Civic duty

Do you know what I thought would get me out of jury duty?  Being pregnant.  Do you know what got me picked for jury duty?  Being pregnant.  I guess that's honestly an unfair statement, but all that I know is that there was myself and one other girl in the panel of jurors that were obviously pregnant and we both got picked.  I guess I could have also got picked because I'm not a complete idiot like a lot of people that they had to choose from.  Seriously, I'm not sure how some of these people function in society.


I was in the middle/back of the pack yesterday, and apparently, if you didn't know, they separate you from most desirable to least when you get assigned a number.  I got called out by name during the whole, lets ask the jurors questions part, but didn't have much to say the rest of the time.  I went in after our last break feeling pretty confident that I would not be chosen.  I felt bad for all of the people whose names got called ahead of me.  Then the guy sitting next to me got called up, I knew then for sure that I was safe.  WRONG!  I was the very last person called up.  Apparently if they call you out during the jury selection that is a bad thing, because each person they asked specific questions to by name or number got selected to be on the jury.


We were told that the trial would last yesterday evening to this morning, then it got pushed back to this afternoon, then we would stay late, then we would come in tomorrow, even though the court will actually be closed tomorrow for Texas Independence Day (yea, I know). Thankfully we got everything wrapped up tonight at 11:30pm.


All in all, it was a boring and annoying process at times, but very interesting at other times.  I learned a lot about the way courts and court cases work other than the knowledge I've gained from watching countless hours of Law & Order.  And as corny as it sounds, I'm really and truly glad that I was able to do my civic duty and serve on a jury.


So, the next time you get your jury summons in the mail don't think of it as an annoyance, think of it as an opportunity to learn something and to do something positive for your county. 


Ok, I'm done being a complete dork :)