Tuesday, October 27, 2009
I've Done My Duty
Now leave me alone!
Had jury duty today. Got there about 5 minutes late but that wasn’t a big deal, really. I was there in time before they started talking to us all about everything. After we were told that they wouldn’t be calling anyone for about a half an hour, I went outside to just enjoy being outside and not cooped up indoors.
Here’s the thing: The very first time I walked through security, all went well. I placed my bag on the conveyor belt, removed my jacket per their demands and walked through. No beeps, nothing. Excellent. Gathered my things and went up to report for duty.
When I came back from being outside the first time, the alarm went off when I walked through and they had an issue with something in my bag. Nothing had changed. Nothing had been added in to the bag, nothing had been added to my clothing but this time, I was stopped. Interesting. So I had to walk through over and over again. The alarm goes off with red lights based on what area of the body the detector detects something. Apparently this time it was my upper body. Finally I was wanded. The wand kept going off on the zipper on my shirt. So, even after they had me lift my pant legs and looked around my waist band, they declared it was my zipper on my shirt.
Then, they start getting snotty about my bag. I’m pushed back and told to make my bag go through again. What the fuck, man. So I put it through again. They yank my bag off the belt on the other side and start going through it talking about a laser. Laser? What fucking laser? And what the hell, this didn’t happen the first time I went through. They pulled out my Kindle and started man handling it, trying to figure out what it was. They wanted to know if it was a laser. I had to explain to them that it was an ereader, it is not a laser in any way, shape or form. They kept going on and on and ON about a laser. Then it hit me.....DER! I just recently bought this laser toy for my cats that attaches to my key chain. The keys were in my bag. So I showed them the laser and they confiscated it, put it in an envelope and gave me a number to claim it before I left.
That’s fine. I have no problem with that. Except why didn’t they detect that the first time I went through? See, this is how people sneak shit in and this is what bothers me about our security. People may mumble and grumble about having to remove belts and shoes but I’m more of the type to get irritated when they don’t see everything that comes through. You know what? Take your time and make sure you see everything. A room full of annoyed people is better than a room full of DEAD people!
Went back upstairs and noticed that the “Quiet Room” was now open so I headed straight there. I opened the door and oh how beautiful! I was the only one in there! I had the room all to myself! Hurray! I started reading and was all alone for a good 15 minutes before someone else walked in. I was so engrossed in my book that I didn’t notice him walk in. It wasn’t until the door clunked shut that I realized I was no longer alone and I jumped a good 4 inches out of my chair.
About 2 minutes later, someone else came in. But, they were quiet and that was ok. One was busy with studies for school and the other was reading a book. It was very quiet in there. Nice.
And then they announced over the loud speaker that the “Quiet Room” was now open. DAMN! DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!!!!!!!!
More people started coming in to read. That’s fine. Everyone was quiet except that every time someone came in, the door would clunk close behind them. It got rather distracting. Just when everything started to settle down, some tool shed on the streets below started hollering some such shit, the same statement, over and over and over and over and over again. Dude, shut up! Can’t you see we are in the “Quiet Room”? Go take your love anger elsewhere.
Finally, he left, things were being all quiet again and then, bam. Announcement. Sigh. Eventually I just gave up being in the quiet room. I started talking to a fellow juror about the Kindle. Then we got on to the subject of politics and other things and, thankfully, we agreed on quite a bit. Not everything but quite a bit. Refreshing in this town!
Jurors were called, groups forming again and again but not me. We were released for lunch. I went downstairs to hang outside and continue talking to that fellow juror. Eventually we worked our way back inside and here we go again with the security.
THIS TIME, my bag was fine, however; I still was not. I told them, “Yah, last time I went through they said it was my zipper here on my shirt.” They did not care to hear me because this time the detector told them the problem was in my shoes. “Do you have metal in your shoes?” No, just like I didn’t the last two damn times I went through here. I had to take off my fricken shoes. Sigh. Every single time I went through the detector, it was a different outcome. Doesn’t give me a lot of faith in that detector or those people, frankly. And yes, they were the same people. I went through the same line each time.
