

Last night, I'd packed my jury duty survival kit - a totebag loaded with some work materials, 400 ASVAB flash cards, and not enough food.  About all that stuff was good for was to weigh me down.  I had very little uninterrupted time even though a bulk of the time was spent waiting.  How does that happen??

I will not bore blog ("blore" - new term?) with the details.  I do, however, have renewed appreciation for Einstein's theory of Relativity.  Time is certainly not the same everywhere.  Courthouse time is right up there with In-an-Airport-During-a-Blizzard time.

Today I

  • met some nice people
  • thought probably too much about the idea of "jury of peers"
  • felt old when it seemed all the lawyers were practically young enough to be my children.
  • prompted a woman to change her plea to "guilty" just by my mere presence in the jury box.
That last one, I'm rather proud of.

But alas, that story will have to wait for another day.  I feel a need to do something productive like walk the dog, and then I must tute. 

Judicially yours,
Abby
.

10 comments:

terri said...

I'm so glad you've written this story, rather than spoken it. Some might be a little put off by your announcement of having to toot!

I really always sort of wanted to serve on a jury, just for the experience. As far as I got was sitting around and waiting just long enough to be informed I was not selected.

Anita said...

You said "tute." Terri said "toot." Either way, I had to look in up in the slang dictionary. Does it have anything to do with bodily air? :)

I had jury duty yeeeears ago; in my twenties, 3 times in 2 states that I've lived in. I didn't like it. It's one of those check-it-off-your-list life experiences though.

Abby said...

OH, uhm... to clarify. tute (v) - To be a tutor.

Abby said...

I was actually half-hoping to serve on a jury and was THIS close before she bagged. I wasn't all that disappointed though.

Shawnte said...

Interesting story! Surprisingly, I've never served jury duty once. I'm still young so my luck is probably gonna run out pretty soon and I'll be getting summons left and right x.x ugh!

ShadowRun300 said...

When I was younger I would have loved to serve on jury duty, but never was called for it. Now, I have no desire to serve, so I'm sure I'll get the call.
Can't wait to hear your story, and I sure hope your tute'n was more satisfying than jury duty. ;)

agg79 said...

Guilty! I've served on a couple of juries. Don't know why they keep picking me, even when I do try to look "disreputable". Must be my winning smile and charming personality. Glad you were able to experience the judicial system in its full mindless glory. I used to look forward to serving time, but after 5 trials (1 attempted capital murder, 1 committal, 2 civil suits, and a molestation), serving has lost some of its allure to me. Still, you should be proud you did your civic duty and didn't try to dodge it. Of course, now that they know you will actually show up, your name may get called again.

And I got tute (cute).

Scott said...

I can relate. I did that once, in Mobile. Just a civil case involving a traffic accident (which party was at fault). I remember I took notes, asked alot of questions. Then on the last day, I overslept! I had to drive like hell, even passing two cars at once, to get there on time--and I was still late! Then as I rushed through the metal detector, the guard shouted for me to back up (I think it was my car keys that set it off). He was pissed--and I was terrified! When I got into the courtroom, all the other jurors were there, and I was afraid I'd go to jail for contempt of court! But the judge was kind (apparently I wasn't the only juror who'd ever been late). Finally, I unintentionally took charge during the jury assembly, as if this were a case of life or death--two of the jurors even joked that I should have been a lawyer!

Shawnte said...

You had a really interesting day today xD! Also, I got a child down my spine when I saw the pi symbol x.x I know it's pi day and all but I was definitely not a math scholar in school x.x.

Anita said...

Thank you. I didn't have a clue. LOL