It's Jury Duty Wednesday, Miss Kitty Fantastico

[BBOvenGuy]

It's still Tuesday here in LA, but I have to get to bed early because tomorrow I have to report to the Pasadena courthouse for jury duty.

It's my first time, and actually I'm a little curious about what it's like. At the same time, though, I'm in the middle of the test-reader draft of my book that already has a publisher waiting to read it, plus I'm behind on getting the plot of my next book worked out. Maybe they'll put me in a room and make me sit waiting all day, and I can just work there. It could happen, right?

And if all else fails, I could use the tactic my mom used many years ago. The judge asked her if she knew anyone involved in the case that was being tried, and she said, "No Your Honor, I've never met the criminal before." She was excused pretty quickly after that.

If Willow or Tara had to serve on a jury, how do you think they'd do? What kinds of trials do you think they have in Sunnydale, anyway?

Have a great day, everybody!

[AutumnT]

Actually Bob it is pretty dull. Lots of waiting. Bring a book. If you do get to go to a room they usually try to weed out the smart ones. I've been called many times and served once. It was interesting to watch the process but the greed and stupidity amazed me. Be careful, if you do get pick they will likely put you in charge of the jury. That's what happened to me.

And then there was the friend of mine that actually served on a jury over a hair pulling fight because one girl called another girl's pants "pleather" in a Walmart...

[BBOvenGuy]

Okay, so there's actually someone here who has done this before. Yay!

You say I can bring "a book." Does that mean I can't show up with my manuscript and my notepads and my pens? Do I have to limit myself to reading? Because that wouldn't be good...

[Rally]

Well it's not Wed you bloody west coasters, but I will indulge. First off, they would never pick Tara in a million years, she is like that kindly old grandma that the defense always throws out the jury pool first. Willow would get thrown out by the prosecution, because she would be coming up with arguments for and against the the defendant.

As for me, I first got called for jury duty in California, just after I left the state. So I have never had to be put to it. The closet I have come was in high school, where we did a field trip thing to a court house and did a mock trial. Even than I wasn't picked for anything, hurrah.

But Wed approaches quickly and my Giants are in a world of hurt. But I am taking my newphew to the game tomorrow and it should be a good time.

Other than that, looking forward to the rapidly approaching SD fest and I guess that is enough babble for now.

[AutumnT]

Bob,

You can bring whatever you want to keep yourself amused. You'll have to go through a metal detector but after that expect a lot of waiting. And you can use your time however you want until they need your attention.

[maudmac]

For most of the juror pool, the overwhelming majority of time is spent waiting to be called as a prospective juror for a trial. You may very well never even get that far. While you're there, you're usually free to do as you like. You can bring ten books and twenty manuscripts and three hundred different-colored pens.

Once you're called to an actual trial, though, of course, you won't be allowed to even read. If you're selected for the jury, you go do that. If you aren't selected, you go back into the big pool to wait...and wait...and wait some more.

All this is just based on my experience, of course.

Hope it goes well.

And I hope all the Kittens have a fantastic Wednesday. (Wednesday is my Friday, so I'm happy.)

[BBOvenGuy]

Woo-hoo! Okay, good. One of the good things about being a writer is that I can still work while I'm waiting and waiting and waiting. Thanks!

[roamin]

You'll find it's usually a whole lot of hurry up and wait, and often you'll spend the whole day waiting to get called. So you should have plenty of time to work on that book - unless you get picked for a case, in which case there is still a lot of waiting around, but your time is so chopped up I would image it would be hard to do anything, like writing that takes a lot of focus.

Be sure and bring the NYT crossword puzzle with you.

[thegirlwiththecurl]

Jury duty is up there on my 'worst experiences of my life list'. I did it last year here in Melbourne. I was called up first for the first case of the day. It was awful, a child sex abuse case. Not only was the evidence given, accounts, photos etc horrific but I volunteered to be leader of the jury because no one would put their hand up and I'm hideously impatient...anyway, then everyone decided to turn around and say that I was too young to have a justifiable opinion. All that conflict in a windowless room that you can't leave. Jury duty...it's a winner.

[Jennifer]

OMG,omg. I've decided that today is the day that I come out to my parents. I am freaking. Any kittens have any advice? Words of wisdom? Things not to say? Anything. Not that I'm begging, or anything. Happy Wednesday, kitties.

[VampNo12]

Jury duty, yes quite a long, tedious time waiting to be called (I think I was able to read a whole book before my number was called). I was called twice, the first time my number never got called, so it was just a very boring day. The second time my number was called (it was for a murder trial), and as soon as I said I was a law student (interning at a prosecutor's office), the defense got rid of me. I wouldn't mind serving on a jury, (I am involved in the law/wanting to be a lawyer), but the wait to even get picked, kinda takes the thrill away for me.

