Jury Duty

About 2 months ago, I received a summons for jury duty. Well, no one likes serving on a jury. Heck, I resent this intrusion on my busy schedule of doing nothing. But it is our duty to serve. I've been on 3 juries before, 2 criminal and 1 civil. I really don't mind. I find them interesting. In fact, Donna and I have even been thinking about attending a trial just for something to do.

Anyway, I showed up on the appointed day. We were to be there at 9:00, and by 9:05 everyone seemed to be in place. All in all, I roughly counted about 45 or more potential jurors. I also saw court staff in their places, as well as what I thought were 2 attorneys, but very friendly with each other. I figured they must work together.

Then we waited, and waited, and waited.

I was surprised by this, as in all my previous experiences, things run pretty well according to daily schedules in the courts. Yeah, I know about the back logs and stuff, but the daily schedule always seems to work well in my experience.

Finally, about 9:35 or so, the judge appeared. It appears the 2 attorneys I saw represented the state. There was a young man, the defendant, sitting all alone at the defense table. It seems his lawyer did not appear for today's session. The judge was none too happy. He apologized to all of us for wasting our time and thanked us for our service. He then went on to explain that in his long career, something like this had never happened before. He informed the court of actions to take regarding the missing lawyer, then dismissed the jury. I wouldn't want to be that lawyer. Heck, I wouldn't want to be any lawyer -- I have morals!

That was the easiest $6 I ever made.