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From: Chrysantha
Date: 06-16-2005, 10:40 PM (1 of 6)
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Sue Annes Jury Duty Saga (06-16-05) It started out with my alarm clock going off ONE HOUR early, because I was going to have to drive to Hillsboro. (45 min away) Needless to say I was not in a good mood. So when Ish Kabibble (her dog) and I got outside and saw a wild screaming group of college kids in the spa making noise, I called security. That was the end of the party..... My drive to Hillsboro was not as bad as I thought, although it seems like the N Plains/Glencoe exit is way the hell out there! I found the parking garage and had a nice walk in the sunshine to the courthouse. Upon arrival, I found out we were supposed to bring the actual "summons" paper with us!. It didn't say so on the sheet!!! So about 10 of us had to form a second line to the side and wait 15 mins to be let in, where were were never asked to show the papwerwork by anybody !!! So all 252 of us sat in a room and watched a video about being a good jury member and waited for the raffle to have our name/number called. The names are called by lottery in groups of 27 for a 12 person jury and 14 for a 6 person jury. I got called on a 14 person group. There were 5 women and 9 men. They took us all up to the 4th floor where we waited some more and were then lined up and taken into the courtroom. There was just the judge, court reporter, 2 lawyers and defendant.. No witnesses, no bailiff (like Burt on Judge Judy) it was pretty sparse so I knew it couldn't be a 'big deal'. So we are all seated and the defence attorney starts to ask us questions, in order to weed some of us out. I was initially distracted looking at " Doogie Howser Attorney at Law", for the prosecution. He was pretty cute and wearing a nice suit, dumb as a rock, but cute just the same. The attorney for the defence was an old, fat, slimy guy, I'm sure the defendant just picked him out of the phone book. Yuck ! Of course at that time I couldn't figure out why he kept asking ME questions. He asked me if I 'knew the defendant', 'if I knew him from the community', ' if I knew him from my place of worship'. ??? Only after he called me . MS Amed for the sixth time, did I realize that he thought I was an Arab !!! As the defendant was an Arab, Muhammad Suliman. I corrected him EVERY time he mis-pronounced my name (Amedei...it's Italian) and I looked at the judge who could only smile (the defence attorney wouldn't look at any of us in the eye). I wanted to jump up and shout, I'm Italian you idiot !!! but thought that the judge would frown on that kind of behavior. Anyway they finish asking their questions and weed out all the men except for the only ARAB man and the 5 women. The joke was on them, when we went to deliberate and the Arab guy says, 'he's as guilty as you can be, why are we here'? Here's the case, Suliman is in a bar, from 12am-2am, drinking. (no contest by his lawyer) He leaves the bar gets into his car. At 4:30am someone calls 911. (DUI is not disputed) So why are we here ??? The defendant states that he was NOT driving while intoxicated. He was just sleeping in his car. I wanted to scream, what a moron, what a waste of time. When we finally went around the room and voted GUILTY, except you guessed it...one lady. Her contention was that he 'might' have not been drunk when he got in the car. Well pretty much EVERYBODY yelled at her till she said she would vote guilty. Democracy at it's finest! We were released from jury duty for 2 yrs...anyway it was an experience and I SHOULD HAVE WORN MY FOIL HAT !!!!!!!! ( my sister who lives in OR...is VERY dark skinned (tan from walking the dog), has VERY dark brn eyes (like my Amer.Indian mother) and red hair, like my Irish grandmother, is very short 4'9".....and looks like shes Mexican, 'Arab', anything but the Italian, Irish, Amer. Indian kid she is...Amedei btw, is pronounced am-a-day, child of god in Italian...too bad she didn't get my Dads or grandmothers blue eyes....) ( I didn't either...mine are green  )
Chrys
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User: Chrysantha
Member since: 09-06-2002 Total posts: 2414 
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From: allie-oops
Date: 06-16-2005, 11:45 PM (2 of 6)
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ROFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a hoot! I've only been called one time, but didn't get picked - had to sit and read all day.
"onward through the fog"
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User: allie-oops
Member since: 10-25-2002 Total posts: 282 
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From: DorothyL
Date: 06-17-2005, 07:49 AM (3 of 6)
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The only time I was called for jury duty I was also called by the newspaper to cover the trial. I told the judge "Ollie (were pretty casual in this little town), I can't do this because I'm working on the trial." He said, "Your not getting off that easy. I don't have a big enough jury pool. Sit down and shut up." So they started questioning the jury. As soon as they asked where I worked I was the first one excused and moved from the jury box to the press box and got my story. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: Web6cats
Date: 06-17-2005, 09:59 AM (4 of 6)
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Chrys, that story reminded me of a comedy sketch I saw on TV wherein the latino comic said he was always assumed to be some race other than what he was by where he travelled: in California he was assumed to be Mexican and in Florida he was assumed to be Cuban! By the way, my sister lives off Old Cornelius Pass Rd and so I can relate to the corridor reference. |
User: Web6cats
Member since: 08-14-2004 Total posts: 7 
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From: plrlegal
Date: 06-17-2005, 03:40 PM (5 of 6)
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Chrys I can really, really relate since I work with 17 litigation attorneys for the State of Oklahoma. What a hoot!! I've been called for jury duty several times but as soon as I tell them who I work for and where I work, I'm given the boot. They figure I'm defendant prejudiced and know too much about the law right up front. I have a feeling that's how the Michael Jackson case was decided by the majority yelling and screaming at the minority until they all agreed. You're right! Democracy at work and the American justice system at it's finest. Yeah, right!!! Patsy Patsy
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User: plrlegal
Member since: 05-19-2001 Total posts: 318 |
From: paroper
Date: 06-17-2005, 08:07 PM (6 of 6)
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Yeah, but Patsy, I was on one jury with a lawyer (who thought he would get off). I was on another jury with a adolesent psycologist who worked for the Oklahoma Penial system. (Both were SURE they would get off...they made great jurors.) I was almost put on a murder-for-hire trial for a former cop who was working with organized crime. It was a death penalty case. The homicide detective in charge of his case and I had grown up together and were good friends I was thrown off at the very last minute after sitting through all the questioning...I thought I'd be off immediately. My dd's boyfriend was ticketed for DUI because a close friend had called him. The husband was beating her senseless and she called him instead of 911 (crazy huh?) Anyway, he went over and HE called the police AFTER he got there. (He had been drinking..she lived a few blocks from his house). As the cop left he touched the hood of his car and it wasn't cold. The keys were in the BF's pockets so he was ticketed for driving under the influence eventhough the cop never saw him in the car. If they had not been on him, he wouldn't have been ticketed. I guess as a non-drinker I should be glad, but I didn't know they could do that. pam
Bernina 200e, Artista V5 Designer Plus, Explorations, Magic Box, Bernina 2000DE & 335 Bernette Serger, Bernina 1530 Sewing Machine, Bernina 1300 DC Overlock (with coverstitch) |
User: paroper
Member since: 02-03-2004 Total posts: 3775 |
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