Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Jury Rigged

Today I served my public duty for the first time ever as a prospective juror with the Stome Mountain Judicial Circuit. They didn't need any jurors today, but they took most of the day to figure that out.

A few choice insights:

1) Judge Wong addressed us first thing in the morning right before they were to show us a video on jury duty. He told us how after the video we'd all be "really stoked" to get on a jury. Apparently the State Court of Dekalb County has a half pipe installed in the courtroom.

2) The video itself was pretty sweet. Half of it was filmed in the courtroom in the basement of the Rusk Building. They also showed clips of the actor-jurors walking into what is supposed to be a courthouse, but looks remarkably similar to Baldwin Hall at UGA.

3) The greatest deliberations over the course of the day were over the temperature in the jury assembly room. Every time the staff asked the crowd what they thought of the temperature, you could clearly hear "too cold", "too hot" and "just right." Thank the lord I didn't have to decide anything of import with these people.

4) The security guy yelled at me because I (a) placed my jacket on the conveyor for the x-ray machine when (without warning) I apparently shouldn't have and (b) I didn't reach inside the beltway (below the sign that read "DO NOT PUT HANDS INSIDE FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER") quickly enough to retrieve it. Heightened security at Atlanta area courthouses evidently means jackets aren't to be searched.

Uneventful, generally. And I was hoping to have something interesting to write about.

0 comments: