Civic Duty Served

Hey y'all! I'm back from the court house. What an interesting couple of days!

I didn't really want to be on the jury. Who wants to say 'yes, you're guilty' or 'sorry, this isn't the person who violated you, please try again'? Okay, fine...it didn't really bother me to say that. But it is intimidating to know that you will directly effect someone's future. I mean, what if both sides presented their cases and I still didn't know? What if I was the person who hung the jury? That's a lot of pressure.

On the other side of the coin, however, was my desire to know how it really works. To read most of my observations, please go here. Most of my curiosity stems from being a writer and wanted to someday be able to accurately represent what happens in a court room. Let's be honest, we know that TV shows are just that - they're shows. But even though we know real people don't look like those actors, and even though we know the actors have scripts are are performing, people still believe a court runs like Law & Order and we get evidence the way they do on CSI.

Sorry folks. Didn't happen.

But I like knowing that! I like knowing that someday I can write a story about a young court reporter who falls in love with the handsome court officer (no bailiff), or catches the eye of Juror #8 (in the front row). I like knowing that I can tell the story of the cramped jury room with the tall windows and gourmet donuts (Potters...yummy). I have a whole new arsenal of info here, folks!

And most importantly I played my part. Though I try to be sympathetic to most people (I'm not always good at that), I have no place for uninvolved whiners who complain without ever taking action (if you didn't vote, I'm pointing at you). Now I could have come up with excuses to get off the jury. I could have said any number of true things that might have dismissed me (I'm a Christian), but I also could have lied. Certain things would have gotten me booted. But would I want that on a jury if I ever had to go to trial? Would I want to know that an intelligent, educated, mostly-sane (though overly dramatic) woman just didn't want to be bothered? That's not really fair to the defendant or the plaintiff, so I stuck it out.

I'm not sure how long my name stays in the pool now. And I'm not sure what this means for my future. You see my hubby has never even received the questionnaire to fill out, and I've gotten it four times since I turned eighteen. And then our jury consisted of two people who had already each served on two juries - this was their third! Kinda seems like someone people get it and others don't.

Shrug. That's okay with me. I'd rather go and let my sugar daddy take care of the bacon for me. I can take the time off (oh wait! I'm on summer vaca...that's right).

Okay, I've rambled enough.

In case any of you are curious we had to decide two matters: Utter & Publishing and Larceny in a Building. We found her guilty on the U&P and not guilty on the larceny.