Jury Duty

So, I had Jury Duty today. The prospect of getting stuck on a protracted trial and the imminent financial ruin that would result had me very tense[1]. I explained my situation, and they asked if I could serve today only, and I said yes. I lost a lot of money for it, but you know, I can justify that for civic duty. I mean, I could have been sick or something and missed a day.

We sat around for a while, watched an industrial video explaining why jury duty is important. We then had an orientation wherein they told us what to do in my particular situation and they layed down some more rules about not talking to anyone else in the building, etc.

Eventually, I was called up to a courtroom. We sat in front of the courtroom as they *wheeled in* Banker's Boxes of evidence and some foamcore mounted photos that were pretty scary, but not really definable from where I was sitting. (It could have been a crime scene or not. They were dark and eerie and I became a bit concerned about what this trial was.) We sat out fronnt of the courtroom for so long that I was thinking they might have decided to settle.

No such luck.

Eventually we were called in. We were informed this was a medical malpractice case involving the death of a 7-year-old and alleging negligence on the part of the doctor. Already, I didn't think I could make a fair judgement. I am very susceptible to absorbing the emotions of others and allowing myself to be influenced by this. The parents were there, and I knew once they started showing that scary evidence that I would be in tears and totally useless.

I was in the first group to be questioned and I got all the way through the questions until the final one: can you be impartial. No, I could not be impartial.

I was dismissed by the judge, and replaced. The jury was chosen from the remaining people, and many were removed, a pediatric nurse among them.

The leftovers were sent back to the Jury Assembly Area to await another call for jurors. About 20 minutes into that, the group from my courtroom came back. The whole case was settled, and they never heard any evidence. I like to think that the doctor realized what he was in for once this evidence was presented to some non-lawyers.

We sat around some more until we were dismissed around 1pm. I will be free of this obligation for three years, but you (YES YOU) could be next.