Ourview
Jury
duty not for everyone
You could tell the old man had rehearsed
his answers. He really did not want to be
chosen for jury duty. And who does?
The lawyer went through the same questions
he asks everyone.
“Do you have any prejudices?” the lawyer
asked the old man. “Would you believe one
person over another simply based on their
race, religion or nationality?”
The old man had been waiting for his chance
to get rejected.
“Well,” he responded, pretending to truly
reflect on the question, “I have to be honest.
If you put a gypsy and an Amish guy up on
the stand, and they are both saying something
different, I’m going to believe the Amish
guy.”
The other potential jurors tried to keep
straight faces. The lawyer continued, unfazed.
He asked the old man if he had ever spent
any time in jail. The old man answered that
he had.
“And during that time in jail,” the lawyer
seemed determined to see this through to
the end, “were you ever mistreated by law
enforcement officers?”
“I don’t know,” the old man said in all
seriousness. “I was drunk.”
At this final remark, the group of potential
jurors broke out into hysterical laughter.
Suffice to say, that old man was not chosen
to be a juror, but he seemed to handle the
rejection fantastically well.
No one wants to get jury duty summons. But
if we have any records at the Department
of Motor Vehicles or if we have ever registered
to vote, our numbers are up, and it is just
a matter of time before we receive our invitation
to participate in enforcing justice upon
deviant citizens.
In the old days, we wouldn’t even bother
opening the summons. It just went directly
into the trash, or maybe a public trash
can just to make sure it was not traced
back to us. Today things are different.
Jury summons are actually enforced, and
whether you are a full-time student carrying
30 units or an 80-year-old lady, you have
to show up for jury selection.
California courts pay $15 a day if you are
selected for jury duty, and employers are
not obligated to reimburse you for the money
you are not making while away from work.
The logic is: you are lucky enough to be
a citizen of this great nation — serving
on juries is a civic duty.
This makes sense to some extent, but it
seems unfair to chose any and everyone from
across the board without giving more consideration
to people whose lives will be severely disrupted
by time away from work or school.
At the same session as the old man, a nun
was pleading that she be relieved of her
duty because she had non-refundable tickets
to Rome for a conference of, well, nuns.
Her plea was insufficient as far as the
courts were concerned. She was told to stay.
People such as students, single parents,
the elderly and nuns with non-refundable
tickets to nun conferences should be excused
from jury duty until a more suitable time
in their lives. As students, we cannot afford
to take even a couple days off of school
to do something that others could more easily
do. Luckily, we can always follow the old
man’s example and have a little fun in planning
our rejection.
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