May 09, 2007

Murder was the case they (almost) gave me

Recently, I spent two days participating in a jury selection process for a murder one trial.



This is what I learned:



Peers shmeers.  The man on trial was black.  At the time that I was dismissed, there were no black people left to serve on the jury.  Maybe the jury will be fair.  Maybe not.  But if the object was to give the defendant a jury of his peers, the process failed.



All jurors are to be treated like children.  At one point, a juror asked to use the restroom.  What this means is that the entire jury panel (about 30 to 40 people at that point) was ushered into a neighboring courtroom where we proceeded to take turns using two restrooms (one for men, one for women).  The bailiff left us there for fifteen minutes, saying, "Don't leave the room until I come get you."  Problem solved LOL!



All jurors are to be treated like children who will leave their gum everywhere.  The bailiff reminded us to spit out our gum each time we entered the courtroom.  However, when I asked where a trash can was (because I had gum in my mouth), she said to put the gum in the back of my mouth.  Problem solved LOL!



Breaks shmeaks.  I wanted water (the only consumable allowed in the courtroom).  I tried my three one dollar bills in the Aquafina water dispensing machine but it wouldn't accept them.  On the change machine, there was a sign that said, "I lost one dollar bill in hear and no change came out" (misspelling not mine).  I asked to leave the juror containment room to buy water or get change.  They told me I could do so on break.  I asked when break is.  They said they didn't know.  I ended up not getting a break until lunch time.  Problem solved LOL!

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