Well, I had my very first jury summons yesterday. I made it down to Chinatown to the State Supreme Court (no not the one from Law and Order) and was even a little early so I stopped in Starbucks for a coffee. It was in a Chinese pagoda type thing. Just the first experience of the day. I was going to the criminal court, so it was bound to be a day full of surprises.
We all got into the room and got settled about 9, and the clerk-guy in charge of all of the prospective jurors started giving instructions for about an hour. He was hilarious! Cracking jokes and being a smart-ass, it was a welcome reprieve from reading my book and waiting. It's a lot of waiting. I got called to the first jury selection of the day at about 10:45, so I headed downstairs to a very ugly courtroom with 60 or so of my peers also wishing they were somewhere else. I was in that freezing room ALL DAY! They got through one round of selection and only kept 4 people, so we were told to be back after lunch (which was an hour and a half so I got some shopping in!) and we'd start the whole process over again. We had two more rounds, and I was the LAST person called to the jury box. And I was a replacement for a girl who had an issue with the case because a family member had been convicted of a similar charge. Sucks! And, of course, I was selected. But her's was nothing, you should HEAR some of the personal information people volunteer about themselves. And how stupid people really are! But, I digress. I go today to sit on a jury for the first time in my life, and it happens to be in Manhattan! I'm actually a little excited, it's a cool experience. And, I don't have to be there until 10 AM! Luckily it should be a short case and I won't be gone that long. Because my boss is freaking out. We had a deadline on Feb. 20th, and his poor managing has pushed us WAY back with all of the things we have to do before then. So, me missing multiple days of work is not ok in his eyes. I actually have to work this weekend to get some things done. Irritating. Your pool planning is NOT my emergency!
So, that's my story. I can't talk about the case right now, but I'll post again after the whole ordeal is over. In other news, it's going to snow this weekend! Yay!
We all got into the room and got settled about 9, and the clerk-guy in charge of all of the prospective jurors started giving instructions for about an hour. He was hilarious! Cracking jokes and being a smart-ass, it was a welcome reprieve from reading my book and waiting. It's a lot of waiting. I got called to the first jury selection of the day at about 10:45, so I headed downstairs to a very ugly courtroom with 60 or so of my peers also wishing they were somewhere else. I was in that freezing room ALL DAY! They got through one round of selection and only kept 4 people, so we were told to be back after lunch (which was an hour and a half so I got some shopping in!) and we'd start the whole process over again. We had two more rounds, and I was the LAST person called to the jury box. And I was a replacement for a girl who had an issue with the case because a family member had been convicted of a similar charge. Sucks! And, of course, I was selected. But her's was nothing, you should HEAR some of the personal information people volunteer about themselves. And how stupid people really are! But, I digress. I go today to sit on a jury for the first time in my life, and it happens to be in Manhattan! I'm actually a little excited, it's a cool experience. And, I don't have to be there until 10 AM! Luckily it should be a short case and I won't be gone that long. Because my boss is freaking out. We had a deadline on Feb. 20th, and his poor managing has pushed us WAY back with all of the things we have to do before then. So, me missing multiple days of work is not ok in his eyes. I actually have to work this weekend to get some things done. Irritating. Your pool planning is NOT my emergency!
So, that's my story. I can't talk about the case right now, but I'll post again after the whole ordeal is over. In other news, it's going to snow this weekend! Yay!
2 comments:
I've received jury summons several times before. I'm always happy to check the box that says, "I'm a student, leave me alone." and mail it back.
Jury duty in College Station would only be fun for the 10 minutes the defendant was explaining how he got ripped before he got in his big ol' truck and destroyed half of downtown Bryan.
One of these decades I'm going to get a summons and say, "Oh crap! I'm not in school anymore so I have to go to this!" That isn't likely to happen in the present decade though.
Sounds very exciting. I've been called for jury duty three times in three years in Texas. I think they mark people from out of state or something.
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