My OperaJury Duty (Part Two)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 3:25:42 PM
Well, the day finally arrived. The editor left all of his change at home and took anything not necessary for the day out out of his pockets as well. Even left the laptop at home. Took the subway (the editor went to college and grad school in New York) down to the Navy Memorial, and went through the drill.
Got called in the second batch, which was a large one. One guesses murder if it's going to take that many, but it wasn't. The judge was good on the PR stuff. Serious, but a bit relaxed. Not full of himself as many of the judges the editor has seen over the years.
The judge had the appropriate questionnaire for the type of case. The prosecutor read his list of probable witnesses. For the first time in 30 years the editor actually knew one of the witnesses, a 5D officer.
On questioning by the judge in front of the bench, the judge asked how well he knew him. The editor replied that he'd played poker with him for over a year on a weekly basis. The judge excused the editor right there.
At any rate, given that the editor also has lived around here for 30 years and has worked with the police to clean up drug problems, he would have been tossed anyway. The editor is fairly sure he could be fair, and just reason from the evidence presented, but defense counsel shouldn't take a chance.
The editor was home for lunch.
Got called in the second batch, which was a large one. One guesses murder if it's going to take that many, but it wasn't. The judge was good on the PR stuff. Serious, but a bit relaxed. Not full of himself as many of the judges the editor has seen over the years.
The judge had the appropriate questionnaire for the type of case. The prosecutor read his list of probable witnesses. For the first time in 30 years the editor actually knew one of the witnesses, a 5D officer.
On questioning by the judge in front of the bench, the judge asked how well he knew him. The editor replied that he'd played poker with him for over a year on a weekly basis. The judge excused the editor right there.
At any rate, given that the editor also has lived around here for 30 years and has worked with the police to clean up drug problems, he would have been tossed anyway. The editor is fairly sure he could be fair, and just reason from the evidence presented, but defense counsel shouldn't take a chance.
The editor was home for lunch.
