Tuesday, February 7, 2012

My day with the Jury Duty... *Edited... now with more crappy content :D*

So Sarah wanted to know about my jury duty. Basically I had to get up at 6 am, and drive to a courthouse an hour and a half away from me, down a one lane highway. I got stuck behind an RV. I am pretty sure it was being driven by the crypt keeper himself, and it never got over 30mph. Finally, after the drive from hell, I get to the courthouse. Between the parking lot, and the courthouse is a 30ft. lake of muddy water. Yay. I got around it, only getting mud about ankle high all. Sucked. So I finally got inside and stood in line for a half an hour to check in, standing butt to crotch with a hundred other strangers. Done, finally. They file us into the courtroom and assign us seating. I... of course get assigned to sit next to an older gentleman who had just recently bathed in what I can only assume from the smell, was a mixture of moth balls, ball sweat, and musk. He also wheezed like a very very fat person, but was surprisingly skinny. So... sitting there for like 20 minutes or so in silence, when the county clerk comes in and says the attorney is late, and we can all piss off for a half an hour. This repeats again when we file back into the room, as he still didn't show up. Almost 2 hours after I reached the courthouse, the attorney finally shows up. The defendant takes one look at us, all angry and sleepy, and pleads guilty. So... all that work and I didn't actually even get to participate in a trial. Pretty sure my sense of smell is also permanently damaged now.


Sarah also asked about the jury selection process:


I am not super sure how it works, but when one turns 18 they are automatically added to the potential jury pool for both county and federal. I didn't get selected for 10 years, though people I know have been selected many times. They allow you to file for an exemption if you have a child that you can't leave alone or are disabled and things like that, otherwise you are obligated to go. Even if you get summoned, you might not get selected to serve. They call about 200 people at a time, and then interview and select the ones they want to serve. Its kind of like doing a job interview for a job that you don't really like, but you have to do.

5 comments:

Mizaki Cupcake Verlack said...

*Just facepalms* He pleaded guilty already! Well...after reading all you had to go through for one day, I guess its a good thing. >.> And eat ice cream, I am sure your sense of smell will be back to normal!!! Lots of ice creammm!

How did you get to do the Jury duty anyway?Is it a random pick thing? And if they pick you, you can't decline?

Mizaki Cupcake Verlack said...

Oh..so that is how..well I think I am glad there is nothing like that here..Its finally my lunch break soooo, I decided to check what's new here, you know its been only two months I am working and lunch time seems to be a problem because I keep running out of ideas on what to eat...so for our next quesiton! Foood! What do you do when you can't decide what you want to eat???

BluerayDevin said...

Picket we miss you, come back already :(

BluerayDevin said...

Dear Picket,

When do you need us for more of the novel? How are you? You're missed, log in to skype sometime :)

Mizaki Cupcake Verlack said...

Where are you Miss Picket? =(