I had to report for jury duty this morning at 7:30. I didn't know how traffic is down I-15 in the morning commute so I left home at 6:25. I got there at 7:15. The orientation didn't start till 8:00 but they don't want to tell us to report at 8:00 because then we'd have stragglers missing important information.
There was only one trial starting today and there were a lot of people there. My chances of getting on the jury were going to be small. Heck, there was a chance that I wouldn't even be sent over to the courtroom. But I was among the people who were sent out to go through the jury selection process.
I got to watch the proceedings from the front row of the jury box.
The defendant looked like he is about 25 years old. He looked worried and uneasy. He allegedly was caught trying to smuggle something like 20 or 30 kilos of cocaine through the Calexico port of entry.
In the questioning of the prospective jurors we were asked if we heard that he had a prior conviction in a drug case whether that would make us assume that he must be guilty in this case.
After they questioned 40 of us (plus the few who replaced the people who were excused because they said that they were definitely going to be biased) they sent us out for a half hour. They did their peremptory challenges and took the first 14 people that neither side had tossed. I was tossed!
Now that I don't have to have an open mind I'm going to speculate that this kid was caught with the cocaine and that he knew what he was doing. And he hadn't learned his lesson from the first time!
If he looked as nervous while driving through the border checkpoint as he looked in the courtroom I'm not surprised that he got caught. But then maybe when the jig is up and you finally understand how stupid you've been and you realize what's ahead of you you lose your cockiness.
Anyway, I got out of there at noon and got to go back to work.
But I'm still on the hook for the rest of the month (or till I serve on a jury). They say that the second of our four weeks of being on call is our "prime week." There are few if any new cases starting this week so maybe I've done my duty.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
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4 comments:
I am almost envious at your getting to go to so many calls to civic action, they have only called me a couple of weeks after I have moved out of the state...thus getting a pass.
Drugs are bad
I would love to actually serve on a jury. I always get passed over when my duty comes up. Many of my co-workers have been on juries, and they all say it's interesting and (in one murder case) thrilling.
My word verification is "conarph."
I still want to serve on jury duty. They booted me when I got called in December for Grand Jury...but I got paid $13 for showing up. Drugs are very, very bad! Knucklehead!
Did you wear your lucky get-out-of-jury-duty-free shirt?
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