(no subject)
I wrote this yesterday but the system locked up, jury duty was Monday.
I'm in the jury pool for this "term," not sure how long they last, but I'm in the "pool" and got called in to report yesterday. Going in I figured, probably some drunk, unpaid tickets, dumbasses got into a fight, standard stuff. There was only one case up that day for which a jury was being empaneled, a young man of 26, having just finished a prison term for sexual molestation, was facing a request by the state attorney generals office that he be declared a "violent sexual predator" under the state violent sexual predator act, and taken into custody for containment and treatment. Basically it was a civil case to have him committed to psych ward (a special psych ward for violent sexual predators) so they wouldn't have to set him free to his own devices now that his prison sentence was ending.
Thankfully, I did not get chosen, but the selection process involved a little over six hours of very intense, very unpleasant Q & A with a series of lawyers and a judge. We were informed, among other things, that the hearing would involve much testimony, mostly from psychologists, and some exhibits, mostly paperwork and forms, and that it would concern sexual abuse of children between the ages of five and ten, forcible sex acts, etc. At the end of the day when they announced the selections, they said this whole ordeal would last several days. I told the judge during the break that I felt like I was already biased, because I felt that anyone who would have the desire to perform such an act is obviously mentally abnormal, and that I was well versed in behavioral science and might have trouble separating what I new from outside the courtroom from the deliberations within. I guess that did the trick, because I did not get chosen, thank Cthulhu.
I'm in the jury pool for this "term," not sure how long they last, but I'm in the "pool" and got called in to report yesterday. Going in I figured, probably some drunk, unpaid tickets, dumbasses got into a fight, standard stuff. There was only one case up that day for which a jury was being empaneled, a young man of 26, having just finished a prison term for sexual molestation, was facing a request by the state attorney generals office that he be declared a "violent sexual predator" under the state violent sexual predator act, and taken into custody for containment and treatment. Basically it was a civil case to have him committed to psych ward (a special psych ward for violent sexual predators) so they wouldn't have to set him free to his own devices now that his prison sentence was ending.
Thankfully, I did not get chosen, but the selection process involved a little over six hours of very intense, very unpleasant Q & A with a series of lawyers and a judge. We were informed, among other things, that the hearing would involve much testimony, mostly from psychologists, and some exhibits, mostly paperwork and forms, and that it would concern sexual abuse of children between the ages of five and ten, forcible sex acts, etc. At the end of the day when they announced the selections, they said this whole ordeal would last several days. I told the judge during the break that I felt like I was already biased, because I felt that anyone who would have the desire to perform such an act is obviously mentally abnormal, and that I was well versed in behavioral science and might have trouble separating what I new from outside the courtroom from the deliberations within. I guess that did the trick, because I did not get chosen, thank Cthulhu.