Jury Duty

Dudes,

Well, it was my turn again to get a jury duty summons in the mail. I was thinking about it, and it's been quite some time since I've actually gone in for it. I went once when I was in college in Tucson, and I went once when we lived in North Dakota. In Tucson I got as far as the big group of people outside the courtroom that scares the defendant into a plea agreement. In North Dakota I made it into the court room for jury questioning, but was never questioned and there were more than 12 ahead of me. So I got to go home that day as well. In California and Phoenix, I sent back the form saying that I had little kids to take care of and that my wife's schedule was unpredictable (she does, on average, have 2 or 3 emergencies a year), and they always excused me. In Colorado though, they don't care if your broke and can't miss work and they have child care. So I didn't even bother tyring to get out of it (I know Homer Simpson would be disappointed in me). As it turns out, I did get out of it without even trying. About 40 of us made it to the courtroom this afternoon. I was in the 2nd group of 13, feeling pretty safe that they'd kick a few out and I could go home. The prosecution and the defense each get to kick off 6 with no questions asked. One by one the people in front of me started getting the boot. Before I knew it, I had to move up and sit in one of the big chairs with what will become the jury. However, before I could even utter a Doh! beneath my breath, the prosecution picked me as their next person to remove. I didn't waste anytime getting out of there, that's for sure.

Now, I may never know for sure why the prosecution didn't want me, but I have a theory. My wife pointed out that she never makes it onto a jury due to her profession. I did have to list my wife's profession, so that may well have been one strike against me. Another question on their form asked what kind of radio stations do I listen do. I put down NPR. I didn't even go into how many of their shows I get as podcasts. Those two facts probably put me into a certain 'group' that statistically isn't favorable for the prosecution. Which is really quite funny. If they could have done a Myers Briggs profile, they would have seen that I'm very judgemental and would never stand for anything except the facts influencing my verdict. But alas, it wasn't to be, and I got to go home and others didn't.