(no subject)

[camwyn]

So, jury duty. Woo. Had to actually report to the courthouse today. (Yesterday not so much, but that's probably just as well, given that yesterday I woke up twice with 'OH GOD IT'S COLD and yet I seem to have sweated like a mad thing' fevers.) They've got wifi, I can live with that. Also books, but the shelf seems mostly to be Nora Roberts and VC Andrews type stuff. I brought my Tao of Jeet Kune Do and a few DVDs, something of a callback to the one other time I actually had to turn up at a courthouse for jury duty- and saw one man happily spend his part of the day watching Chinese historical dramas on his laptop, and wished I had one myself.

No clue when they're going to call us or what they might want us for. It's the district court, not the county court, so it could be anything. We'll see.

I don't mind, honestly. I know someone once snarked that the hell of being on trial was knowing that you were about to be judged by twelve people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty, but when it comes down to it, I don't mind doing the job at all. I'd like to think that if I ever got put on trial, at least one person on the bench would be there willingly. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and all that.

Comments

[moofoot.livejournal.com]

I agree. I actually don't mind jury duty.

[kyrielle]

I'm with you. I did get out of jury duty once, but it was because I was in college half the country away - I was sorry they hadn't called me up on summer break, when I could've served.

Of course, in this economy, the jury may be made up of people for whom the jury duty pay is better than nothing, sadly.

[camwyn]

I've actually been called for jury duty three times before this. Twice while I was at college, and once when I had to show up but the case was settled out of court around three in the afternoon. We'll see if they do that here. There's about seventy of us in the room right now, waiting while everyone gets checked in.

[sdelmonte]

I like jury duty. Either you get to do your civic duty, or you get a little downtime to read or surf, etc.

Though things have changed. The first time I was on jury duty, the Queens courts were run by a rather limiting judge who banned Walkmen from the courthouse. I suspect he would also ban laptops and iPod and cellphones. I don't think you could get away with that, given that the current mindset is to make things easier for the jury pool.

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

I've been called twice (chosen once), and I don't mind it. It's something that needs to be done, and I'm happy to do it. It's part of being a citizen of the country.

[kyrielle]

Yeah, I've been called twice since that first time; once settled out of court. The other went to jury selection but I was way far down the list and they filled the pool and alternates before they got to me (but, I actually sat in the courtroom while the lawyers asked us questions, anyway).

The one that settled, mind you, I was worried that day, because they were choosing for a twelve-week grand jury from the same pool. Had they called me, I would have served, but I admit twelve weeks is more than I wanted to do. :P

[e-mily.livejournal.com]

My grandfather is over 70 years old. And has never actually been the jury chosen for the trial, no matter how much he wants to be.

who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty

Or who weren't sly enough to lie when answering the lawyer's questions.

[vivien]

I've only been called once, and I had to be excluded for reals. I didn't even try to be, but the case was such that I was like, "Um, no, I don't think I could be objective here."