I can retire now!

I just got a mileage reimbursement check from my 3 days at jury summons. How can I spend my $8.16???

Should’ve tried harder to get onto the jury

I knew there was a reason that I wished that I was selected for jury duty… this week, in commeration of Juror Appreciation Week, the Yolo Superior Court is giving out souvenirs and cookies to jurors!

Jury summons day #3

I showed up at 8:30 this morning. Around 9:00, we went into the chambers and resumed where we left off yesterday.

One of the defense attorneys asked me a few questions about one of my responses on the questionnaire (the question was if whether filing charges against a person meant that he was likely to be guilty. I said that since prosecutors normally file charges when they think they are going to win, it was likely that the person was guilty.) I had to explain that I answered the question in the wrong context – that I completely understood the presumption of innocence and that the prosecutor had to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He seemed to be satisfied at that point.

After a few more jurors were dismissed, I moved into the juror’s box. However, I wasn’t there very long before one of the defense attorneys had me dismissed (I don’t remember if it was the same one with the questioning.) I have a feeling that he didn’t think that I could be fair, since he grilled me about that one question, even though I clearly explained to him that I understood the presumption of innocence.

I took off like a bat out of hell and went back to work.

When I first showed up for the summons, I definitely did not want to be on the jury, but now I wish I was selected (even though this would be very inconvenient at work due to a staff shortage.)

Jury summons day #2

I showed up at 9:30 at court today, as instructed. We waited around until 11:30, when we were sent into the judge’s chambers for jury selection. The judge read off 18 names to form the jury (12) and alternates (6). I was not one of them. We then had a break for lunch.

After lunch, the defense lawyers and prosecutor started asking the jury and alternates questions from the questionnaire we did yesterday in order to eliminate some of them. It’s amazing how little some of them (even the older ones) know – one of them thought that the defense has to prove the defendant’s innocence, another one thought that the burden of proof is on the jury (it is on the prosecutor), and another one at least came close – he said that the level of standard is “beyond all doubt” (it should be “beyond reasonable doubt.”)

They started dismissing people left and right, and finally after about 20 dismissals, my name was called to fill an alternate spot, and a few more names were called to fill other alternate spots. The judge asked me to clarify one of my answers from the questionnaire, and did the same for the other alternates. We were then done for the day, and we have to show up at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

EDIT 5/1: Replaced “rejecting” and “rejections” with “dismissing” and “dismissals.”

Jury summons day #1 and smashed rear bumper

I had to show up for a jury summons this morning. I figured that if I got selected for the jury, it would only be a day or two. Man, was I wrong. It turns out that this is a somewhat major case, and is expected to last three to four weeks. (This is a really bad time because we are really understaffed at work now, and we are working on a tight deadline.)

We had to fill out a 20 page questionnaire (about 50 questions.) I hope that some of my answers cause me not to get chosen when I go back tomorrow morning.

To make things worse, when I parked my car for the jury summons this morning, I discovered the my rear bump was completely shot (I will post pics later). I can’t figure out how this could have happened, as it was fine when I got back from work yesterday, and the only place I went after that was the gym.