Relief

Today they took attendance in the hallway outside the courtroom and then dismissed us for an hour to "get coffee or something." When we came back we were ushered into the courtroom promptly. The judge, still very courteous, told us that the problem that had arisen the day before would not be resolved today, and that therefore he was releasing us back to the jury pool. I was inordinately amused at the idea of being thrown back as too small to eat.

There was another jury, actually selected, sitting around in the jury pool when we got back. A little before noon, the clerk in charge of us told us that, first, the trial that that jury had been chosen for was not on. "You must be a good jury," she said, "because the defendant has chosen to waive his right to a jury trial and just have a court trial." Then she said that there were no other cases pending, so we were all free for the day. Then, having a fine sense of drama, she told us that, given the number of cases coming up on Monday and the number of new jurors that would be arriving, not to mention the people on call who had not yet even been called for a panel, our jury service was ended and we were free to go. I got a purple pen for my trouble. I thanked the clerk and told her that nobody in that office could possibly be being paid enough.

Thank you all for keeping me company this week, and for all your jury stories.

P.