As for W&T I could so see Willow being the fore-person, with her different color pens, charts, and etc driving the other jurors crazy. I could see the rest of the panel not really caring (just want to go home) so they all vote guilty, but Willow being the dissenter wanting to debate all the key points (and either changing their minds, or being a hung jury). Tara would probably not be picked. Her "abusive" family background might have the defense believe she sympathizes/leans toward "punishing" the defendant, and thus the defense would use one of their "strikes" on her.

[SJ]

I think they've probably had a lot of corruption cases in Sunnydale especially what happened after the Mayor turned into a big snake.
Good luck Jennifer! Hope it goes well.

[maudmac]

[b:014ca1c8ef] Jennifer[/b:014ca1c8ef], congratulations! I know exactly how you feel. The best advice I could give you, is to just do it. You really just have to take a deep breath and jump. That's what it was like for me. Scary and exhilirating at the same time.

I hope it's a wonderful and totally positive experience for you.

You'll be having a better day than Bob, at least.

And, though it has nothing to do with anything, can I just say that I'm really shocked to find this emoticon . What in the world do we need [i:014ca1c8ef] that[/i:014ca1c8ef] for? Rage? Please. What is it saying? Is that profanity, there? Shameful.

[Rosenberg]

Well, oddly enough, I was on jury duty just last week. I was probably the only one who actually wanted to serve on the jury in the case I was almost selected for. After two days of questioning the jurors, I was the last one dismissed, which really kind of disappointed me. I kept wondering why the defense attorney chose to dismiss me while keeping two people who admitted they couldnt be fair and impartial towards his client. Maybe he saw me reading my Wayne Dyer book and he got suspicious. Or maybe he wanted his client to be found guilty. (It was a man who was up on 30 counts of incest with his 13-year-old daughter). Anyway, there was a lot of sitting around and slow time, and a lot of breaks and long lunches, so you should be able to get some work done in the jury assembly room while youre waiting. You can bring books, manuscripts, and newspapers, pay your bills, play cards, whatever. I brought my Walkman and listened to tapes when I wasnt reading. I liked it because I got to sleep an extra three hours longer than I would if I were going to work, and the courthouse was only 10 minutes away from my home. Good luck and I hope you find the process interesting.

[katlurkin]

Good Luck Jennifer.

And Bob (heehee) I think I would like your mother, that line is priceless. I've been a registered voter for 17 years and never onece been called for jury duty *shrug*


Kat

[KittyKo]

good morning kittens. *waves* it has been a while. ^^;
Just wanted to wish good luck to Jennifer. =)

Have a nice day.

[mollyig]

I can't see either Willow or Tara being picked in the selection process. Can you imagine one of them asking Willow a hypothetical question and her giving one of her babbling answers. She'd totally flummox them. Tara would have to much empathy I think, for both sides, to be picked.

[WebWarlock]

Jennifer Good Luck! I hope everything works out for you.

Bob. Hehehe. I got called to jury duty a couple of years ago. I took a copy of the book I was working to edit and played a bunch of games on my Visor.

I got dismissed of course, but they still paid me!

Have a good Kitties.

Warlock

[CaptMurdock]

The 31st is when I have to go for jury duty, or actually when I have to sit in the Santa Ana courthouse and pray to the Powers That Be that I don't get picked for a long trial. Just my luck, though, that I finally work for a company that pays for jury duty! That's probably because the corporate headquarters is based in Alabama, where people are a little more traditionally civic-minded.

I could just see Willow and/or Tara serving on a jury and they figure out that the defendant could not have done it because the person was actually killed by mystical means but they are trapped because the law doesn't recognize magic! What to do?

[Loco2]

well, [b:f46a870431] maudmac[/b:f46a870431], i'm sure you could use that particular smilie for many things, eg. JURY DUTY?! [b:f46a870431] PAH![/b:f46a870431]

hee hee.

good luck with the jury duty and the coming out,

steph

[Grimaldi]

i've only gotten called for jury duty once (thank God). it was the most boring day of my life. i had to sit in that little waiting room for most of the morning, then went to the courtroom where they explained what the trial was, told to go to lunch and come back in a hour. then i had to wait around for two more hours before being told that i wasn't needed.

i don't think that Willow or Tara would be on a jury. Willow would end up asking to many questions, so the prosecution and the defense attorneys would tell her to leave, Tara would be to sympathic to one side or the other depending on the circumstances.

good luck Jennifer on telling your parents, and good luck Bob

[ninjitsugrrl]

Jennifer, best of luck! Hope it goes well for you.

