My name was the last one called for the jury yesterday, and I apparently passed the voir dire questioning because I was eventually sworn in with eleven other jurors (and two alternates) and we began hearing testimony yesterday afternoon.
It turned into another long, exhausting day, but at least the courtroom is cool, and we now get to sit in comfy chairs versus hard wooden benches. There’s a fridge in the jury room for us as well as a microwave which will make bringing my own meals easier. There’s also a cold filtered water dispenser so we can refill our water bottles.
We have no idea how long the trial will go – originally we were told we’d finish on Friday, but jury selection took much longer than expected, and there are a LOT of witnesses to go through. Plus, once the trial is finished we have to deliberate and who knows how long that might take?
All this is to say I’m not sure how regular I’ll be with posting for the next week or so. I’ll do my best.
But now I’m heading to bed – I’ve got another very long day ahead.
The Occasional Nomads 
This seems like a great book title. 🙂 Not sure if congrats are in order, or not! 😉
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They’re not, really. The next few days will be grueling, but worthwhile. It’s going to be an interesting trial.
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Oh, my. I don’t envy you. But at least it will be interesting. The only time I was ever called to the jury was when I was leaving on my honeymoon in 1974. Since then, I’ve moved many times and never been called. Can’t decide if it’s just luck or they can’t find me. ha!
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I can’t say anything about the trial until it’s over (next week, I think), but yes it is interesting. And exhausting.
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Exciting! Or not. Heh. One of my job responsibilities is testifying as an expert witness (criminal cases) and I always feel for jurors that I know have had to sit through countless annoying legal arguments and/or difficult to understand witnesses. I’m really curious to hear your experience as I will likely never get to serve on a jury.
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I wouldn’t call jury duty exciting, but it is interesting. We’ve been given lots of information that we’ll have to eventually sort through. The jury is a very nice group of people though – we enjoy each other’s company, and have lots to talk about whenever we get sent to the jury room.
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How lucky the court is to have you as a juror: intelligent, thoughtful, worldly and won’t bow to “group think”.
Thank you for doing your civic duty!
Looking forward to hearing more when your gag order is removed 🙂
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I’m not feeling particularly thoughtful or intelligent right now – it’s been very tiring, and almost an overload of information. It will be interesting to see what the other jurors make of it whenever we get to deliberations (jury members can’t discuss anything we’ve heard with each other right now either – all we’ve been discussing is how cold the courtroom is). I will report after the trial is over!
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Makes me think of Richard Gere singing “Give ’em the ole razzle dazzle” in Chicago about trying bamboozle the jury 🙂
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Whatever the trial is, I hope it holds your interest-better that than the “of course this guy drove drunk for the sixth time, how stupid could he be”, that was my last one (albeit a single day). Hopefully they are giving you some stretching time, and letting you move around at least a bit in the chair?
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The trial is interesting, but draining. I cannot believe how exhausted I am at the end of the day when all we’re doing for the most part is sitting and listening.
The bailiff and judge make sure we get plenty of breaks. The bailiff is also a very interesting, charming man – we’ve all had fun chatting with him (about non-trial stuff).
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