Jury Rigged

<----- My souvenirs. Well, I did my civic duty -- my deed of good citizenry -- and served as a juror today. Quite amusing really...esp. after my hubby assured me I "wouldn't be picked."

After arriving at the prescribed 8:15 a.m and waiting in an airport-lounge-like atmosphere with 179 other nervous potentials....we didn't actually enter the juror selection process until about 10:50 a.m. Not really gripping, Judge-Judy stuff. I know she doesn't actually have a jury, but I'm certain if she did they would have to speed up the process to 5 minutes to fit it all in during a 1/2-hour show. (On a side note, we did get to watch FOXNews and see the Discovery Space Shuttle land. Way cool...esp. since we don't get that channel at home, and I would have probably forgotten the shuttle was landing anyway.)

So...enter the juror selection process. They (the Judge, Commonwealth (a.k.a. Prosecutor), and Defense Counsel) asked each of the 45 chosen jurors ALL 4,634 questions, trying to stare us down/catch us up, I think, and eliminate us from the pool. We were a tough bunch. (Well, all but one of us who seemed to answer "yes" for all the questions even when they didn't pertain to him. He just wanted out.) The rest of us were in for the long haul...even the woman who stood up late because she didn't think being a victim of a drunk-driving-hit-and-run accident constituted "being a victim of a crime." The Judge set her straight.

Finally, after a volleying, "Go-Fish"-like match with the juror namelist in the blue folder, they came up with 12 jurors and 2 alternates. I was Juror #6...so much for NOT being picked. It was now 12:05 p.m. Lunchtime. We were dismissed to find our own food and return by 1:35 p.m. (I thought they'd feed us...sheesh.) Mind you, they were paying us $9 for the day. Lunch totaled $5.50.

We returned and lined up, yet again, and went back into the courtroom to hear all about the case. Case #1, 298 on the docket: The Commonwealth vs. the Alleged Dognapper (names changed to protect the innocent). We heard the evidence in a total of 15 minutes and then there was a recess because it was over so quickly. Traipse out...traipse back in. It was now 3 p.m.

It turned out that there wasn't enough evidence to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the man was guilty of any of the three charges brought against him so the defendant was acquitted. No, duh! The 10-year-olds who testified couldn't corroborate their stories and the mother admitted to cussing out the defendant in order to get his confession. The only crime was that the we the jury never got to deliberate...though we did so on the elevator ride back down to the jurors' waiting room. Many of us still had questions...one man had wanted to say, "I object." And there was still Commonwealth Exhibit #1 to contemplate: the broken leash. Hmmmm...

I'm glad I was chosen for this experience. It certainly gave me an inside view of our judicial system and brought along a few chuckles with it.