Jury Duty Part 2

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about my first day in jury duty.  Today, I want to tell you guys about the two trials I was selected to be on in which I helped decide the fate of some random guy.  Here we go.

The first trial is barely worth mentioning, mostly because the jury was selected at the end of the day and the judge ordered (is that the right word?) us to go home and we would reconvene in the morning.  However, when we arrived the next day, the defendant had struck a deal and the case never officially went to trial.  So, that was all that happened the first time I was selected.

The second trial got a lot more interesting,  The second time around started a lot like the first time because once again we were selected at the end of the day and went home.  However, this time the judge forgot to select a jury foreman.  So, when we showed up the next day, I just so happened to be sitting in the foreman's usual seat and the judge pointed to me and told us that I would be the foreman for the trial.  And that was when the other jurors started laughing.  I guess I just come off as funny and that is why everyone laughed, and to this day I still don't know why that happened.  Anyways, back to the trial.  It was a case where a landlord was accusing a former tenant of trashing his property when the guy moved out and wanted compensation for the damages, but the defendant (obviously) pleaded not guilty.  When the prosecutor came out with his opening statement, he made me believe this guy was guilty as hell and after hearing the prosecutor's witnesses, it further convinced me of his guilt.  However, as the case unfolded you learned that the owner of the property's son was the defendant's roommate for awhile and that everything the son said on the stand was not exactly accurate on top of the fact that he was a dumbass.  So after the closing statements, we got our instructions and went back into the juror room (I don't think that's what that's called, but whatever).  And since I was the foreman, I was supposed to lead the verdict voting process.  When everyone was seated I said, "So, I don't think I'm supposed to say this, but I'm pretty sure that dude's son had a party and wrecked the place after the defendant had moved out and tried to put the blame elsewhere" and after saying that, every single person in the room nodded and said, "my thoughts exactly".  In the end, the defendant was cleared of all charges and the kid I thought actually did the crime was nowhere to be seen during the reading of the verdict.  Justice was not served.

The only thing I was disappointed about while on jury duty was that there were no surprise witnesses and the spectators didn't gasp when the verdict was announced.  Stupid TV always lying to us.  Well, that was my full jury duty experience which wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, so remember that if you get stuck with a jury duty notice.  Oh, and definitely take a book, that shit is still boring as hell.

"Is Pauly Shore still alive?  I hope so and I hope Bio-Dome 2 is in the works."