Jury Duty

Following close on the heels of the plumbers was the (spooky music) dreaded Jury Summons. Having put this off quite long enough, it was time to do my civic duty, which, I hoped, would be swift and painless. I mean, the younger hooligans, being of age to semi-mind themselves, and capable of completing at least a modicum of schoolwork in my absence, would survive for 1 day surely. I was hoping it would be a 1 day stint. Really hoping. Really really hoping. I was actually hoping that they would say I didn't need to come in when I called the night before. Yeah right. Lets just say....*that* didn't happen. In the spirit of true beginners luck, not only did I have to go down to the courthouse, a whole huge group of us got immediately called up to a courtroom, where I was in the first group of 18 called to the jury box, where I further sat for the next 3 weeks. They liked me. I just couldn't find it in myself to gin up disqualifying prejudices of any sort, much to the annoyance, I'm sure, of my loving family. I thus became "juror #9". Long story: 4 days of jury selection (fascinating people watching), another 2 or so weeks of trial. Nutshell version. Young hispanic robbed at alleged gunpoint by big burly hispanic. Lots of very incriminating -- yet admittedly circumstantial-- evidence on the prosecution's part. Lots of doubt-sowing on the side of the defense. Upshot: the guy was positively id'd at least 3 times, there were too many "coincidences", so guilty. Found out after we read the verdict that the defendent had a colorful record of assorted assaults and robberies. On the positive side, it was truly fascinating to watch lawyers in action, and my fellow jurors were the best of people. The ladies on the jury went to lunch every day together for the most part, and enjoyed the company. We enjoyed each other so much that we are planning to do lunch a couple weeks from now, since most of us were from Santa Clarita. The hooligans were very glad to have Mom back to keep things on an even keel (nothing like arbitrating hooligan "discussions" on the cell phone). Actually they did pretty well on their own all things considered, and it was an excercise in independence at least. Alas, there are no interesting pictures of this episode for obvious reasons.