Jury Duty
So, back in April, while I was at the parochial school, I got jury duty. I begged off till the week of the 25th. THIS WEEK. I didn't find the little tiny notice they sent till tuesday. call in panic, apologize offer to make good. They tell me come in tomorrow (aka wednesday, today). I go. I bring two books. a james bond to read, an "The Art of War" in hopes the prosecutor or defense will see me holding it and use a preemptory to toss me. I go sit inthe Petit jury waiting room. they tell us that today it's criminal cases. Shit. They tell us anyone who works for the .gov in any form won't get paid, including teachers. Shit again. Then they call 50 people. Not me. good. After about an hour, they call the rest of us. We can't bring our books.Shit again.We have to walk to another courthouse. Shit again. They seat 14, get through the first barrage of questions, and wind up dumping 5 jurors before breaking for lunch. after lunch, the fun starts. One juror 'remembers' that her dad golfs with the count prosecutor twice a month. and then the lawyer rejections start. well, seat 12 took forever to fill, because after they dumped that juror, I was the fifth replacement candidate. Well, anyone who knows my life in Savannah, or my 'welcome to Jacksonville' story, knows I will NOT be impartial to black on black burglary crimes. The judge's question is: "have you, your family, or close friends ever been the victim of a crime?" well, when i get to the seat, he's like:
"you remember all the questions?"
'yes sir.'
"You have any responses?"
'Uh, yes sir. the crimes one? yeah. My house was burglarized when I was a kid, I had the same car stolen twice, a gun pointed at me on the streets randomly, I lived in a house ans was home during an attempted burglary, I witnessed a mugging turn into an aggravated assault, an attempted arson almost burned down the ... " (at this point, one of my fellow jurors has made this little noise like she's either going to laugh or die of shock)
He cuts me off: "OK, would any of those..."
me:'I'm not done your honor'
The gallery: GASP (I think ti was of the holy shit how much shit have you seen? nothe you iterrupted the judge style)
Him: Yeah, would any of those things prevent you from being impartial in this case?"
me: "uh, yee-ah, i'm pretty sure it would."
Him: sigh, you're dismissed.
They went through at LEAST 8 people for that seat. I left the courthouse as soon as the judge dismissed me, got back to the OTHER courthouse, got my stuff, got to the jury bus bus stop, to get back to my car, and the courthouses flood out. they cancelled everythign and evacuated the buildings due to flooding. Route 29 was under 2 feet of water. later inthe day, I heard 2.5 feet. it may be more now.
So ten minutes after I'd left, or so, the judge dismissed the whole mess, the seated jurors and all.
that was it. Everyone was done. No one had to serve. Your taxes at work. (though, to be fair, I totally gothe point of why we do things like we do... as they say, it's the worst system there is, except for all the other systems.)
"you remember all the questions?"
'yes sir.'
"You have any responses?"
'Uh, yes sir. the crimes one? yeah. My house was burglarized when I was a kid, I had the same car stolen twice, a gun pointed at me on the streets randomly, I lived in a house ans was home during an attempted burglary, I witnessed a mugging turn into an aggravated assault, an attempted arson almost burned down the ... " (at this point, one of my fellow jurors has made this little noise like she's either going to laugh or die of shock)
He cuts me off: "OK, would any of those..."
me:'I'm not done your honor'
The gallery: GASP (I think ti was of the holy shit how much shit have you seen? nothe you iterrupted the judge style)
Him: Yeah, would any of those things prevent you from being impartial in this case?"
me: "uh, yee-ah, i'm pretty sure it would."
Him: sigh, you're dismissed.
They went through at LEAST 8 people for that seat. I left the courthouse as soon as the judge dismissed me, got back to the OTHER courthouse, got my stuff, got to the jury bus bus stop, to get back to my car, and the courthouses flood out. they cancelled everythign and evacuated the buildings due to flooding. Route 29 was under 2 feet of water. later inthe day, I heard 2.5 feet. it may be more now.
So ten minutes after I'd left, or so, the judge dismissed the whole mess, the seated jurors and all.
that was it. Everyone was done. No one had to serve. Your taxes at work. (though, to be fair, I totally gothe point of why we do things like we do... as they say, it's the worst system there is, except for all the other systems.)