The Justice League

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do my civic duty and potentially determine the fate of complete strangers. That's right - I was on Jury Duty! In my county, you have to serve either one day or one trial, whichever is longer. If you are not selected for a case by the end of the day, your obligation is done and you can't be called for the next three years.

Many people dread the idea of serving, but as I see it, there are several advantages. First, it's a guilt-free way to get out of work. Second, it is interesting to see how "the system" really works. Hint: it's a lot less exciting than you see in movies or TV. On the negative side, there is a certain amount of boredom and repetition involved, as I learned about 10 years ago when I was on a jury for an assault case. That case lasted three days; a lot of the testimony covered the same ground.

But back to yesterday. They make you report at 8AM, so I had to leave the house earlier than usual. When I got there, there was a long line waiting to go through the metal detector (I got through without setting it off). You have to watch an orientation video that is somewhat less than riveting. A judge then comes in to swear in all jurors. Then you wait.

At about 10:30, my number was called and I was part of a group of about 50 who went upstairs to a court room. The case being tried was for burglary. This was the second day of jury selection for this case; they still had not found 14 jurors who were acceptable to both sides. We were each given a questionnaire covering such topics of previous jury service, if we had ever been victims of a crime, etc. I was among the first from our group to be interviewed by the judge. One of my responses concerned my family's home having been burglarized when I was about eight years old (we weren't home at the time). The defense attorney requested that I be excused, and although they don't tell you the reason, I'm sure that my past experience had something to do with it.

I was sent back down to the juror room. Soon it was lunch time; I had a roast beef and cheese sub and an iced tea. After an hour, I returned to the court house. In the afternoon, they only called one more pool of jurors; I was not one of them. About 4:00 we were thanked for our service and dismissed.

So that's my story of jury duty. It was an enjoyable day overall. I listened to my iPod and read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (which I had never read before). In the morning I was sitting next to a very talkative man and it looked like I wouldn't get any reading done. But in the afternoon I was able to avoid human interaction :-)

I strongly encourage everyone to face jury duty with a sense of anticipation, not dread.