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No Court Appeal
Mar. 4th, 2022 09:04 pmIt was a quiet Friday. Between walking the dog, watching a few tv shows, and packing a few eBay items, this was an extreme low key day. I’ll take it.
Early in the week I didn’t know if I’d be serving on a jury for a criminal case. The case, that involved a stabbing on public transportation, would have gone until mid-April. As a resident of San Francisco for over 20 years, I have done my civic duty before and like a lot of folks, I wasn’t anxious to get on a long trial.
It was close. They were wheedling down the number of potential jurors and they chose a few folks from my group. My bunch was the last and that may have been advantageous. I thought that being the first 12 jurors was lucky because they didn’t end up keeping any. The first few rounds of people to sit, never got a chance to get comfortable. It was non-stop: “Number 6 thank you for your service you are excused.” I was watching a runway of jurors modeling the latest get out of jail smiles. As they left I imagine each skipping in the middle of the street, laughing maniacally as they dodged traffic. Damn them.
When the two lawyers found agreement on a jury, I couldn’t have been happier. I thought I was going to burst a blood vessel. I started daydreaming about getting on public transportation (yes I know, it’s a case about a stabbing on MUNI). There was one slight moment before they swore in their 12 angry men and 6 alternates, when they made absolute sure that these choices would be in court for the ENTIRE run of the case.
A few folks did try to squirm out. The judge wasn’t playing. The “I might be at a wedding the end of the month” or “I need someone to watch the kids for a few days” didn’t go over big. The “I found out my boss will not pay for this and I have to pay for rent” person was interesting because it brought up, via an attorney, a new program beginning in a week. San Francisco is beginning a new program that will pay jurors $100 a day for serving. The judge asked no rent guy, if that would make a difference and he said: “no, not at all”. Everyone laughs at this because…we all live here.
Early in the week I didn’t know if I’d be serving on a jury for a criminal case. The case, that involved a stabbing on public transportation, would have gone until mid-April. As a resident of San Francisco for over 20 years, I have done my civic duty before and like a lot of folks, I wasn’t anxious to get on a long trial.
It was close. They were wheedling down the number of potential jurors and they chose a few folks from my group. My bunch was the last and that may have been advantageous. I thought that being the first 12 jurors was lucky because they didn’t end up keeping any. The first few rounds of people to sit, never got a chance to get comfortable. It was non-stop: “Number 6 thank you for your service you are excused.” I was watching a runway of jurors modeling the latest get out of jail smiles. As they left I imagine each skipping in the middle of the street, laughing maniacally as they dodged traffic. Damn them.
When the two lawyers found agreement on a jury, I couldn’t have been happier. I thought I was going to burst a blood vessel. I started daydreaming about getting on public transportation (yes I know, it’s a case about a stabbing on MUNI). There was one slight moment before they swore in their 12 angry men and 6 alternates, when they made absolute sure that these choices would be in court for the ENTIRE run of the case.
A few folks did try to squirm out. The judge wasn’t playing. The “I might be at a wedding the end of the month” or “I need someone to watch the kids for a few days” didn’t go over big. The “I found out my boss will not pay for this and I have to pay for rent” person was interesting because it brought up, via an attorney, a new program beginning in a week. San Francisco is beginning a new program that will pay jurors $100 a day for serving. The judge asked no rent guy, if that would make a difference and he said: “no, not at all”. Everyone laughs at this because…we all live here.
