Skip to main content

A colossal waste of time

jurydutyWas called to jury duty today , and as anticipated, I was called for the first jury pool. And it was a doozy.

It was a murder sentencing hearing. The guy's already been convicted, so I couldn't use my tried and true method of getting out of serving, which is the "innocent until proven guilty" approach. You see, I don't hold to that theory, since if that were the case, the person would not have been arrested, or even put on trial. There is obviously a presumption of guilt, or no one would ever face trial.

Normally this part of the trial is handled by the convicting jury, but in this case, the original death sentence was overturned, so unable to come up with a way to nip this in the bud, I had no choice, but to succumb to completing a 30 page, 270+ questionnaire.

I'm still feeling pretty good though, since I don't believe in the death penalty. All I needed to do is fill out the questionnaire, turn it into the court, and after a review I would be dismissed. The problem is that isn't exactly the procedure.

The procedure is fill out the form, turn it in, wait while court personnel review the questionnaire for completeness, and then give you a date to return to be questioned for jury selection.

You'd think the person reviewing the questionnaire would be required to search for some key answers like, "I can't be impartial", "I am against the death penalty", etc. to avoid unnecessarily wasting anymore of my time or the court's time. Of course that wasn't the case, and I have to return in two weeks to be questioned further.

Oh well, such is life, and such is our judicial system, something I will spare you all further comment on.

And so goes another lousy day in an otherwise lousy year.
Labels:

Comments

Alan said…
Do you at least get paid $13/day?
1:48 PM
Marc said…
$15 a day! The cost of living is higher here in CA.
1:57 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History IS repeating itself

I didn't grow up during the rise and fall of Hitler and Nazi Germany, so for me to claim it feels like those are the times we are living in now, must be taken with a grain of salt. But I have seen enough movies, and read enough history to know, if the times we're living in now are not akin to the rise of a Nazism and Facism in Europe in the 1930's and 1940's, then we're not far off. If you can't see the parallels with Nazi Germany, then you must be living in a different country than me. Republicans and other right wing extremists will stop at nothing to subvert the will of the majority, forcing their beliefs, that they are the superior race and have been appointed by God, to impose their will on America, while they blame all our problems on immigrants, blacks and Jews. As I speak, Mitch McConnell, and his minions are raising roadblocks to all legislation designed to help average Americans under the guise of fiscal responsibility. They condone violent and verba...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stop the stupidity!

Rural medical center (in Georgia) suspended from vaccination program after inoculating school district staff. Give me a break! Trying to get kids back to school, while protecting teachers, bus drivers and other staff, is exactly what school districts should be doing. If they have vaccines, give them out. We should be giving out vaccines to all who want them, whenever available. Trying to adhere to rigid guidelines will only result in fewer people getting vaccines, resulting in the discarding of precious vaccines, and less protection for everyone. Of course we should be giving first priority to healthcare workers, and any other essential public service employees, such as policeman, fireman, etc. first, but when they're not around to receive shots, or refuse shots, then give them to anyone willing to take them. What I would have objected to is the medical center trying to capitalize on the pandemic to make a profit, from giving vaccines to people far down the list of recipients, but ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fatigue! Part II - Maybe it is real?

Or it's actually Motivational Deficiency Disorder, MoDeD (pronounced Mo-Dee-Dee) for short. In a report this week by Roy Moynihan who reports for the British Medical Journal Austrailian scientists may have come across the reason for extreme laziness . The condition is claimed to affect up to one in five Australians and is characterised by overwhelming and debilitating apathy. Neuroscientists at the University of Newcastle in Australia say that in severe cases motivational deficiency disorder can be fatal, because the condition reduces the motivation to breathe. Neurologist Leth Argos is part of the team that has identified the disorder, which can be diagnosed using a combination of positron emission tomography and low scores on a motivation rating scale, previously validated in elite athletes. "This disorder is poorly understood," Professor Argos told the BMJ. "It is underdiagnosed and undertreated." Who knew? Maybe I have MoDeD, from my attempts to become a...
Post a Comment
Read more