Jury Summons?

[monk222]

Fuckityfukfuk, why would they do this to me!? I thought the powers-that-be long gave up on the idea of my being a respectable citizen. They hadn’t done this to me since Mother shot herself over ten years ago.

If they could read into my heart, I am sure they would rather put me on trial as a defendant, if not for any known crime, then for crimes unknown, or even just those crimes most horridly imagined in my perverted brain. Who am I to judge anyone guilty or not guilty?

Though, like the other times, they will probably keep me off of any actual panels, and I will just sit in the big room of unused jurors all day, like so many broken and unwanted dolls, which is almost as bad as being selected to jump through the lawyers' hoops all day or for several days. I still have to get up at a godless five in the morning and ride the bus all day, fuckityfukfuk!

Comments

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor Monk! You have my sympathy. It is something I would hate to do, too.

I think, though, that if I did have to do it, when I got into it I would end up doing it like school admission appeal panels. I've been on quite a lot of those in my time. Again you're making decisions that affect other people's lives, but what you find you have to do on those panels is be very calm, neutral, almost emotionless about it. You weigh the evidence as though you were doing a scientific experiment. It's not something that comes naturally to a lot of people, but in the end it's the only fair way for all concerned that you can do it.

Also, unless you're very unlucky, there should be at least one person on the jury who sits there quietly while everyone is debating, doesn't say a great deal apart from the odd word here and there, and then after a while pipes up and says, "Well, to summarise, it looks as though..." and then gives a little speech which sums up what the group thinks. Without that person, it would have taken them another half an hour and possibly even a straw poll. I know this happens, because I am always that person. :-) I'm not a great debater, but I know I'm a good summariser - I've even been specifically chosen to be on groups because I have that skill.

So it probably won't be as hard as you think, but nonetheless, good luck, and make sure you have a good book or two with you. (And if you really must bring one of those books, at least plan in advance and make a plain cover for it! *grin*)

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Wow, you really are back to your old exuberant self! I'll probably just bring some Shakespeare. I've been meaning to reread "Taming of the Shrew" for some time now. Though, the day will feel more like a Dantean ordeal for me, and I cannot wait to have it behind me. Just the idea of having to show up at places on time tends to unnerve me, as though I were a rat running through a maze.