TT # 24

Thirteen things I am noticing about the American Judicial system, as seen by a lowly Juror doing her civil 'duty'.

1. Court buildings are very old.
2. Court buildings are very cold. (see #1)
3. There can be lots of boring down time, until they call for you and then you rush in to the court room in an instant.
4. It can take 5.5 hours to pick 15 Jurors out of 85 potential people.
5. I can read a whole James Patterson book in the time it takes to pick a Jury.
6. Apparently I have a like-able appearance to be selected by both the Prosecutor and the Defendants Attorneys to sit on the Jury.
7. These Attorneys are real strong since they must bring in and out about 1,254 lbs of books, papers, pictures, files and posters each day to the court room.
8. I wonder if the attorneys get writers cramp from all the notes they take?
9. The attorneys must get tired of saying the same boring phrases over and over again, such as "I now add this exhibit into evidence", "Can you tell me if this picture depicts the scene correctly?", "The court's indulgence, Your Honor".
10. Without the extreme drama and hot actors, real court is just like what you see on TV, except MUCH longer.
11. The Judge taking notes on his laptop behind the bench surprises me.
12. The chairs that the Jury sit on are very uncomfortable.
13. And finally, being a Juror makes me realize that I am not nearly organized enough to ever consider a job change to be a Lawyer.