Monday, April 24, 2006
Summoned part 2
This morning I reported to the court house. I got there around 8:30am. I just happened to get the last parking spot in the closest lot. Then I headed toward the court house with quite a few other people. They all had their little pieces of paper that you get in the mail with them. There was a short line to get into the building. Once I went through the metal detector, I headed up to the 3rd floor with tons of other people. We were herded into a court room. There were only about 70 people in this particular room. They explained that there is not a room big enough for all 600 jurors that are called each Monday. So they have to spread us out throughout the building. After the bailiff sang us a song, (he was 83 years old) the district clerk came in and told us how things were going to work. Then the judge came in and told us about things that could exempt you or disqualify you from being a juror. Then he asked for anyone with an extenuating circumstance to come talk to him. I watched about 20 people be excused this way. Then we all passed the sheets of paper that were mailed to us down to the end of the row. The district clerk then sorted those sheets of paper. (From what I could tell it was totally random.) Then she called out quite a few names and told them court started at 10 so they had about 15 minutes to get to the correct room. Then she called out the second group of names and told them they had to come back tomorrow at 2 for a case. Once all those people had left the room she told us all that we were what the called "overs". They did not need us to be jurors this time around. Everyone was really relieved. She also told us that there were people outside our room that were going to have to serve on the jury so we needed to frown as we left so they didnt feel bad that we got to go home! So overall, my first experience with jury duty lasted until 9:45am. I should not be called for another 3 years. So it was an interesting experience none the less. I met some nice people. But I'm still glad it will be a while before I have to go back.
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2 comments:
Man, i wish you only got called every 3 years. My mom was called 3 times in one year. They randomly select drivers license numbers and it doesn't matter if you've already been called that year or even that month. It really stinks!
Each drivers license number is only in the batch once. Therefore you should only be called once during that period. There are also other ways your name can get in there more than once. For instance if you get married or if your voters registration has a different name or address than your drivers license. At least that's what I read. She should be able to get off by talking to the judge. Who is this anyway?
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