Wednesday, July 8, 2009

tour of jury duty



jury duty has really changed in the last six years since i last served. free internet service is available while one waits in the juror's room. it still doesn't put jury duty any higher than work on things id like to do for the day, but it did make things more interesting. you only had ten minutes to surf, but i was able to check out a few blogs which helped brighten up the day.
this tour of jury duty i got to see the movie about jury duty. i dont know if its different than the one i saw last tour of jury duty because it was six years ago. my favorite moment from the film was how they re- enact a "jury ordeal". whats this you say? apparently they used to drop people in the river if they were accused of a crime . if they floated it meant they were guilty, if they sunk they were innocent. the purpose of this film is to remind us how lucky we are to have trial by jury instead of a jury ordeal. or jury duty ordeal as it were.
i think that the hardest part for a juror is to be impartial. ive never actually been on a trial, but i would imagine that it is quite challenging, especially with a criminal trial.
fortunately i was dismissed from jury duty today and i do not have to be on a trial. i am soooo thankful. the best part is that i now have a letter stating that i served jury today and i dont have to serve again for another EIGHT years!!! whoohoo!!!

11 comments:

The Kosher Bride said...

I had a classics professor who was "excused" from jury duty after he tried to log a complaint about historical inaccuracies in that video...

frum single female said...

cool.

Ookamikun said...

I came like an hour late so either there was no film or I missed it.

frum single female said...

actually moshe it might have depended which court bldg you reported to. if you were at state street there was no film. at adams st and jay street there were.

Ookamikun said...

Jay street

frum single female said...

then you just got there too late and missed the movie.

Something Different said...

That sounds cool actually. Ive never done jury duty.

Anonymous said...

Jury duty sounds like an interesting experience, but I hope I never get called for a case. I wouldn't be able to be impartial. lol

frum single female said...

orange ducky-
i agree, i think that its very hard to be impartial

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

It was great that they had internet service in the waiting room. I had my pocket-pc and was checking my e-mail and stuff while waiting. I actually met a girl from my HS in the waiting area and talked to her for 2 hours.

I remember watching that video, where they put them in the river.

I also didn't have to serve, and got a check, and don't have to serve again for another few years.

My neighbor is a court reporter, and she's always talking about these horrible cases. Makes me wonder how anyone can sit there for hours listening to all the talk and not go crazy. I would be scared out of my mind if I was by a case where a man was being accused for murder or any dangerous threat. Even if they were innocent, it's still scary that they might have done the thing, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as them.

frum single female said...

babysitter-
you were lucky to find a friend to chat with in the jury waiting room.
the case i could have been on was a murder case. i was totally creeped out by it. the guy who was accused of murder was in the room. its a big responsibility to decide someone's fate. i would not have wanted to see the evidence either. it wouldnt have been like tv. it would be real.the whole thing seemed scary, which is what i told the judge.i was dismissed from the case. bh.