Jury Duty or lack there of

Thursday October 6th, a day that will live in infamy.

The case was presented. The defendant had excellent alibis, evidence clearly pointed towards another person and that this person would have to have an accomplice in order to commit the type of crime he had been convicted of. (I'm at course not at liberty to divulge many details)

The take home message here is there wasn't a shred of evidence that suggested this guy was guilty. But precedent showed he had a record. In addition he was sporting a New York Yankees themed tie. I decided and I'm glad to say my fellow jurors all agreed, that this man is a grievous danger to society. This man ended up getting locked up by us, however it was because something he wasn't formerly accused of was so heinous that punishment had to be allotted. Even if it meant accusing him of a crime he was innocent of.

May this be a lesson to you all... Pride can make you ugly and land you in jail.

(Disclaimer: Events mentioned in the passage above are merely a fragment of my imagination, any similarity to what actually happened on October the 6th in Massachusetts district court is merely coincidental)

Jury Duty: I found jury duty in Cambridge Massachusetts much more intimidating then my previous experience in Woburn. The foreboding highrise is enough to make the convicted feel like they are already in prison, guilty or not. Constructed of ugly concrete this building looks like it could be orbiting the death star in a Starwars film. The windows while actually large, appear like slits from the outside. They remind one of the musket holes you can find in old forts scattered about the U.S. coast (Think Popham Maine, or Castle Rock in South Boston) The building is 4-5 times as tall as the next tallest building in about a 4-5 block radius. It is built on a hill making it yet even more threatening. The stair wells have bars decorating the inside corners where the inner railing is attached. It gives the feeling that one is already in or approaching his or her cell block.

There were likely in excess of 60-75 jurors who were brought in. We were sequestered to certain areas of the building which we could not leave. Only certain sections permitted eating, drinking, or cell phone use. People continuously forgot about their phones and so the security was constantly irritated on having to scold the white collar yuppies (who am I to point the finger) on not using them.

The token instructional videos were actually fairly new. No Troy McClure to amuse and entertain everyone.

A judge actually came in and spoke to me letting me know how important and special I am. He doesn't have to tell me twice, although I was a bit miffed he was including all these other strangers. I guess they have to do that or those other losers will get unruly, and we wouldn't want that. Its nice of them to make all those people feel like they have purpose. You see, there are circumstances where it is OK to lie after all.

The most entertaining part of Jury duty was of course..... (Drum roll please,)

Lunch!

The cafeteria actually had quite good food but one of the cooks was yelling at all of the customers in a very militant fashion. There was a younger guy at the register who was clearly the protege. He would occasionally needlessly yell, tell people to stay in line, or move forward. Then he would look at the cook with big puppy eyes for approval from his master. They actually gave my meal to someone else who ordered about ten minutes after I did. Because of this I was going to let the woman who paid immediately after me take the meal they offered to me, because it should have been hers and I was in no hurry. This was a big mistake because they both started yelling at me like I was stealing an old lady's purse or something, and of course the woman wouldn't take the meal even though it was hers. So since they were about ready to jump over the counter and start beating me until security hauled me away, I ultimately decided to just take that woman's meal (which was even prepared specifically as she requested). I figure these guys must rotate from the county prison to the courthouse or something. I really don't see any other logical explanation.

To make a long story short, I finished my bacon cheeseburger & fries and they sent us all home early because the cases all settled out of court.

hooray! Yeah! The American Judicial system does work, at least it did for me.

I was just disappointed I didn't get to meet Judge Judy. There's a thing or two I wanted to say to her.