I have jury duty tomorrow. I am not sure how it works in other states, but in Colorado a registered voter receives a summons in the mail and a date to call the jury duty hotline. The summons instructed me to call tonight. I did. I must be in court tomorrow morning at 8am.
Hubby will be staying home with the kiddos while I am gone. I am torn between wanting to be chosen to sit on a jury and wanting to be dismissed immediately. I think it would be fascinating to watch the process and it is something I agreed to do when I registered to vote.
The other part of me thinks: where am I going to eat lunch? What am I going to wear? Should I take books and magazines? What bag should I put them in? Is my iPod mini charged? Will they let me listen to it? Do I have to pay for parking? If I am chosen, will I cry if it is particularly heart-wrenching? If I am chosen, will I fall asleep if the trial involves a civil suit between a dryer lint affecianado and a laundrymat owner (does dryer lint belong to the person whose clothes generated the lint, or the owner of the dryer)?
My primary concern is how my family will fare. I know hubby will do an excellent job caring for the kiddos, as he always does, but he isn’t feeling well and the timing isn’t ideal. I don’t think there is a good time for jury duty, however. It isn’t all about the convenience of the jury members, however, and I am thankful we have such a system here that allows for trial by a jury of peers.
I will side with the owner of the dryer.
I have always wanted to serve jury duty. I have watched too many trial shows not to believe with utter faith that it would be fascinating. My reasonable mind knows this is unlikely, but still. How could I let Perry down?
When you go to law school sometime in the first year a professor tells you “now you’ll never serve on a jury.” My first week at work I did. Logistically it was a nightmare, but if I needed a jury, I’d want people for whom it was inconvenient to serve on the jury because those would be the functioning members of society (people with commitments to other people/jobs beyond themselves). It was not fascinating, but I felt useful. And keep an open mind. I always sympathize with plaintiffs (I think the McDonalds hot coffee victim was entitled to all that she got), but after hearing all the evidence when I was on a jury, it didn’t take me but a couple minutes to decide for the defendant insurance company.
I’ll refrain from getting on my soapbox about the value of juries to our justice system and simply say: Good for you! And thank you for fulfilling your civic duty. Whether or not you end up on a jury, you’re still doing your part!
Wow, they don’t give you much time to plan this hey! We don’t have jury duty at all here, so I find it very fascinating
Since living in Colorado, my hubby and I are summoned regularly each year. Usually it is within 2 weeks of each other. I was chosen for a jury one time-it was regarding a man who used his pit bull as a “weapon” (or at least he tried to, the dog wouldn’t cooperate). It was all quite intersting, especially the “rule of law”, and lucky for me the trial only lasted 1 1/2 days!
I still have never been called to do jury duty. Sometimes I think it would be interesting to see the way things work for real rather than the way they work on tv, but I worry that sometimes I’d have a hard time making up my mind on who to side with.
I think the most important questions are the first two you posed. What to wear, and what to eat. The rest are just details. And as you sit through the excruciating details of the laundry trial, just remember, “lint happens”. *grin*
Good luck!
I was sent a jury duty notice once. I called the first day I received it, and told them that my notice was dated about two weeks prior to me receiving it. They asked which postal branch my mail came from, and then told me that a disgruntled postal worker had been withholding jury duty notices in that branch, and that I was not obligated to jury duty at that time.
So yes, it was kind of a relief, but I also would have served had they asked.
If you are on the jury, they feed you. If you are just going through the jury selection process, they give you a lunch break and parking is free at least here in Mesa county.
Oh, I get a big kick of going on jury duty. In our county we serve one day every two years. So far I haven’t been selected to serve on a jury yet, but I get plenty of time to read my book while I’m waiting. Although one year they did show Shrek, so that was entertaining 🙂
Hope it was a good experience for you!
I have always wanted to have jury duty, but received my summons in the mail on the day my twins were born! Not the best time, then to get out of it, you have to write a letter and have it approved. I stated that if they didn’t mind having me breast-feed to screaming babies, then I wouldn’t mind doing it! (They let me off 😉