Monday, February 25, 2008
Today started my last week of jury duty. There were only 40 people called today and I was juror 136 of 138, meaning that if they would have only called jurors 55-135 I wouldn't have had to go. After a lot of delay, we were finally called to the courtroom. It was the U.S. government vs. an illegal Mexican who was involved in some big drug ring. The guy couldn't speak english and had two interpretors for him.
Now, you have to know that they seat you according to your juror number so juror 55 was in the jury box and juror 136 (me) was three from the end. They start there and pare the list.
The judge began asking questions and probably eliminated ten for work purposes. I wanted to serve so I thought there was no way they would get to me. A lady actually said she was prejudiced against people who are in the U.S. and can't speak English. Then the lawyers got to ask questions. Then the judge and the lawyers started excusing people. They went through the list, excusing one after another. Eventually, there were 4 people left. A lady got called up and as the alternate and there were 3 left, one of whom had a sister die of a drug overdose so I'm sure he would have been excused. Then there was me. I was one away from being the alternate, which is the worst job because you have to attend the trial but don't get to vote in the end.
About halfway through the process, I decided I didn't want to sit on the jury. Henry is going ice skating on Wednesday and I'd like to be there for that so he doesn't crack his head. Of course, I'm also supposed to be at a meeting so I haven't decided how I'm going to handle this yet.
So, my federal jury duty is over without anything to show for it. I did get a $60 check for milage so that's nice. It was an interesting experience, much much getter than the muni court system where its a lot of sitting around waiting for a trial. I only had to go in two days and that's not bad.
Now, you have to know that they seat you according to your juror number so juror 55 was in the jury box and juror 136 (me) was three from the end. They start there and pare the list.
The judge began asking questions and probably eliminated ten for work purposes. I wanted to serve so I thought there was no way they would get to me. A lady actually said she was prejudiced against people who are in the U.S. and can't speak English. Then the lawyers got to ask questions. Then the judge and the lawyers started excusing people. They went through the list, excusing one after another. Eventually, there were 4 people left. A lady got called up and as the alternate and there were 3 left, one of whom had a sister die of a drug overdose so I'm sure he would have been excused. Then there was me. I was one away from being the alternate, which is the worst job because you have to attend the trial but don't get to vote in the end.
About halfway through the process, I decided I didn't want to sit on the jury. Henry is going ice skating on Wednesday and I'd like to be there for that so he doesn't crack his head. Of course, I'm also supposed to be at a meeting so I haven't decided how I'm going to handle this yet.
So, my federal jury duty is over without anything to show for it. I did get a $60 check for milage so that's nice. It was an interesting experience, much much getter than the muni court system where its a lot of sitting around waiting for a trial. I only had to go in two days and that's not bad.
