Maybe because I wore this...

Well, jury duty is over. My first experience doing my civic duty to put the bad guy away left me feeling a little flat and disappointed. Here's how it went down:

There were over 200 people at first. The judge asked if anyone had been convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude (conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals; i.e. shoplifting, bad checks, pergury, mail fraud). Interestingly, that whacked about 10 people. How embarrassing!

Next, he heard reasons to be excused, in this order:

1. Can't understand, read or write the English language. The people who left for that should be taken immediately across the border. Well, after strawberry-picking season. Then they HAVE to go.
2. Medical condition that does not allow them to concentrate, sit for an extended period of time, or could cause a distraction. A lot of elderly people tried this one, most with no luck.
3. Caregiver who is not able to be replaced for infant or elderly person. A number of young mothers left on this one.
4. Job restrictions. Almost the whole courtroom got up for this one, and I won't go into detail, but rest assured that the majority of them sat their butts back down.
5. Other reasons. This one was not popular with the judge, either.

All in all, we whittled down to 88, then we were split into 2 jurisdictions. The other jurisdiction had a murder trial. Of course. They got the exciting stuff. My groups had several cases on the docket, including sexual assault, robbery, attacking a police officer, and child abuse. Evidently, all of these transgressors saw the jury convening and decided to "plead out", or change their plea to guiltily. From what I understand, they go easier on you if you admit your guilt.

Rest assured that I was disappointed when I got home yesterday afternoon and had a message on my machine that told me that I did not have to come back.

I wonder if it was the shirt?