Death, Taxes & Jury Duty

This photo is definitely by farmlight......."Morning by Farmlight".


This morning I headed out extra early to get the calves fed before it was time to get ready for jury duty. Around 7:45 a.m. I pulled my Envoy into the queue of vehicles carrying their occupants to jobs in town, or to early morning doctor appointments. A mile down the highway I met my brother-in-law, the plumbing contractor, on his way to a construction site, no doubt. I gave him a big wave, although he wouldn't expect to see me on the road at that hour, so he probably didn't notice. I need to keep that in mind.......that we rarely see what we don't expect to see.......so, EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED! Life remains interesting and intriguing that way.

Once in town, I circled the courthouse a couple of times, looking for a decent parking spot, found one, fed the parking meter, shuffled through the metal detector, grabbed my courtroom assignment, and rode the elevator to the courtroom floor. The walls of the hallway were lined with photos of judges, familiar names from newspaper reports of trials over the years. People were slowly trickling into the courtroom and sitting in pew-like benches in the back. For over a half hour we sat there in silence......except for a person who was snoring up a storm in the back row. I kid you not, he was putting out high decibel sound.

I pulled a paperback book out of my bag. Last night while packing, I had thrown in a second book for good measure, in case I finished the first one. I noticed that not many people had brought reading materials with them. After a few minutes, the blond girl beside me turned to me and said laughingly, "You don't happen to have another book in that bag, do you?" I replied, "Believe it or not, I do.....", and I handed it to her and told her to keep it. It was The Bookman's Promise, by John Dunning. I'd bought it several months ago and hadn't gotten around to reading it.

Finally, all the important players arrived-----the judge, attorneys, court reporter, etc.-----and things got rolling. The judge talked for awhile, explaining what was going to take place. There were around 50 of us jury candidates there, and soon the court attendant started randomly drawing the names of 27 of us, during which I was NOT chosen. Those 27 had to move up front into the jury box and the first rows. Then we were all treated to the "voir dire", which is when the attorneys ask the jury panel questions to determine each juror's ability to evaluate the case fairly. "Voir dire" is of French and Latin origin and means "to speak the truth". (The previous two sentences are from the jury handbook we received when we arrived this morning.)

During the voir dire my gaze kept falling on a woman ahead of me, and I began to think she looked familiar, and that maybe she had been my roommate in the hospital psych unit two years ago, but I wasn't sure. The attorneys droned on and on, and although it was interesting to listen and watch the procedure, the hard wooden benches became very uncomfortable after awhile. Several of the chosen jury candidates were dismissed for various reasons, and more of us chosen to replace them......but I was NOT among those chosen.

Finally, we were dismissed for an hour-and-a-half lunch. Sheesh. Like what were we supposed to do with that time? This was interesting, though......that woman that I mentioned looked familiar to me.......well, on the way out of the courtroom for lunch break, she said to me, "You look familiar, but I don't know where I've seen you."! I said, "Uh.....have you ever been a patient in the psych unit?" She shook her head to the negative. It was a funny little moment.....kind of mixed up......I had been thinking she looked familiar, and then SHE tells me that I look familiar to her! She told me where she worked and it is a place I never go to, so I'm sure we've never seen each other before.

During the break, I drove to a mall area and browsed in Barnes & Noble. Wandering through a bookstore is always pleasant! I bought another John Dunning book, The Bookwoman's Last Fling, to replace the other one. Quite a title, isn't it. I can't wait to read it. The back cover says the author is able to make book-collecting sound as exciting as car racing!

Soon it was time to return downtown and search for another parking spot, which was easily found, and it even had an hour remaining on the meter. As I was running up the sidewalk by the courthouse, a black woman up ahead of me started waving my direction and shouting, "Where are you going?....What are your doing here?". I looked behind me to see if she was talking to someone back there, but no one was there. When I got closer to her, she laughed and said, "Oh, I thought you were my neighbor!" I wish I would have thought quick enough to reply, "I am......and you are mine!" (We are all each other's neighbors, you know.)

Back in the courtroom, we listened to the defense attorney's voir dire, during which he requested a couple dismissals. Two more names were drawn, but NOT mine! After that the two attorneys each struck names from the list of 27, until the jury of thirteen was finalized. Some of us in the back rows were having fun visiting.....the young woman next to me was going to funeral director's school, and living in the basement of a funeral home. She really wanted to be chosen for the jury.......she said they wouldn't have to worry about the people she might talk to after trial hours, because they were deceased people! She was a hoot. I would imagine that any person wishing to be involved in the funeral business should have a sense of humor like hers in order to survive being around grief all the time. Sometimes, I think such a sense of humor is needed simply to survive life in general.

(By the way, the snoring person did end up being dismissed for continually falling asleep during today's proceedings.......the judge felt he wouldn't be able to stay awake to listen to testimony in the trial......)

All in all, the day was a fascinating experience. It was fun to at least observe the process of seating a jury. "Law & Order" never shows us that. It was a relief to not be chosen, though. I probably would have argued to give the defendant another chance, making me a poor jury member.

(In a week or so, when I'm sure the trial is over with, I'll blog about another amusing little coincidence that occurred today, and my observations about the attorneys.......if I remember.)

One of the first things the court attendant said to us this morning was something about jury duty being one of those sure things in life for a U.S. citizen.......in the same category as death and taxes. Yes, death, taxes, and jury duty......you must participate when summoned!