Jury Duty - Day 2

Just a quick wrap up. This morning they picked another 20 people and went through the same process. This time it went a whole lot quicker, but still there were some freakazoids on the panel. It seems that everybody wants to be in the spot light, wants us to think they are something special, that their stupid little nuanced opinions are relevant.

Just two stories worth noting...

There was one lady who went through all the questions and then when the judge was six people down the line she raised her hand and said "I just remembered... I was accused of possession of Marijuana back in 1968." The whole room was in stitches. The judge even got uncharacteristically ironic and said "Oh, then you better step down now." The prosecutor had to have a go at it just for laughs... he said "Do you have anything you want to add about that Marijuana incident from 1968?" And instead of saying "No, nothing really"... instead she starts telling the whole story "Well, it was in central park. I was in high school..." He had to say "OK, thanks that's enough."

I didn't bring up this a-hole from yesterday, but he annoyed me enough that I'll mention him now. He's an old Yippie, by appearance. You know, somebody who was probably a political activist in 1968 when he was 20 years old. He's definitely the guy who wants to push the boundaries and test the system. He was NOT selected in either jury panel... was just in the court room w/ the rest of us as a possible replacement. As soon as one of the prospective jurors had a personal sidebar w/ the judge, and everybody's attention is on the sidebar... he walks right up to the jury box, completely unnoticed by the judge, the lawyers, or any court officers. He asks one of the people who already answered the questions if he could have her laminated question sheet. She's like, OK... HERE. And he walks back to his seat. Now, I don't think anything wrong occured during that exchange, but I KNOW the judge and court officers would not have let him do that.

Also, during one of the breaks, when EVERYBODY is still out in the hall, and the sign on the door says "JURORS, Please wait in the hall until court officer brings you in"... he acts stupid, pretends he thinks he's late and everybody is already in the room, and he opens the door and sticks his head in. It was really a pathetic "LOOK AT ME" kind of move. He has to say "Sorry, I thought everybody was back in the room now."... even though all 80 people are standing right there in the hall near the door.

Then today, he seems to disagree w/ an answer given by one of the prospective jurors... so he starts having a fit raising his hand and waving it in the air and clearing his throat so the judge will notice him. I don't know if she saw him, but she definitely didn't acknolege him at all.

And the final dick move of all... when we all go back into the main jury room, and they announce that they are realeasing us, and they tell us to keep the completion notice as proof that we served... this dickhead raises his hand and askes "Excuse me, did you say we should KEEP the completion notice?" WTF !!!! No dickhead, they said you should wipe your ass with it!!!

Soooo... botom line... one and a half days of jury duty. Won't be called back in New York City or State for SIX YEARS !!! Also, waved from federal jury duty for four years. And even those who did get selected, in this case anyway, will probably be in court for three days.

Not a bad deal all around. Must cost the tax payers a fortune, though.