After working overtime all week at work the last thing I wanted to do today was report for Jury Duty in JP court. I get outa bed early, well early for me especially on my Saturday morning. (See:previous post)I lose the key to the rental car and have to retrace my steps from last night. Found them between the cushions of my recliner where they slipped out of my pants pocket. I drove like a fool to make it on time. I get to the jail (convienient place for a courtroom, eh?) and am forced to sit squeezed together like sardines with complete strangers. Let's just say I had personal space issues.
They call roll and you'd be surprised how many didn't show. We were thanked for showing up and told the ones that didn't would get a nasty letter. She also explained how people had died to give us the right to have a jury of our peers decide our fate. I kinda think this JP took her job a bit more serious than others I've met. I don't recall other JP's wearing the black Judge's robe. She was giving off a Sarah Palin vibe as well.
Note to self: Stay outa her court.
The justice excused herself for a moment to meet with the prosecutor and the defendant's attorney. When she returned we were told they had settled the case and we were free to go.
Sigh...
Well, the day wasn't a total loss. I almost got to perform my Constitutional duty and I got to pull the "moving my mouth with no words coming out" bit on the Desk Clerk in the waiting area sitting behind bulletproof glass with a microphone that kept shorting out. Anytime you get the chance to do that, it's a good day.
1 comment:
Good for you, doing your part. We appreciate that.
My son (almost 30) recently got a "Urinating in Public" ticket (cost $360) and he wasn't the one who peed in the parking lot at the club. It was another guy.....but the trooper gave my son the ticket because he was the one who jumped when the copper pulled up behind them and honked.
My son decided to contest it, and called for a jury trial at the JP's office. After filling out form after form, over and over again, going and sitting and waiting at the JP office for hours on end, time after time, he finally got a lawyer to prepare an affidavit signed by the guy who did the actual peeing, and they got a court date set. (The lawyer didn't charge a nickel for his services either!)
They hadn't presented the affidavit to the JP at that time, but conveniently, the morning of the trial, the JP's office called and said the trial had been canceled, because the "trooper had a training class, so the case was dropped".
I doubt I had anything to do with it, but when when my customer, the County Attorney's office, who would be prosecuting the case for the JP, called me to ask a question, I casually mentioned to the assistant that they would be seeing my son the next day in court to contest a bogus UIP, and he would be bringing a signed, notarized affidavit from the real pisser, and he would be representing himself, no lawyer.
The lady laughed and laughed, and told me she had peed in public many times herself, when she was on the road and couldn't wait to get to a bathroom. I guess word got back to the JP.
My son spent a lot more time and money on gas pursuing this than the ticket was worth, but it was the principle of the matter, ya know?
Complete and utter bullshiate.
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