Civic Duty

Last week I was on call all week for Jury Duty, and although I thought it would be interesting to serve on a jury, I was not so excited about driving to the downtown courthouse everyday to do it. In fact, I was downright afraid to do it.

So, every night I was practically trembling with nervousness as I dialed in to discover my fate for the next day. I made it through the whole week free until Thursday night when I got the fateful message: Please report to the court on Friday at 7:30 am. The situation was further worsened by the fact that I would not be permitted to bring my knitting needles, as they would be considered a weapon. UGH. I was SO upset. I don't even like remembering it.

What a wuss.

ANYway I got directions to the courthouse via Mapquest. You will notice I did not link that word to the Mapquest website. This is because Mapquest is useless. It, as always, took me the wrong way. Fortunately, when it comes to going downtown, it is easy to see if you are going the wrong way. Am I headed TOWARD the tall buildings, or AWAY from them? Mapquest got me close to those tall buildings, then made me take a turn back toward home. So from that point on, I was mostly on my own. (I say "mostly" because toward the end of my thoughtful meanderings downtown looking for the courthouse, I stumbled back onto the Mapquested path and into the parking structure for the courthouse--after trying two others first, of course.) *sigh*

Fortunately, the service itself turned out to be extremely interesting. I am fascinated by the justice system, though I can see at least one big drawback (that many have observed): it's a big game. It is necessary to establish that one is innocent until proven guilty in order to protect individual freedom from big government, however this means that when a loophole arises whereby the prosecution is barred from submitting key evidence, the guilty man must go free. I think that this is preferable to the innocent being wrongfully imprisoned, but it is none the less a shortcoming of the system. I think it would be very hard for me to acquit someone who I knew was guilty. But then, I know that the true Judge knows, and "there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed." What a frightful thought.

I was a potential juror on one case, and enjoyed listening to the jury questioning process. I liked the judge a lot--she is clearly a wise, articulate, and respectable woman who also has a good sense of humor. There were a lot of people on the panel who did NOT want to be there. They made it very clear. It was simultaneously amusing and annoying to listen to their "excuses". Grownups can be so childish when they don't get their way. (This coming from the "grownup" who cried about having to drive downtown). The attorneys were very picky and we all had to come back on Monday to continue the selection process. Fortunately for me, they gave us free Metrolink tickets so I didn't have to drive--yea! Of course taking the train was a whole different adventure...

I did not want to be on this particular trial (it was for attempted murder), so come Monday I was very thankful to be called up and summarily excused only five minutes later. I think it could have something to do with the fact that there are three generations of cops in my family and a lawyer to boot. Or it could be that they didn't like my blue sweater. Who knows? I'm just glad to be back to life as usual. And I get to see Shane and Jessica tonight. yea!