I had jury duty yesterday (yep, on Valentine’s Day!). It was a fairly boring process. I had to get there at 8:30, and then around 9:00 they showed us an orientation video. Just some basic stuff telling us how very important we are to the judicial process. I brought my Monkey Socks because the juror information website informed me that I was only allowed to bring knitting with wooden needles. The socks were the only WIP I had that was small and not on metal needles! I got a lot of work done on them, and was half-way through kitchenering the toe of the first sock when my number was called (side note: our names were pretty much irrelevant; they identified us by juror number all day!)
I got sent with a huge group of jurors up to a criminal trial scheduled for four days. The process took forever. They judge asked a million questions of us, such as if we, a family member, or anyone close to us had either been accused of or a victim of a crime. Three-quarters of the prospective jurors stood up and had to answer the question. Finally, they tried picking a jury and the defense attorneys decided they didn’t like me, so I got to go home! I was really glad- the defendants were accused of raping a child, and I honestly didn’t want to sit through that trial and the descriptions. Additionally, I honestly don’t know that I, or anyone, would have been able to go into such a case with an open, unbiased mind. I collected my $15.00 expenses check and headed home to knit.
I got the spend the rest of the day knitting and relaxing, then the Boyfriend came over and we went for a walk. It was gorgeous weather. Later, we watched Watson the Computer on Jeopardy! I was a little frustrated that they only showed half the game (they’re splitting it into pieces and spending the rest of the time explaining how Watson works), but it was still really interesting. He did pretty well on some of the categories, but not so well on the others. By the end of round one (which was as much as they showed), I think he was tied with one of the human contestants.
So Valentine’s Day started out a little bit roughly, but definitely ended well! How did your Valentine's Days go?
You definitely lucked out. Last time I got called to jury duty I spent three days sitting in a room. I got some reading done. You are especially lucky because that sounds like a horrible case to have to sit on. *shudder*
ReplyDeleteI've been on call for jury duty all week. I had to call in every evening to find out if my number was one of the ones that had to go in. I lucked out... they never even got close to my number. We are NOT allowed to take knitting needles in. I wouldn't have been able to take them to the orientation room because then I'd have no place to put them once we walked to the courthouse.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you didn't get chosen for that jury.