Well the good news – my Spring Break sort of lasted an extra day. The bad news this was because I was selected to serve on Grand Jury Duty! This was a really strange experience for me. I didn’t know what to expect and couldn’t find ANYONE I knew that had ever participated in a grand jury before.
It all started last Tuesday. The mail lady pulled up and honked. I thought it meant a package and couldn’t imagine what had arrived at my house (I use a post office primarily). It was because I had a letter that had to be signed for from the Sheriff’s Department. Well that really freaked me out…LOL I couldn’t imagine what I had done (that I didn’t even know tat I did) that would have me receiving mail from the Sheriff’s Department!! It probably only took me a minute and a half…maybe two to sign for the letter and go back in the house, but that seemed like FOREVER!!!
Inside a letter saying I had Grand Jury duty today! I got this last week..you know while on Spring Break…while I couldn’t tell the school I needed a sub! Talk about being poor timing and causing major chaos from the onset.
Well I went in this morning and there were 18 of us sitting around…no one really happy to be there, but everyone trying to make pleasant small talk. You know the feeling? Everyone was thinking the same thing I was I’m sure: “18 of us? That means very few will be released.” Plus really none of us knew anything about it so we didn’t know for sure if any of us would be released. We all listened to the judge as he described to us what being on “grand jury” meant and then told us we could thank a friend or associate of ours because we were all there because we were recommended. Next came roll call. There were 7 people not there (yep…I counted), and I was the 15th person they called that was there. (ok..why did I count those? I don’t know..I’m neurotic…I admit).
Finally he tells us that 12 of us will be selected to remain as official jurors, and two will be chosen as alternates as this is a 6 month committment. Then he says that the first 12 people on the list will be those 12 and the next 2 will be the alternates (there’s no questioning or striking people like regular jury duty)…I began to get excited. I knew 12+2=14 (yes…I may be an English teacher, but I can still do basic math). And I also knew if I counted correctly I was the 15th person on the list!! Yes, Yes…things were looking up. But don’t get too excited…maybe I counted wrong!
Nope. I didn’t count wrong. I was released – free!! Now don’t get me wrong. I’m usually hoping to be selected for jury duty. I actually think it’s kind of neat to be a part of the process – I’ve only been chosen once though. However, I seem to have good (or bad depending on how you look at it) luck though as I think I’m called every year. And serving on the grand jury sounded even neater (now you know for sure – I’m weird). But this was the worst possible week for me. I have obligations that go beyond normal teaching (academic extracurricular activities) Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week. I had students and teachers and other schools depending on me. I was really scared and stressed as I didn’t know how I would even cover it if I had to do this and it lasted into tomorrow.
So there you have it. I want to learn new things. I want to experience new things in life. And today I did – Grand Jury Duty. I’m still clueless as who would have ever recommended me (I really do not participate in anything in the county I live in so I’m not sure who that would have been considered “important” enough to pick people would know me), but I’ve done my duty. (Oh and I noticed another interesting fact while there. Of the 18 of us there, I know for a fact that at least 8 of us are or were involved in education – different schools, different times, but an interesting probably meaningless fact nevertheless).
7 responses so far ↓
1 cate // Mar 24, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Oh man that was lucky. I couldn’t imagine having to do jury duty for 6 whole months. Ugh.
2 Heather // Mar 24, 2008 at 6:18 pm
It’s kind of cool someone thought highly enough of you to nominate you .
3 busymom // Mar 24, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Yea. Six months would be a long time, but according to our district judge it’s only once every couple months…so really only 3..maybe 4 times. And I’m still stumped as who would actually know me well enough to nominate me.
4 nicholmom3 // Mar 25, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Oh wow! I’ve never been called to jury duty, let alone grand jury! I agree it would have been quite the experiance, but a lot of stress I would think.
5 Janet // Mar 25, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Okay is it odd that I have never been called to serve ANY jury duty? Iknow your all thinking you can hear the honking delivery person now just because I said that LOL
6 April // Mar 25, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Wow, that sounds exciting and a pain in the rear at the same time. I’m with you always wanted to give it a try, but each time I was called I was pregnant or nursing a newborn!
7 LKJ // Apr 5, 2008 at 3:15 pm
My 22-yr-old daughter just had jury duty and was selected to serve on the Grand Jury for 3 months! We still don’t know much about it ’cause it’s all TOP SECRET right now. They did tell her about several cases she would be hearing but that she cannot share with us as to the nature of the cases or anything. Se was sworn in to secrecy, something she will not violate and I’m proud of her integrity there. She is a criminal justice major in college and I think this will be an excellent experience for her, especially the part where she will have to listen to all evidence presented before making a decision. Sometimes our young people are too quick to think they know it all before all the facts are in and I think this will add nicely to her well rounded rational thinking process.
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