Argh. I had jury duty last week. And while, on some level, I have an appreciation for our judicial system, I really just didn't have that kind of time. I ended up having to cancel or reschedule six clients at the last minute, and was stressed about losing hours toward graduation, and really wanted to get dismissed from the jury. But before that could happen, you arrive at 8am and spend two hours getting "oriented" before they give all 50 of you an hour to drive five miles to another courthouse, the one where the actual cases are happening... and then they spend a while seating you in the courtroom and then, gosh, it's lunchtime so you have to wait around another hour and a half before jury selection actually begins.
Everybody in there wanted to get off the jury. The guy on my right was reading The Communist Manifesto and the guy on my left was sighing loudly every 10 seconds and obnoxiously proclaiming (over and over and over again) how he knows all the cops in Glendale. There was a woman on the panel who almost started crying while stating she could never convict someone because she was the mother of an adolescent (huh?), and a cinematographer who insisted (also many times) that he didn't think he could be fair because he had worked on a bunch of cop shows and movies (the best part of the day was when the judge leaned over and asked him if he knew the difference between TV and real life).
Anyhow, since it was a criminal trial, the prosecutor ended up (two hours later) kicking off everyone who had ever had a non-sunny-and-wonderful interaction with law enforcement, and for once in my life I was thankful that I was in that category. I said my brother had been arrested 15 years ago for something when he was a teenager and that I didn't think he had been treated fairly, and boom I was gone.
If it hadn't been such stressful timing (I couldn't postpone because there was no better time to reschedule for in the near future), it would have been a more enjoyable adventure. At the very least, it was entertaining to watch a room full of relatively normal, sane adults attempt to look earnest while trying to fly their freak-flags high enough to get sent home.
2 comments:
Reading about jury duty reminds me of my friend Dave in college. He was pretty straight edge, but had a speed metal radio show. Funny combination. But since he had the paraphenelia he would dress up with his shit kickers, long black shorts with mandatory 3 foot long key chain, death metal shirt, and some white trash hat......without showering for a day or two before going into jury duty. Somehow it worked every time. Perhaps you should try.........fun visual there. ttl
I would think telling them about your grad school experience so far would get you kicked off easily. Good call though on your brother's thing.
Post a Comment