Jury Duty – Day 1

Man, Jury Duty. So, first off, I forgot to call in yesterday (you are supposed to call in every night after 5 PM to figure out if you need to come in). So, I called in this morning. 7:10. Be there by 7:30. Dang. Rush, rush, get down, park in the ramp, get to courthouse. I’m like the 10th person there, out of 30.

8:00, around 24 people there. Watch a little juror movie, and wait, wait, wait, for 3 hours, for the big call. Then we go through, they count us through every door, walk down below the street in the underground tunnels. Nothing like at the capital in D.C. or anything, more like something you and your buddy would do between your houses, well, no hanging light bulbs and boards over puddles, but nothing extravagant.

So we finally get to the court room. Oh yeah, nothing extravagant here either. Kind of looks like a set on a high school play, something they would come up with for a court room. The defendant looks like, well, homeless or your drug dealing uncle who hasnt bathed in like, 2 weeks. And his buddy in the seats isn’t much better.

Judge tells us, “Driving withouth a license”. Woah – huge offense. Dude, just pay the fine! Anyways, they choose 20 random jurors from the 24. I wasn’t picked. So, more waiting. One girl said she forgot she had an appt at noon, with her lawyer. Judge lets her go. 23 left. They attorney’s question the jurors: “Have you seen Oprah?” “Know any cops?” “Hate the DMV?” “Ever had anyting but a speeding ticket?” “Citizen of Stearns County?” (the last one was asked at least 4 times throughout the day)

So, they throw away 7 juror’s and are left with 12. Time for me to go. 12:30. 5 hours of my life waiting. I felt almost like I was on American Idol, waiting in the lobby with Ryan Seacrest (Seacrest….out!) – but I never got my big chance in front of the judges (literally in my case). Woah, that last sentance had like 2 or 3 puns. I’m on a roll….

No clue how the trial turned out. Im betting 99% guilty, oh well, another day, another…  .27 cents per mile and 20 dollars a day. Fun stuff!