08-10-2022, 08:28 AM
Can't talk about it. About to go on Day 2 of jury selection. I have notes about Day 1 but I have sworn my Omertà oath.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
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Jury Duty
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TVs play in the jury assembly room. There is a delay between the sets, so you get to hear an echo from one broadcast the TV in the front of the room to the TV in the back.
The TVS are tuned to a cooking channel all day.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
08-11-2022, 03:22 PM
For the first time I've actually got to the Jury selection part. The last time the trial was settled before Jury was even selected but since I showed up, I was excused from duty for a year.
And you know what, it's nothing like it is on TV where they can select a jury in about ten minutes. I should have been on a TV jury! The initial panel was very slow. The judge asked a bunch of questions and then the defense attorney got to ask a bunch of question. The Defense attorney is incredibly slow. You can almost hear the thought processes going on in his brain as he tries to come up with questions. And they are all the same questions so you would think it would be faster. I am already biased against the defendant because he wears a Covid mask but it doesn't cover his nose. It's driving me nuts looking at it. I'm kind of kidding. Kind of not. Probably the best moment of the day which brought the jury selection to a screeching halt was right after the charges against the defendant were read. One of the jurors raised his hand during a time when the jurors are just supposed to sit there. The judge stopped her talking and asked the juror what was the matter. The juror said he didn't know what the word larceny meant. The judge stopped in stunned silence for a couple of minutes. She didn't know how to proceed. She was afraid giving the definition might be prejudicial. So, the judge called lawyers up to the bench to discuss what to do. They decided and the judge told the juror the word meant theft. Lots of disbelief in the jury pool. They also found out that one of the jurors was a felon. Whoopsy. The juror didn't realize that by accepting a plea deal, he was still convicted of a crime. The juror also said he didn't anything wrong. We came back from what was supposed to be a ten minute break and turned into a 40 minute break and that juror was no longer in the jury box. The whole jury pool got into trouble during the ten minute break, too. Our courtroom is on the 4th floor of the Madera County Courthouse. Everyone figured that since it was a ten minute break, we might as well just wait in the hall rather than making the round trip to the first floor and then back up again. Yeah, they didn't like us all waiting in the hall. The bailiff came and shooed us to our room. The Assembly Room Moderator came and gave us a stern speech about always coming back to the room. And when we returned to Room 40, the judge pretty much gave us the same speech. We got to hear the defense attorney labor through another question before it was time to go home.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
08-11-2022, 03:39 PM
Day 2. More adventures in sitting in a room while you get to hear the same questions over and over.
And I thought I was going to be done. They just had to pick the two alternate jurors and the panel would be empaneled. Except Juror number 14 worked at the place where the crime was committed and knew two of the witnesses. So, he was done. But Juror number 13 was even more special. I give you the following dialogue. Defense Attorney: Do you want to be here? Juror 13: No. Defense: Why not? Juror 13: I want to be out making money. Defense: Doesn't your employer pay you to be here? Juror 13: No. He's a jew. There was a stunned moment of silence in the courtroom as everyone processed what the young juror just said. Then everybody gave that startled laugh that accompanies the phrase "Did he really just say that out loud? In a courtroom?" After being admonished several times yesterday and first thing this morning when told to leave the courtroom the prospective jurors were to leave the courtroom and head to the first floor to the jury assembly room. Well, after Juror 13 spoke, the judge told us all to leave the courtroom but wait outside in the hallway. We did. We were quickly called back. The two alternate jurors were both dismissed. It was too late in the day to do anything else. We had already gone longer than we should have. The judge sent us home with orders to report back on Thursday. The whole thing should take about a half hour and then we'll be freed. Unless terrible things happen and I'm selected as an alternate.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
08-11-2022, 03:52 PM
Day 3
The prayer went out that this would be over quickly. And it sort of was. I arrived at the assembly room at 10:15. The Queen was already there for her panel filling out paper work. After a short wait, they called us up to Courtroom. As usual for this panel, something was amiss. Juror 1 was missing. The Judge had started before she noticed the empty chair. There was discussion. Rather than just put one of the alternates in that chair immediately, the Judge came down from the bench and added another chair to the jury pool area from the audience area. We then did for the millionth time the worst game of lottery every. Numbers were read to fill the three vacant seats. I heard again the question I'd been hearing for the last two days. Do you respect the cops? Can you be fair to a defendant who won't testify? Where do you fall on the spectrum to criminalize drugs? (Every time the Prosecutor asked that question, when he said spectrum I at first thought Autism) One of the knew potential jurors was a military woman who made the mistake of saying she would give more credence to what cops would say over civilians testimony. She was given the boot and we played fill the empty seat one more time and got to hear the questions one more time. But that was the last round. The jury was full complete with two alternants. None of whom were me. The court case was going to be burglary. The defendant was accused of robbing an Auto Parts store and a Metro PCS. He drug paraphernalia on him when arrested back in November. You could kind of glean the gist of the defense by the questions the defense attorney asked. It was going to be somewhere along the lines of he was high on drugs when committed the crimes. That will be for someone else to resolve as I am done. The Queen is still enmeshed. They need a pool of 100 potential jurors. They currently have 12 after dismissing most of the people summoned. They will keep calling people in until they have the 100 then they will do Voir Dire. Once empaneled, that trial is going to last six weeks. Mine was supposed to last six days.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
02-05-2024, 06:21 PM
I win! I win the lottery!
Guess who gets to report tomorrow? This lucky DM. FML...
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
02-05-2024, 07:10 PM
It's an excuse to duck out of a YMAA telemeet but I'm worried that it'll disrupt my visit to my mom - I need to check on the house after the storm. Sounds like Svale didn't get it that bad but I'm still concerned.
I plan to bring your book.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
02-06-2024, 06:55 AM
Where are you on Jury Duty?
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
02-06-2024, 09:03 AM
As in location. I was thinking Cruz but you are in S-Vale.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
02-06-2024, 10:36 AM
HA! Your tracking device FAILED AGAIN! Although I must give you props for the clever place you inserted it. If I hadn't had the runs all weekend, I might not have found it.
Nah, I'm in the Cruz. I'll head to Svale afterwards, assuming all goes well. It's with SC courts. Heading over in a few...
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
02-06-2024, 10:59 AM
Must bleach eyes from imagery.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
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