Jury duty day 1

[essentialsaltes]

Got to the downtown criminal courts building and into the giant holding pen. As usual, it was an interesting mix of people: the priest, the skater-dude, the hippy-dippy granola-eater... I think the most unusual one was the girl who was basically Crumb's dream-girl - she was even wearing a rather 70's style blouse/skirt/boots that made her look like she'd stepped off the front of Zap comics.
The other stand-out was the TV exec on his cell-phone. I don't recall his precise words, but basically he was saying something like, "Y'know that new show? We need to advertise it. - Yeah, I know we got that, but we need something better than that. - We need an ad that will make everyone think our new show is the next big thing. - How do you suppose we do that? - Well, you work on that." No doubt he feels like he's done his job, now that he told someone to make an ad that will turn their show into a hit.

Anyway, I got hauled into a case involving murder/attempted murder and conspiracy, but since the trial was expected to be long, the judge let me off the hook, which just meant I was immediately tossed into another courtroom. I get to go back today, as they're still picking a jury. I haven't been examined yet. The court is on the high security floor, so I get to go through the metal detectors twice.

Had a nice walk at lunchtime, which gave me more ideas for a potential road-rally (A&K's rally was both fun and inspiring).

Comments

[ladyeuthanasia.livejournal.com]

What happened to "One Day or One Trial"? I thought once they rejected you for a case, you were off the hook. I guess if you get sucked onto a second jury selection process on Day #1, you have to come back and finish the business. Is that how it works?

[colleency.livejournal.com]

Speaking from experience, that is how it works.

If on day one you are brought into a courtroom, you stay until a jury and the alternates are seated, no matter how long it takes. I guess that's part of one trial.

It is a vast improvement over "10 days or trial to completion," which was really horrible.

[ladyeuthanasia.livejournal.com]

I've been through the process, too, but mine was more clear cut. It took three days of jury selection before I was dismissed, but it was clearly one trial, so to speak. Good to know that I'm not confused on that! :)

I'm surprised they let off essentialsaltes on hardship. When I was there, they were really merciless about it with the new rules.

[essentialsaltes.livejournal.com]

Although I was excused from the one case because of my employer's non-payment for jury service, that just got me sent to a case expected to last a shorter amount of time than the murder case. I think since I didn't actually go through voir dire, I think it didn't count as 'one trial'.