I had jury duty this week. I'd received the notice just before I left for Malawi and didn't pay much attention to it; when I got back, I saw the reminder notices and realized that I would be in MD during the scheduled date. I postponed for two weeks later, Monday.
At this point in life, I should have known that I was jinxing myself with how flippantly I was discussing it with friends and family as the day approached. My parents both seemed concerned that I would be picked and that it would mess up the start of classes. I, on the other hand, was (far too) confident that I would sit for the day in the jury pool and be dismissed promptly like the other two times I've been called.
I did sit there for quite a while, to the point that I didn't think they would get as high as my number (201). And then we get called upstairs to a court room. 50 people are in there, they explain the basics of the case, ask if anyone knows the defendant, the lawyers, and a number of other general questions, and then pulls people up one by one to ask them specific questions. I was quite honest, didn't answer that I would have unusual difficulties to serve that week (although I was thinking of inflating my need to be involved at orientation, although on second thought that seemed disingenuous so I kept quiet). The jury box starts to fill up, though there are plenty of people being dismissed. The lawyers clear out three of the people in the jury box, they fill those three seats, dismiss another, call the guy before me who is dismissed, call me, I go into the box, and they announce that they're done. great.
The trial itself was pretty short: one afternoon and the better part of a second day. After the trail ended, they selected two alternate jurors (they had 14 hear the trial, but only 12 deliberate), and I'm selected as an alternate. So we sat for two days during deliberations with nothing to do. The second day, yesterday, we actually brought our computers and DVDs. This is a great series on Discover Channel; we also watched Zoolander.
I really thought the case should have been more cut and dry, but it became clearer and clearer that the decision was much more difficult to make as the deliberations wore on. They were clearer stuck on one of the charges, and finally admitted they were at an impasse. Guilty on three charges, mistrial on one. There was lots of crying, which made me be glad that I could sit and read/watch DVDs for two days and not have to struggle with whether this guy did something or not. It clearly took a toll on them much more than I would have anticipated.
The whole ordeal was just bizarre. Walking in and out of the courtroom, having them rise for us, not really talking to the other jurors (I didn't know anyone else's name), not being able to talk about the trial with each other or anyone else, and then being stuck in that other room for two days just waiting. It made me wonder how the OJ jurors dealt with that whole trial.
I'm just glad that I'm free for three years of jury duty and that I can have a good long weekend.
On a lighter note, while I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, it also means being in a country with this:
At this point in life, I should have known that I was jinxing myself with how flippantly I was discussing it with friends and family as the day approached. My parents both seemed concerned that I would be picked and that it would mess up the start of classes. I, on the other hand, was (far too) confident that I would sit for the day in the jury pool and be dismissed promptly like the other two times I've been called.
I did sit there for quite a while, to the point that I didn't think they would get as high as my number (201). And then we get called upstairs to a court room. 50 people are in there, they explain the basics of the case, ask if anyone knows the defendant, the lawyers, and a number of other general questions, and then pulls people up one by one to ask them specific questions. I was quite honest, didn't answer that I would have unusual difficulties to serve that week (although I was thinking of inflating my need to be involved at orientation, although on second thought that seemed disingenuous so I kept quiet). The jury box starts to fill up, though there are plenty of people being dismissed. The lawyers clear out three of the people in the jury box, they fill those three seats, dismiss another, call the guy before me who is dismissed, call me, I go into the box, and they announce that they're done. great.
The trial itself was pretty short: one afternoon and the better part of a second day. After the trail ended, they selected two alternate jurors (they had 14 hear the trial, but only 12 deliberate), and I'm selected as an alternate. So we sat for two days during deliberations with nothing to do. The second day, yesterday, we actually brought our computers and DVDs. This is a great series on Discover Channel; we also watched Zoolander.
I really thought the case should have been more cut and dry, but it became clearer and clearer that the decision was much more difficult to make as the deliberations wore on. They were clearer stuck on one of the charges, and finally admitted they were at an impasse. Guilty on three charges, mistrial on one. There was lots of crying, which made me be glad that I could sit and read/watch DVDs for two days and not have to struggle with whether this guy did something or not. It clearly took a toll on them much more than I would have anticipated.
The whole ordeal was just bizarre. Walking in and out of the courtroom, having them rise for us, not really talking to the other jurors (I didn't know anyone else's name), not being able to talk about the trial with each other or anyone else, and then being stuck in that other room for two days just waiting. It made me wonder how the OJ jurors dealt with that whole trial.
I'm just glad that I'm free for three years of jury duty and that I can have a good long weekend.
On a lighter note, while I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, it also means being in a country with this:
Hey hun, just wanted to let u know that it was a surprisingly inspirational posting from a viewpoint of somebody who's going thru so-called permanent residency (green card) process. Glad to read your own experience both being an American and a foreign citizen in another continent; now we have even more in common :-) luvya always, -- miss fumi