I was a potential juror for a burglery case. After waiting several hours, the judge came into the room and told us the story of Maurice, the burgler.
One night, Maurice and “his buddy” decided to go to a closed Marie Callender’s restaurant. They thought it would be okay to help themselves to the food carts left in the dumpter shed. After all, the restaurant has been closed since last winter and they were just sitting there, ripe for the picking.
As Maurice and his buddy were loading the carts into his truck, the police showed up. Maurice and his buddy were arrested and charged with burglery.
About a month ago, Maurice made his appearance in court. His lawyer entered a plea of guilty. The judge said he asked Maurice if he did the crime and Maurice said it wasn’t a crime—the carts had been abandoned. The judge refused to accept the guilty plea and set a trial date for October 12th. Yesterday.
Maurice decided, after being in jail since the first hearing, he was indeed guilty of stealing the food carts. The judge asked if he was sure and Maurice said he had a funny feeling while driving to Marie Callender’s. The funny feeling was maybe we shouldn’t do this… The judge accepted the guilty plea, which he said he normally doesn’t do on the day of a trial. But since Maurice didn’t get away with his abandoned Marie Callender’s food carts and it was his first offense, the judge agreed to accept the plea.
The judge told us we were free to go home, to work, or to the Colorado Mills outlet mall to look for sales. I thought about calling hubby and telling him I was under court-order to go shopping, but I decided to go home.
He didn’t tell us where Maurice was going.
Court Ordered Shopping! *LOL*
I love it! Good to hear that your brush with civic responsibility was a light one. I have nothing against jury duty, but can you imagine being stuck on a trial that lasts for months?
Interesting story about Maurice, though. Was it just the carts he was after, or was he looking for actual food on those carts as well?
At least you got to hear the story! Now if Maurice were smart, he would have been looking for some turkey pot pies. If you’re going to risk getting caught stealing something, a Marie Callender’s pot pie might make it worth the gamble.
Oops, I should have made it more apparent that the Marie Callender’s wasn’t closed for the night, it is now out of business and has been for about six months.
LOL about the pot pies (I too love anything with the word “pie” on it from Marie Callender’s).
What a great story! So many questions. . .how did he know the food carts were there? why did he want them? how many would fit into his truck?
God bless Maurice.
My husband had jury duty in a murder case earlier this year. Arguing to save someone’s life was traumatizing. I’m glad you didn’t have to deal with that.
A word of advice for Maurice – next time, go with the funny feeling! Glad you were able to return home without enduring too much drama.
Interesting that the judge told you the story. Now I want to know what happened to Maurice!!
Hmmmm….I’m wondering if this was even worth our tax dollars or potential jurors time. Aren’t there much bigger problems? This guys been in jail for how long and some of the crooks from companies like Enron are free to bounce from mansion to mansion.