"Jury Duty Recap"

Well, my jury duty today didn't turn out like I had hoped...

To start with, I didn't get much sleep last night. I went to bed with plenty of rest time to spare, but I just couldn't fall asleep. I was either too excited to do my civic duty, or, not tired enough to sleep. Whatever the case, when my alarm went off at 5:30am, three hours was the best I got.

Thankfully, I had some caffeine, took a warm shower, got my stuff together, and was ready to catch the first of my two city buses downtown by 7am.

When I arrived at the Milwaukee County Courthouse, I checked in as instructed, and found a seat in the jury assembly room. I think I was one of at least fifty randomly selected people present. At 8:30am, a jury orientation video began on the ceiling-mounted televisions at the front of the room.

We were half-way through the program, however, when it suddenly shut off. Moments later, an official came into the room, and informed us that all of today's cases had been resolved. There were no longer any trials, and thus, no need for any juries. We were all being sent home.

So, in short, I showed up at the massive courthouse on time, my bus tickets were free, I sat for half an hour in the waiting room, and then was sent home with a letter entitling me to $11 -- a half day's worth of jury pay.

According to state law, I cannot be summoned again for five years.

It wasn't quite the opportunity I had hoped for. No jury duty. No deliberations. Nothing exciting. Just a trip downtown, a short visit to a crowded waiting room, and a bus ride back home again. Very disappointing. Maybe next time I'll actually get to do something. ... [shrug]

-Jon
posted by Jon at 11:22 PM  I   I  0 comments