Jury Duty (Updated) 1

I decided to take my long, boring book on CSS.

Addendum:

All done. If you want to know what happened, go below the fold.

They really have the metal detectors cranked up. I put everything in my coat pockets, took off my belt, and ran the coat through conveyor belt, but still set off the walk-through detector. According to the gentleman in charge of the Jury Assembly Room (JAR), several months ago someone smuggled some kind of blade into the court house in his belt and tried to slit his wrists at sentencing.

There were over 200 persons called. It’s a new courthouse; there was plenty of room in the JAR, comfortable padded chairs, and even a little room off to the side called the “cyber cafe” with vending machines and four computers for public use. Our leader told us we could use the computers as long as we wanted, unless we looked over our shoulders and saw someone standing there tapping his or her foot.

Persons were called to be there by 8:30. At about 9:15, our tour guide came out with a stack of juror qualification forms that had not been properly filled out. About 15 minutes later, he started the orientation presentation, which lasted a little more than half an hour. He had us laughing; he know how to emphasize important points with humor.

One jury was empaneled for a civil trial in Superior Court. For the docket in the Court of Common Pleas (traffic, DUI, minor crimes), 24 cases were pled out, nine were continued, two were nolle prossed, and four were “capeased” (the defendents did not show up). Our leader allowed as how they would be present in court the next time.

I ploughed through 20 pages of my CSS book. (Now I know what happens when you click one of the “Printable Page” buttons on a web page and the page reformats itself into a more printer-friendly format; a different style sheet gets called.)

By 11:30 a. m., we were released with our little graduation certificates signed by the President Judge of Superior Court, so that, if the Court’s computer system hiccups and we are called again within two years, we can document the day’s service.

All-in-all, not an unpleasant experience.