Back in the Saddle

'Tis The Season...You've been summoned!

My life has been on hold for the past week because of the letter that I got above.  Starting last Friday, I had to call in every day to see if I would need to report for jury duty.  This entire week, I've had to call every day at noon to see if I had to report at 1 p.m.  Fortunately, the court house was about a block away.

Today, I actually forgot to call in right at noon, but when I did call, I was told that my jury service had been completed.  And I didn't even have to set foot inside the courthouse.

Talk about a letdown, but now I'm back in the saddle for the Christmas season and don't have to worry about making a last minute rush down to do my civic duty!

I'm actually disappointed that I didn't get called.  First, I think that serving on a jury duty is an important part of our civic duty.  I think that having good, educated jurors is an important part of our society and our country.  And I'd like to think that I would be a good juror.  I know that I could be fair and impartial.  And even though it is the Christmas season, I do not believe, as some may, that 'Tis the Season to Convict!  (Mostly, I'm sure so that those short-sighted jurors can get home as quickly as possible.)

I probably would convict this guy though...I'm just sayin'

Selfishly, I think being on a jury would be great because I think it would be invaluable to experience the dynamics of the jury room first-hand.  I think that it would only make me a better attorney.  As attorneys, we spent hours agonizing over the jury will react to a witness or a piece of evidence or our client or our own arguments.  It would be great to see that from the (not-so-comfortable) chairs in the jury box.

I've been summonsed for jury duty now three times.  Twice I had to actually go to the courthouse.  I've never even made it up to a courtroom.

Sadly, the reality is that even if I ever did make it into a courtroom, I would probably never make it onto a jury.  I think that most attorneys don't like having other attorneys sit on their juries.  Oh well...

"Johnny Cochrane" Trial Moment

Who can forget Johnny's memorable line from this case?

So I was in court the other day and heard this exchange first hand.  It was so good that I wrote it down:

Attorney: "So she lives at home?"
Witness: "Yes sir."
And then without missing a beat or cracking a smile, the witness added: "We all do!"

It was a pretty funny moment...Yes, attorneys can be dumb sometimes (as my wife will be more than happy to tell you!).  

It was almost as good as this classic exchange:

A defending attorney was cross examining a coroner. The attorney asked, "Before you signed the death certificate had you taken the man's pulse?""No," the coroner replied.The attorney then asked, "Did you listen for a heart beat?"
The coroner said, "No."
"Did you check for breathing?", asked the attorney.
Again the coroner replied, "No."
The attorney asked, "So when you signed the death certificate you had not taken any steps to make sure the man was dead, had you?"
The coroner, now tired of the brow beating said, "Well, let me put it this way. The man's brain was sitting in a jar on my desk, but for all I know he could be out there practicing law somewhere."