Jury Selection...

Well, it happened. I got called in for jury duty! This wasn't the first time I've had to report to the courthouse but it was still inconvenient that I had to do so. However, I had this feeling ever since I got my summons that I was not only going to get called in but that I was actually going to be on the jury. As hard as I tried to ignore that feeling and as much as I tried to convince myself otherwise, I knew my words were empty. It was going to happen.

So to the courthouse I went. The selection process went pretty quick. They had us stand and answer a bunch of questions. During this time I paid close attention to the prosecutor who was sitting right in front of me. He had drawn a diagram of all us potential jury members from front row to back row. Each person was a box and as each person would stand and speak, he'd write stuff in their "box". After everyone did their thing and the judge asked us more questions, the lawyers each got to do their "challenges" (basically they strike anyone from the jury pool that they don't want on the jury). I watched the prosecutor during this time as well. He kept pointing at my box and the box of the woman sitting right next to me and saying to the guy at his table "If we strike down here (the rows behind us) then these two (pointing at my box and the woman's next to me) might be picked. I'm okay with that". This went back and forth a few times and all I could think was "Man, this guy really wants me on that jury!" They aren't allowed to pick who they want but by strategically striking certain people they can still manage to affect the outcome. It was very interesting!

I don't think the prosecutor had any idea that I have the ears of a cat or the eyes of an eagle and was able to figure out his plan by watching him. But watching him throughout the process only helped confirm the feeling I had that I would be selected to be on that jury. When the "challenges" were complete on both sides the list was given to the judge who handed it to the clerk. She read one name, then the name of the woman next to me, then my name, then the name of a woman behind me. We were shuffled over to the jury box, the others were excused and the trial began.

Five men in the courtroom, four women on the jury. It was bound to be interesting.