Wednesday, December 17

Jury Duty


I have been called to jury duty 3 times in the past year. Each time I rearranged my schedule to accommodate the jury duty (one day was V-day, one was my anniversary, so yes inconvenient times). And each time I would call the night before, only to be told that I wasn't needed. So when I received this last call for jury duty (4th time), I didn't really panic. Yes, it was a busy time at work, but I was juror 376, so I figured I was once again safe. In fact, I didn't even change my schedule. 

Well, Sunday night rolled around and at 10:30 I realized I had jury duty Monday morning. I panicked briefly, but then realized I just needed to call. I was most definitely going to be off the hook. I called...no such luck! They were calling jurors all the way through 475! Then I remembered that I did not arrange my schedule, so I had to actually call one of the salespeople on my team (at 10:45 on Sunday night) and ask them to come in the next morning for me. That was embarrassing. At least I got a hold of them! 

Once I figured out the Monday schedule I felt better. I was excited to see how the whole process worked b/c I've never done it before. The morning dragged by without a lot of waiting, but finally 60 of us were called in for a case. They did billions of questions including the critical--will serving on the jury cause you substantial hardship or something like that. I was all set with my answer about work until I saw the other people around me get raked over by the judge! He would not let anyone get off easy. One person almost started to cry! I quickly decided that I probably wouldn't get picked, and if I did, it wasn't actually that bad. I could make it work. 
I stayed quiet and answered my questions honestly, and then they left to pick the final jury. Boy was I surprised when they came back in and called my number! I did not think that I would end up getting picked...for a 4 day case! (that has now turned into 5) 

It has been extremely interesting, and at times difficult. It is a criminal case, but I can't really discuss until after it is over. Details to follow...

5 comments:

Amy said...

How interesting! I just got my notice too. I'm on call...hey wait, the period was supposed to start Dec 8, but they didn't tell me to call or anything. Uh oh. I hope I didn't miss something!

Prestwich Family said...

Can't wait to hear the "details"!

Jen said...

I have never been called for jury duty and I'm dying for my chance!! I can't wait to hear all the juicy details...

Arin said...

I can guess what case you're a juror for...and I'm dying to hear how it all goes down! Super interesting...

Are you done now?

Natalie said...

Wow, I'm jealous! I'm excited to hear the scoop. Glad to see you're enjoying your civic duty.