Got back up to our waiting area and proceeded to wait and wait and wait some more. Again more groups were called and again, I was not. It was approaching 2pm. I asked my fellow juror, knowing damn good and well I was jinxing things, if it was possible not to be called at all and we just go home at 5. Sure as shit, the next batch of jurors, I was called. Naturally.
We get up to the court and file in. When we first got to jury duty, we had to fill out a questionnaire telling them a little bit about us. The judge went to each and every person, asking them questions based on their answers. I was juror #19, one of the last, (20 of us in all). Most of the people before me had never been called for jury duty. When it came to my turn, I informed the judge that this was my 4th time. “Wow! Four times!?”, he exclaimed. (The only one who had me beat was the lady next to me, Juror #20...she answered that she has had jury duty every two years since she first registered to vote. You win!) He then asked me a bit about those other three times and proceeded on to ask me other questions. Where did I live before Miami, that sort of thing. Then he got to my job. He said, “Now, (chuckle), this one is interesting and I circled it because I just had to get more information about it....it says here, you are an airboat captain and that you LIVE in the Everglades?”
I replied yes.
He wanted to know how far in to the Everglades I lived. I informed him of the general area. Not only did the judge gasp but so did some of my fellow jurors. “Wow, you really DO live way out there!” He wanted to know a bit about it all and I felt kind of embarrassed because every single person in that court was looking at me....it’s easier to just BE the tour guide than talk about it. Anyway, apparently it tickled him that I was an air boat captain.
We then proceeded with the routine questions, swearing in, understanding the law and our job and all that. Then he asked us if we knew any of the people there, any of the witnesses, all that. Then he asked if any of us may have a bias towards lawyers, police officers that sort of thing. Some people did from past experiences. They discussed all that. Then he asked if any of us had any bias towards the defendant. At first I thought he meant racist because the defendant was black so I said nothing. He then went on to explain, “You know, bias towards driving under the influence....” I raised my hand.
I told him that 10 years ago I had been in an accident and the other driver was driving under the influence, (drugs not alcohol but still under the influence), and that periodically I still get pissed about that as I continue to deal with the injuries and the pain. He asked me if I could be fair towards the defendant. I said I didn’t think so. I had to be honest. I have a big fucking problem with people drinking and driving or doing drugs and driving. It pisses me off! And despite the fact that our job is to listen only to the evidence and base our decision on that, I know for a FACT that I would be biased if, say, the guy fell during a field sobriety test. I might not be so keen on giving an excuse that he was nervous or something like that.
The judge said he appreciated my honesty and made a note on my paper. Well, after that, other hands shot up. Seems a number of my fellow jurors had issues with drunk drivers in the past and they, too, would more than likely be biased and not fair to the defendant. The judge asked us if we thought we could be fair and I told him, “For this type of case? I can’t say yes.”
The the prosecutor and defense attorney had their turns standing in front of us, asking us questions...on and on it went. It was 4:45pm when they had us go out in to the hallway while they made their decision.
We sat out there for a half an hour!
Finally, we all filed back in and the judge said, “I have some good news and some bad news...depending on how you see it.” NONE of us got picked! LOL! There were too many people like me who claimed they would probably not be fair, (I wasn’t using this as an excuse to get out of it, I was being totally honest), and some people were really stupid. They weren’t listening well, weren’t answering the attorneys questions in any way that made sense, would totally change their mind from one second to the next....none of it was good. So, there may have been only a few people who they would have taken but it didn’t leave them with enough so they decided to scrap the whole thing and try for a completely different pool.
It didn’t matter either way. IF I had been picked and could be fair, they were going to have the case done right away. They would pick the jury and begin. They told us we may not get out until 7 or 8pm. That’s fine with me. Give traffic some time to die down and the judge had ordered food for us all. Since none of us got picked, we all got to leave at about 5:20pm. As we were leaving, one juror asked, “What about dinner?” The judge laughed. He was actually a pretty cool judge, had a good sense of humor. Nicer than other judges I’ve worked with as a juror.
So, I’m done. And it will be at least 12 months before they can pick me again. Hurray! I’m free for a year. And I didn’t bother to fill out the compensation form. They give you $15. Whatever. Just keep it and leave me alone!
