MURDER WAS THE CASE THAT THEY GAVE ME.

I had Jury duty today. This is my first experience with jury duty and I really had no idea what it is like on the Juror's side of things. I arrived at 8:35 (late) but I'm not the only one. A few hundred people are filing into the court room. After a little wandering, I'm at the right place.

The morning is doing the basic swearing in and dismissal of potential jurors. It lasts all morning, and some of us wonder if a few of these people have any shame, as they seem to be getting up on each occasion to discuss their situation with the judge...As if maybe they just got a great idea that will convince the judge this time. It kind reminded me of Klinger on M*A*S*H.

There were all sorts of characters. On of my favorites was "Tobacco Hat". I called him this because he had a pouch of chewing tobacco. Instead of keeping it in his pocket, he kept it on his head, under his cap. The thing was the cap was mesh and we could all see it. Who thinks of putting their pack of Red Man on their head? In the courtroom he'd remove the hat and the Red Man was no where to be seen. He had to have been one of the oldest black guys I've seen wearing corn rows.

As they were swearing us in, everyone used their best jury duty complaint cliche. There were a dozen groups of 12 to be assigned to different cases throughout the week. We were grouped into bundles of about 48 potential jurors in the pool when the Attorneys started in on us after lunch. I'm also an attorney, and I went into this thing thinking there was about a 50% chance of getting picked.

The attorneys go through some basic questions and then start to dig into the jurors. They start asking personal questions, concerning our lives that may tie into this case. "have you ever been a victim of a crime? What do you thing of gun violence? Etc." You are given the option of answering privately instead of before the dozens of strangers. Some of the answers that people were willing to give publicly were shocking. I suppose we have different comfort levels. I don't think would have announced that my children had been kidnapped, imprisoned, and sexually assaulted 18 years ago. The calmness of that description was somewhat discomforting.

As this Q&A went on, there was a change. People didn't seem to be wanting OFF the panel, but rather ON it. it wasn't overt, but you could tell. People that CLEARLY had feelings that might disqualify them would try to take the edge off of their (obvious and stated) feelings, as if to say "but don't hold THAT against me...Pick me!" there was an audible gasp when one of the potential jurors (a police officer) announced that as far as he's concerned, if you got indicted, your guilty. Nobody on my row felt good about that guy 'protecting' our streets. Some of the most educated members of our panel were often the most simple minded.

The Airline Pilot behind me got lost in the questioning. The surgeon to my left couldn't quit making up new (un-asked) questions to answer and was gleeful to let you know about his dozens of automatic weapons and his eagerness to use them. To steal from the NRA, guns really don't bother me. Its the people that just obsess over them that give me the creeps. He didn't get picked. The Pilot did.

From what I could figure out, there was a drug deal or a drug related matter going on. it involved a 14 year old black girl and an adult white male. they both had guns at somepoint and the girl killed the man. I worried for that girl. I don't know if i would have found her innocent or guilty. I don't know any more about the case than the vague guess written above. I just know that a 14 year old girl (killer or not) deserves the best jury she can get. I wanted to be part of that jury for good or ill.

They did not pick me.

The facination was over. the dozens that seemed to be VERY interested in all this feel back to wanting to just go home. we are all "on call" so to speak, for the rest of the week. I find out tomorrow if i'm up for another case.