Wives Club

What are the odds of sitting in a room of 200 random people and knowing anyone there let alone three people? Apparently the Wives of Oakland County is filming at the court today and the gabfest has started… What I thought was going to be a peaceful chance to rest and relax and do some catching up on work and the blog has turned into did you hear what so and so did and who they did.

I hope I get picked soon…

Second group

Ten o’clock and the second batch of jurors get’s assembled. It is kind of interesting… they draw from a group of some 100 – 150 jurors about 30 at a time. I got the pleasant ability to miss out again. The room is much less crowed and I can hear the TV without any problem. Too bad that Regis and Kelly Ripa’s show is on. I guess ESPN is not available.

On another note, I am amazed that the cross-section of jurors from my county is 99% white.

One more note… ABC just announced that Elena Kagan as the new Supreme Court Justice. One thing that stuck into my mind is that she was not a Judge before, so I’m not sure how good that is. She is also young (50 years old) but that is not a problem to me. She is also the first female solicitor general which is the person appointed to represent the Government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Judge and Jury

Interesting enough it took this to get me to blog again. At least it is a few moments of empty time that allows it.

I got a chance to participate in my rights as a US citizen today.

I’ve had the privilege to go see our court system first hand as a juror.

I arrived our county court just in time... well Zotime... but I did remember that I had forgotten the summons letter. I assumed that it was going to be all right and called home to get my juror number and participant code.

I walked into the court house and was guided through a line that ended with a sheriff and a metal detector. He asked me to place backpack onto the x-ray machine to ensure that I was not bringing anything not allowed into the court. Apparently a laptop is ok.

I went up a flight of stairs and I checked in. I told the pleasant counter person that I had forgot my summons she said no big deal and asked for my name I told her I had the participant’s code and she asked me what that was. After a few moments I got a copy of the barcode that is required to guide me from location to location. She asked me to sit down in the waiting room and let me know that we would begin in a few moments.

Right on cue, someone that could best be described as a stewardess came on the speaker and told us about the legal system and was shortly followed by one of the judges and a short video. The judge had an interesting statement that she said. She said that because of us being here, there were layers busy working outside to ensure that we would not be needed. Implying that there was wheeling and dealing going on to ensure that a jury trial was not going to occur.

At 930 the first group was taken out for their turn. So here I am waiting my turn… I just hope it isn’t too long.