Jury Duty

I didn't get my best-case scenario or even my second-best case scenario with jury duty, but I didn't end up doing a trial, which was good. I was in the second group called up to a courtroom and had to go through the jury selection process for a felony case. Fortunately, I was in the last twenty or so of the whole panel, so they'd have had to strike a lot of people to put me on that jury. Not that people weren't trying. I'm hoping some were exaggerating for effect in hope of getting struck because this world is truly sad if they were really that ignorant.

I got there very early because when I used to commute to near the courthouse, it was nearly an hour-long drive in rush hour, so I allowed myself plenty of time to get there, get a parking spot and get through security. It took me twenty minutes to make the drive this morning, so I was there about 45 minutes early. But hey, no line at security and a parking space on the first level, next to the exit of the garage.

I wasn't even too sad about being called up to a courtroom so soon because there was a woman sitting behind me who would not. shut. up. She was blabbering on to the poor guy sitting next to her, and she came across as a complete idiot, and probably a bigot, to boot. I'd thought she sounded like an older woman because she was talking like someone who came along long before political correctness or cultural sensitivity were things, but then she mentioned her age, and she was several years younger than I am. I noticed that the man she was talking to was on my panel, and I was tempted to ask if he was glad of the escape. On the other hand, the woman sitting next to me was reading a Harry Potter novel. It reminded me of the time I had jury duty the Monday after a Harry Potter book release, and almost everyone in the courthouse had their faces buried in that book. Except for me because I'd finished it over the weekend.

The case sounded odd enough, from the questions they were asking and the wording of the indictment, that I was almost curious enough that I might not have minded being on the jury to get the real details and see how it came out. Mind you, almost. I still barely restrained a fist pump when they named the final juror and it wasn't me. I got home about 3:15, and now I'm trying to catch up on the things I usually do during the day. Back to somewhat normal tomorrow.