July 07, 2008
One Angry Man
Yeah, I got jury duty. Jealous?
On Wednesday I'm scheduled to have the first jury duty of my life. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I'm interested in doing my duty as a citizen, serving my county and all that. I'm especially enthused because I'm on my summer break and I certainly can be pulled away from my summer job. But it is jury duty. There are long hours, people judging me, being a key role in deciding the fate of a person. What if I make the wrong decision? What if the "ding-ding" of Law & Order isn't there?
And the worst part is I don't think I can talk about it. If I'm the key jury member, the one person with the balls to stand up to oppression and freedom to fight for the right of a needy citizen, I think I have to stay quiet. That would be a pretty great way to start a conversation at a party, if I ever get invited to one. What have you been doing this summer? Oh, working out? That's cool. I was defending democracy. Yeah, I will take a beer.
My dad pointed out a problem with my vision. What if it's like an episode of "The Wire" and it's a major drug case? There's some street level little hopper being tried for intent to distribute, and the jury convicts him. I've seen that episode. The drug dealer's friends track down the jury members and make an example out of them. I don't need that, but I do need to do the right thing.
Or maybe it's worse to be in some petty crap. Some person trespassed on someone's lawn and broke their garden gnome. It was really close to the property line and a tree was partially obstructing the gnome. Who pays? Or better yet, who cares?
Regardless of what happens, I'm looking forward to a new experience. I hope it means something in the bigger picture and I hope I am fair and don't end up reversing abortion. You could ask me about it on Thursday, but I don't think I should tell you.
Posted by ed at 23:10 | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)
Realistically, you will sit around all day waiting to be called. They will eventually take you and 40 some potential jurors into a courtroom. The lawyers will ask each of you some simple interview questions then ask you to leave without giving you a reason. HAVE FUN!
State Of Fear