[AlexisMQ]

Ah. Hump Day. Fun.

Bob - Good luck with the jury duty thing. I got selected as an alternate and had to go for a short time - 3 days. I did get selected again later however as I was going to school in Oregon and they wanted me for jury duty in Arkansas it wasn't really doable. *laugh*

Jennifer - Good luck to you too!

Well, Only three more days of work to get through and then I am off. The only good thing about this next week is that I am house sitting for a friend's family. They have a beautiful home that is up in the mountains a bit and you can't go wrong with a big screen tv and satallite!

Also, big brother tonight. *laugh* I am a sick sad person, but it is mesmerizing. It sucks you totally in. I can't believe the things that some of these people do! *laugh*

Have a good day kitties!

PS. xita - take time to pick the flowers.... *grin*

[Elianna]

Good luck Jennifer.

I have never served jury duty, but I have worked at elections. That was interesting. The second youngest person working with me was about three times my age.

I just wanted to say that I'm back from Tel Aviv, for those of you who I was speaking with earlier. Nothing untoward happened, thank goodness. Tomorrow I go meet some cousins after their work, and the day after that, I leave for Turkey for a week!

-Elianna

[Tiggrscorpio]

When I lived in NYC, I got called for jury duty all the time. It was always for Grand Jury, too. If you get picked, you have to serve for the entire month, either 3 hours in the morning or 3 hours in the afternoon. I was picked, but luckly it was in the month of November, which is the shortest month because of Thanksgiving holidays.

All the cases were undercover drug bust. Each prosecutor would present the exact same way. By the end of the month, I could have gone up and prosecuted the case. Every defendant was found guilty. It was fascinating, but lots of down time. Bring plenty to stuff to work on.

Jennifer, sending you good wishes. Hope everything turns out okay!

[Ittybittykitty]

I don't think either of our girls would get picked...it just wouldn't happen.Well it's not really legal for me to be on a jury... I'm only 17, so I'd have to lie about my age. Not like I've ever done that before......heehee.

Hey Jennifer, good luck!

Yeah and me being cool- On Monday I sprained my ankle at tae kwon do by landing a kick wrong...so now I can't really walk. I hate crutches...they suck a lot. However it does get nice young women to open doors for me...Yar har har. Me and my alterior motives,

[Warduke]

Glad to hear everythings ok Elianna, the sooner you leave, the better

I served on a jury about two years ago (I think) and I was expecting it to be hellish but it was actually a lot of fun, mostly because the accused chose to defend himself and he had the IQ of a turnip

To make a long story shortan undercover agent bought drugs from him over a period of time, then he was arrested. When she was on the stand, describing how/when she had bought the drugs (at a club and at his house) his only defense was that it was really dark at the club and she had made a mistake, it was someone else

Of course every time shed tell him that she went to HIS house and he sold her the drugs there, and she had talked to him on several occasions, but he just kept coming back to the bad lighting in the club, all the jurors, everyone in the courtroom and even the judge couldnt stop laughing, and not only that, once he was done making a complete ass out of himself, he went back to his seat with a smug look on his face, like he was thinking I made her look like a fool didnt I?

Well needless to say, we didnt deliberate very long, and the whole thing only lasted two days, it would have ended in one, but because of some mix up, it started later than it should have, so we had to come back the next day.

Although I had fun, Im not looking forward to doing it again.

[Puff]

Good luck Bob jury duty sounds very boring and luckily for me I was never called in England and it's not something I have to worry about being called for in the US anytime soon. Your mum's line cracked me up as well

Good luck to Jennifer as well today, I hope it all goes smoothly with your parents

[theatremouse]

i think willow would kinda be disqualified cuz she can get all inside people's head and stuff, which would help with the truth-getting, but not with the "due process" blah blah blah....plus willow is super evidence gatherer analyzer, so she'd probably be more useful in trying to work on the case, than sit for it.....'eh. and tara's too gorgeous, she'd be a distraction in the courtroom...

[The Inward Sea]

Lots of luck for you, Jennifer!

There aren't juries in our legal system and all what you are saying is very *educative* We have a loooooong written process in which everybody mentioned is asked to answer the lawyer's and the judge's questions but you never actually meet the judge because the questions are made by a secretary. Only some criminal matters have short oral processes, public, but without jury.

I'll love to hear both of you, Jennifer and Bob, telling us how it all went.

Sea