Welly, did you yell "HE'S GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY!" during the jury selection process? It works pretty well if you want to go back to that boring room and read a book.
believe me the thought crossed my mind ;-D
I was tempted to fake tourette syndrome or something
Me, I stayed and let a prostitute off the hook. What a softy.
dude, everyone in that jury room were softies. The case was about two guys accused of being in possession of narcotics with intention to sell. First they called 45 of us to the courtroom for jury selection. (Out of the 45 they were going to select 13 (12 plus an alternate). That process is still ongoing (i have to go back at 9;30 am tomorrow; I didnt get called in the first lottery of 18 people. Lots of 'lotteries' involved in this process, nerve racking cuz everyone is praying their name isnt called). But they made us sit and watch the attornies 'question' the 18 in the jury box (ie, the jury selection questions). They were encouraging people to speak their minds. And man, they spoke their minds. Some real wackos in there. One guy pretty much had decided he could not convict a drug user cuz he beleives in legalizing drugs. Then he went into a rant about how the judicial system is a crock of **** (the judge watched this with a bemused look on his face; i was surprised he let the guy go on). and how we're wasting tax payers money, lol. Nearly everyone who spoke seemed like they were inclined to let the druggies (lol) go.
One woman was like, when asked if she had anything against police officers (who were going to testify) she said yes (lol!). Said she doesnt trust them. Judge asked her if she thought she could reach a fair and impartial decision anyway. She actually said: Well, I dont think I could be impartial, but i could be fair. (Lol!). The judge spent another 20 minutes trying to get her to articulate what she thought was the difference between the words 'impartial' and 'fair'. He'd ask, can you be impartial? She'd say no. Can you be fair? she'd say yes.
It was kind of hilarious actually. For the first 10 minutes.
The defense attorney got up and promptly began leaking details of the case (basically trying to predispose the jury in one direction). I've seen enough law and order to recognize what she was doing and sure enough 30 seconds into it the judge snapped at her and cut her off. It was probably the closest law and order moment. Pretty dramatic, lots of tension.
Meeting the people in that jury room lounge is a bit like stumbling into a random internet forum --
You meet all kinds... ;-D A pretty random selection of humanity's finest.
Anyway, the saga continues tomorrow. Its somewhat interesting (my first 'real' jury experience; i've only been called once before, in a sleepy upstate NY town, but that case was settled before the jury sat down).
So its somewhat interesting but still my only regret is that I didnt yell out a racial slur so I could go the f*ck home, lol.
Come to think of it tho, they'd only assign you to a different case I think (like a civil case instead of a criminal one). There's no way out.
The state of new york is going to take a week of my life, no matter what
I hope they enjoy it
