close call
Today at court, we all waited impatiently to tell us they had picked their jury and so we could go home. They dragged it out til about 10:30am. I dunno why they had to drag it out so long.

We piled into the courtroom and sat and waited. The 12 jury members filed in. We waited some more. "All rise!", we rose. I'm not sure why they were wasting our time, I mean does it have to be so formal?

Then, the judge explained that one of the jury members had written a letter to him explaining how her mother was near the brink of life and that she simply could not serve the 2+ months of trial. The judge excused her and told us that one of us would have to replace her! DOH!!

So they started calling out at random the next panel. Judge said he'd call 10 people who would be brought to the back, and then one by one would be interviewed to see if they'd qualify to be the next juror. I was picked (argh..) 5th!

So we were all sitting in the back room, I was totally petrified. The bailiff came in and asked the first lady to come out for her interview. I was really scared at this point, because I knew the #3 guy was self-employed and would be able to cite financial hardship has a valid excuse not to serve. And the #4 guy was a student, so obviously he couldn't serve a 2+ month case!

So we all waited there. 5 minutes later, the bailiff came back in to get the next person, only instead she told us we were free to go home! Praise GOD!! They picked the first lady.. haha..

I was so relieved, I blurted out "HOLY CRAP THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE!" and everyone laughed.

That's my experience with jury duty.. and the best thing is, I'll be exempt for the next 3 years!

Here's the case if anyone is interested. It's kind of scary, thinking about it. This morning I was in the washroom and all 4 guys came in. I was thinking 'good Lord get me out of here!'. I was pretty scared!