I've been called a lot for jury duty, and only been an alternate once and that case got settled out of court. It's a crap shoot.
Heh. That was a drunk-driving case, back when I lived in New York. When they were seating the jury, they asked us if there were any reason we thought we might not be able to serve. The guy next to me volunteered that he did a lot of work with MADD, but he thought he'd be able to judge the case on the evidence. Well, I thought it only fair to let them know about my alcoholism, since it was a drunk driving case. I'd been in AA maybe 8 years at the time. Rather than tell the whole courtroom about it, I asked to approach the judge, and just tell her and the attorneys.
It was a cheesy little courtroom, by the way. Manhattan has crap courtrooms that look nothing like the ones you see on Law & Order, that's for sure. This one was more like a large meeting room in a midsized company that doesn't have the money to get decent furniture or change the fluorescent lights when they burned out.
Anyway, I told the judge and the attorneys about my alcoholism, and the judge asked if I thought I'd be able to judge the case fairly. I assured her I would.
My high school history teacher--lovely guy, if intensely conservative--served on a jury (and was the foreman, I think) for a personal injury(?) case. Hahaha, and they gave him a little certificate for participating, which he hung in the back of the room. One of my co-workers was on a jury once, too. Maybe they'll take anyone they can get in my area.
I've actually been to the court I think this'll be held at as part of a school field trip (we got to see the jail, too! w00t!). It's pretty nice--I mean, when I visited, it looked like a conference room, but a fairly comfortable one. Nicer than some of my college classrooms, that's for sure.
My letter of summons implies this'll only last a week, but who knows? Hahahaha, that sounds awesome! What kinds of questions did they ask? How much was your compensation?
Hahahaha, I doubt they'll have wireless, but if they did, and if I got on the jury, and if my laptop's battery could go more than 30 minutes without dying, imagine the conversation:
Me: OMG WTF this witness is retarded! [And then I'd quote something and chuckle to myself as I wrote it, disrupting everyone around me. Then I'd move on to discussing important things like the attorneys' ties.]
Ryan got called a for jury duty... The case was a bar fight. He was almost on the jury except for the last question being "has anyone in your family been in a bar fight." Alas, he was thrown off.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-01-26 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-26 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-26 11:24 pm (UTC)Alas.
I got called for jury duty while I was recovering from surgery. I promptly postponed it for 6 months. I know my duty as a citizen.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-26 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-26 11:37 pm (UTC)Heh. That was a drunk-driving case, back when I lived in New York. When they were seating the jury, they asked us if there were any reason we thought we might not be able to serve. The guy next to me volunteered that he did a lot of work with MADD, but he thought he'd be able to judge the case on the evidence. Well, I thought it only fair to let them know about my alcoholism, since it was a drunk driving case. I'd been in AA maybe 8 years at the time. Rather than tell the whole courtroom about it, I asked to approach the judge, and just tell her and the attorneys.
It was a cheesy little courtroom, by the way. Manhattan has crap courtrooms that look nothing like the ones you see on Law & Order, that's for sure. This one was more like a large meeting room in a midsized company that doesn't have the money to get decent furniture or change the fluorescent lights when they burned out.
Anyway, I told the judge and the attorneys about my alcoholism, and the judge asked if I thought I'd be able to judge the case fairly. I assured her I would.
"Lots of my friends are drunk drivers!"
Amazingly enough, they didn't disqualify me.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-26 11:48 pm (UTC)I've actually been to the court I think this'll be held at as part of a school field trip (we got to see the jail, too! w00t!). It's pretty nice--I mean, when I visited, it looked like a conference room, but a fairly comfortable one. Nicer than some of my college classrooms, that's for sure.
Hahahahahahahaha.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 11:28 pm (UTC)How much was your compensation?no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 05:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 05:31 am (UTC)There'd better be singing or people in costume. Boston Legal has taught me to expect that in 3 out of every 4 court cases.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 05:47 am (UTC)But what if those costumes were clowns?
no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 11:32 pm (UTC)RP character'sdeep-seated antipathy for them.no subject
Date: 2008-01-27 07:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 11:35 pm (UTC)Me: OMG WTF this witness is retarded! [And then I'd quote something and chuckle to myself as I wrote it, disrupting everyone around me. Then I'd move on to discussing important things like the attorneys' ties.]
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 02:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 07:09 pm (UTC)