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Jennifer D. Wade Journal

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Pick Me - or Not

I completed my jury duty yesterday, and finished up in time to go to work.

The final day of jury duty began at 9 a.m. when the people who were on a list of names called out the previous afternoon showed up as requested.  Of course, this being jury duty, nothing really happened until about 9:30 when were taken in groups of 10 (due to elevator capacity) to a courtroom on the 3rd floor.  There were 46 of us all together; I was juror #38.

We sat in seats according to our number, then listened while the judge briefly explained the case.  He said it had to do with a man accused of resisting arrest.  Then, we were introduced to the players - the defendant, the lawyers, the witnesses for the prosecution (police officers), and the witnesses for the defense (which seemed to be pretty much the defendant and his wife).

After that, we were asked the same questions that we answered on the form the first day we reported for jury duty.  Based on our answers, some people were called to the bench for a sidebar with the judge and the attornies.  One man was quickly dismissed because he said he had difficulty hearing.  The rest of us were deemed suitable for service.

At that point, the lawyers set about choosing a jury of 12 and two alternates.  The selection proces involved the prosecutor sitting at her table, the defense sitting at a table behind her, and a court employee of some sort passing a list back and forth.  After about 30 minutes, a list of agreed upon jurors was arrived at.  I was not on it.

I and the other rejects were sent back to the jury assembly room to await further instruction, which turned out to be, "Thank you very much.  You can go now."

No, thank YOU very much.  I'll look for my $27 check in the mail. 

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