how jury duty turned out

I am pleased to report it all went fine.  I did manage to calm down last night and get a little more organized.  Three fantastic mom friends cared for my children today.  I realized pretty quickly that I live in a small county where no one does anything on time, so 8:30 is more like 8:30 ish ...

So jury duty was a new experience for me, I've never done this before.  In a different place and time, I would have been really excited, actually.  Maybe I watch too much Law&Order (I mean, can you really?). But anyway, if it were 3 years ago or 5 years from now, I'd be all about it.  I hope they call me again!

Today I got there around 8:40, finally got through security, finally got checked in with 150 of my peers in the jury pool room.  My first impression was that this was probably a pretty accurate cross-section.  We watched a painfully detailed video about the process ("this is a judge...").  Then the Clerk rambled for 40 minutes, no lie.  I'm not sure if she was stalling or what but I just ended up more confused about the day than I started.

After I read in the jury room for about an hour, she said they wouldn't need us this morning, so we could take a break from 11 to 2:30, woo hoo!  She said she tries to get people out at 4 pm, so I really hoped with a quiet morning we would have a quiet afternoon and go home.

I got to play with Luke for about an hour on the break, then went back to the courthouse to read for another hour.  At 3:45 they announce they're going to start seating a jury!  What?!  I was called in the 50 or so people who were to go to the courtroom, so we headed down the hall.  The courtroom looks nothing like the ones on L&O, no windows, no paintings, and NO JACK MCCOY.  Sigh.

They get 12 people up, ask questions like do you live in the city or the county, have you served on a jury, where do you work.  They ruled out a few and dismissed them, asked a few more people questions.  I did not think they could possibly pick their 12 jurors before 5 pm and prepared to come back in the morning to finish the process.  I guess they got 12 they liked well enough, though, so we were dismissed, thanks that's your service for 2 years.  Woo hoo!

I was relieved not to sit on that particular trial.  The charge included assault in front of a child, and I'm not honestly sure I could have impartially listened.  I was a crisis counselor at a domestic violence agency for a while and worked in women's substance abuse. I don't know if that would be enough that they wouldn't want me on the trial, but I was glad I didn't have to bring it up and admit that I might not be impartial.  I feel like I SHOULD be, and I like to think I would be, but the question would be there.

Well, here's hoping I get a more entertaining trial next time, like my friend who got called the day before and is now sitting on a 5+ day trial.