Jury Duty...
Right, so yesterday I had to go to the downtown Justice Center for a jury duty summons at 8am. I live alllllll the waaaaay on the other side of town just outside the city limits where scorpions and rattlesnakes in the garage are not uncommon. I had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 5:30am! I usually don't wake up until 8am or so. I hate going into the downtown area as it is not a nice area and it is dull and boring. AND there is NO public transportation, and the parking garages regulated by the city are usually full so the only other parking lots are privately owned and cost $14 a day to park regardless of how short or long your stay is! I am fortunate enough to have a husband who was more than willing to wake up at the same time as me and drop me off at the Justice Center.
After walking through the metal detectors and avoiding a body pat down, I was glad I wasn't the only idiot at the center at 7am...a full hour early. I waited in line for the doors to open and while I waited the lady in front of me struck up a mini conversation. She has only been a citizen of this country for only a year and has only been in the city for less than that, and already she had been called for jury duty. Most of us born citizens spend our entire lives trying to get out of jury duty. This was not technically my first jury summons. I was called twice before, but because I was in school at the time, I didn't have to show up, but now I'm not in school so I had no out.
At 7:45am we walked into the jury central room, picked up a button that said "juror", sat down, listened to the judge tell us the drill, got sworn in, and then waited. The first group of 60 potential jurors were called out and taken to the courthouse. Then 30 more potential jurors were called out. I was one of them...Juror #19. I was taken with 29 other folk upstairs to court #8 for a DWI case (Driving while intoxicated). We were questioned by the Texas attorney and the defendants attorney to see if we could be potential jurors in the case. They only needed six of us, so they questioned us to see if any of us were biased or could judge fairly. I did not get picked. They don't tell you why, but I suspect the following reasons:
1) I am related to a police officer (and in DWI cases it's usually the arresting officer against the defendant).
2) Two of my family members have been in the same situation
3) I am a Buddhist and a compassionist. <--not a real word but I'm using it anyway, LOL!
4) Because I am a Buddhist, I don't feel I can judge another human being and that was one of the questions asked and I couldn't lie so I raised the card with my number on it....I wasn't the only one who felt this way.
5) I don't drink at all...combined that with the above and I look holier than thou on paper.
The jurors not picked were dismissed by the judge for lunch. We had to report back in an hour and a half (1:15pm) to the central jury room downstairs. The cafeteria was just across the hall from the jury room, so I just grabbed a chicken salad sandwich, green tea, and a bag of sun chips crisps. I read a book and waited. 1:15pm came and went and I waited some more. Thank goodness the seats were the cushion kind. At 2pm we were notified that two of the courts were canceled for the rest of the day. If you weren't assigned to those courts then you would have to stay and wait until 5pm. Court 8 was canceled...Yes! No more waiting. I was given my release card and I headed straight for the....bathroom. It was freakin' cold in those rooms and I had to pee frequently because of the insanely cold temps. It didn't occur to me to take a sweater 'cause it's nearly 100° (37°) outside and very humid.
I walked several blocks north for 10 minutes towards the downtown library and called my husband to pick me up. He doesn't know the downtown area very well and it's a bit tricky to maneuver and I didn't want to stress him. On the plus side, I LOVE walking and there was a slight breeze that made it pleasurable. We went home and I slept for an hour.
That was my exciting day at jury duty.
