Mysteriouser and Mysteriouser

[pameladean]

So I rushed downtown today, got confused in the hugeness of the Government Center, was late to the courtroom, and was addressed by the clerk in charge of us thusly, "I assume you're Pamela Dyer-Bennet? I'll go tell them we're ready." It finally came to me in that moment that the reason the clerk looks so familar is that he reminds me of the character Dave on News Radio.

We were ready, but "they" weren't. We sat around in the uncomfortable and boring corridor for two hours. I realized that I had forgotten to drink my tea. I was too jumpy to read, and found myself assuming a completely false personality, with diction unlike mine, in order to talk with the people around me. Finally we were called in, and all twenty-eight of us filed in and sat down. There were the judge, the attorneys, the defendant. The judge apologized very courteously for keeping us waiting, and even said that we had waited patiently, which in fact we had not; we had groused almost continuously after the first hour. Then he said something so vague that I can't recall the terminology, but the basic idea was that they were having a problem that would not be resolved today (it seemed human rather than administrative, but really I have no idea). So we could go home at eleven, and come back tomorrow at nine a.m. There is a story behind all this that we will never know.

It was Thursday, and though the weather was cold and windy, I could have stopped by the Farmer's Market. I didn't, though. I made a beeline for home. I had no idea how much I hated being away from home until I was made to be so against my will and with no reward.

Two of the people going through the security line ahead of me, whom I recognized from the jury room though not from my panel, were talking about how they had been unable to sleep after watching the lawyers grill other people and then being sent home just before their own turns. Gosh. I can hardly wait.

Maybe they really hated my questionnaire.

P.

Comments

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

My experience is that the minute they asked for my profession and I said "fiction writer," they couldn't hustle me out of there fast enough.

[pameladean]

Oh, how I hope that is my experience too.

P.

Jury Nullification

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

If that doesn't work, just say the words "jury nullification."

B

Re: Jury Nullification

[pameladean]

This is the advice most often given to me in the past week.

P.

Re: Jury Nullification

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

I think it's an urban legend, frankly.

They tried to put one of my colleagues on a murder trial a few years ago, and he told the truth: he is against the death penalty for any reason in any circumstance, and the prosecution couldn't hustle him out of there fast enough.

I figure nobody in their right mind wants someone like me actually on a jury, so I'm probably safe if we get that far. Not that I would mind serving, but... You know how it is. Fingers crossed for you--I have my own (heh heh) ordeal by jury week after next. I'll probably still be grading finals, even.

Re: Jury Nullification

[kate_nepveu]

What's an urban legend, that saying "jury nullification" will get you out of serving? Why do you say that?

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

Because, while everyone says that, I don't know a single person who's ever been handed their hat and told "have a nice day" by saying it. :)

Maybe I just don't know anyone who's done it successfully, or who's had the courage to say "jury nullification" under the wilting glare of a judge and two attorneys, but everyone who watches cop shows knows about jury nullification and I still don't know anyone who's gotten out of jury duty by saying it. :)

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Me, too. Fingers crossed!

Questionnaire

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"Maybe they really hated my questionnaire."

You can only hope.

B

[resqdog51.livejournal.com]

I think your trial and mine are linked.l

My jury got sent home today because of an ill lawyer. Heh.

[pameladean]

Or maybe it's just the web of perversity linking all bureaucratic operations.

How annoying for you. Nothing like prolonging the agony. I don't suppose it's much fun for the principals, either.

P.

[kristenj.livejournal.com]

Saying that I am a teacher has always been enough to keep me off.

[pameladean]

What if I said that I wanted to be a teacher when I was in the fourth grade?

No, I didn't think so.

P.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

When they asked me my profession the last time I had jury duty I told them I was Jane Goodall.

Note: This did not really happen.

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

I was the first one grilled and the first one picked on mine last year. It was an interesting experience. We got to watch a 90 minute video of the defendant being transported across the county in the back of the police car at night, in the dark, with a "Christian" radio station that was playing on the cop car radio in the background on the soundtrack. That was because there was a point of interest at the beginning of the video and a point of interest at the end of the video and the defense attorney wouldn't let the prosecuting attorney skip the 99% in the middle.

I hope you dodge the bullet...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Did you say you were interested in science? Astronomy, birdwatching, etc....an interest in science has gotten my dad bounced from every jury he's ever been examined for. (Of course, he also has a profession in science, which is a bit stronger than an interest. But still.)

a quote, via free association

[loligo.livejournal.com]

got confused in the hugeness of the Government Center

"And they got a lot a lot a lotta great desks and chairs
Uh huh, at the Government Center.
They got to make the secretaries feel better
When they put those stamps on all those letters."

-- The Modern Lovers, "Government Center"

The one time I was called for jury duty, I told them I had a PhD in psychology, and my area of specialization was group decision making. They couldn't get me out of there fast enough. (Which was too bad, because I had the time on my hands, and I *really do* have an abiding interest in group decision making. I'm one of the few people who would actually enjoy the chance to be on a jury.)

[kaytecat.livejournal.com]

I was excused from a rape case. I wrote on my questionnaire that I knew someone who had been raped.

I thought, how hard it would be to find people that did NOT know someone that had been raped. When I said that to my mother, she said she didn't know anyone. With the estimated percentage being 1 out of 3 women being assaulted sometime in her life, that left me thinking: are the only people on rape juries those who live in a world where only "bad women" get assaulted.

No wonder so many rapists get off.