case closed
february 09, 2006
i finally finished jury duty yesterday.
not only was i a juror as mentioned in the previous entry but i was the fore(wo)man. that's right, i KNOW how to take control of the situation my friends. when there are 12 strangers in 1 room deliberating, it's hard to maintain calmness and structure without cracking that asian dominatrix whip.
the case i was on was a criminal one in nature....possession of a controlled substance. (rock) cocaine to be exact. i was really hoping for some intense gory detailed and hanging off the edge of my seat type of case but this one will have to do as i was really busy maintaining my work while sitting on this jury panel. but if it truly wasn't because of work, i would love to be on a jury all the time. it's like real life csi/law and order but even better - you get 1.5 hours lunch break.
again, this is where i have to reiterate about all the stupid people you come across (that you try so hard to keep out of your life) at jury duty. one of the ladies in my group during deliberation blurted out "let's just get this over with and go home!" she basically just wanted us to slap dash some decision together and go home for oprah. i was already in a rage trying to control a room full of 12 opinions so i just turned to her and said "we are not going to rush this. we are talking about a man's life here!!! none of us want to be here longer than we have to but we are going to be fair and not pressure anyone into making a decision that they don't want to!" i think she got scared that this little asian flower wasn't so...flowery.
a hispanic gentlemen in his 40's later came up to me to thank me for standing up to be the foreperson and for stepping up to the job during deliberating. i felt all warm and fuzzy inside because this was one of the guys who was going to vote for guilty.
there were so many details to the case that just didn't pan out from the prosecution side of things and therefore we had to say "not guilty". i do notice that people:
1. don't take notes and therefore don't have a good recollection (i took 4 pages of freakin notes mind you!)
2. forget the main duty that we are there for and the judge's instructions to us. hence, the reason i had to re-read pages and pages of instructions to people.
3. just SPECULATE like mad!
finally after 3 hours of deliberation, we were all in unison. it took us that long to convince the 4 others to turn to the dark side. but they eventually did.
i didn't stay after in court to talk to the attorneys or to see the defendant (like other kiss-ups did). things like that are too close for comfort. i did my duty and abided by the law. i don't need a 54 man who is a habitual drug user, who is unemployed, on disability, that got caught with coke in the parking lot of some seedy motel with a hooker say "thank you" and start tearing up.
no, i was ready to call it a day. yes, me and 2 motrins.
currently listening to: theme from 'aniki'
