Friday, November 08, 2019

Reflections on Jury Duty

I was called in by The Feds! I was summoned for jury duty at the Federal Courthouse on Dearborn. I've served on two juries, but they were local affairs and this was my first time offering up my wisdom to federal proceedings.

The case at hand was, technically, a bank robbery, which is a federal offense. A man was lurking outside a Chase location before the bank opened. When an armored car arrived to collect cash from the ATM out front, the man used a gun and pepper spray to steal more than $100,000. It falls to the jury to decide if the defendant in custody is the man who committed the crime.

While I was not empaneled, I did sit through voir dire. More than 30 of us were interviewed to get 14 jurors. This gave me, literally, hours to observe my fellow northern district residents and here are my observations:

• Many of my fellow citizens have master’s degrees. I was surprised.
• We were asked what shows we watch, and Blue Bloods is very popular, with people of all ages. Go figure.
• Only women watch This Is Us, and only men watch 2 ½ Men reruns.
• Lots of adult children still live at home
• When asked what the members of our immediate household do for a living, lots of parents and adult children have no idea. As in: “My dad does pipefitting or something, I think” and “My daughter works in an office … and um …”
• I look good for my age. I am proud of that.


They can’t call me again until 2020! Yea! (Wait! That’s less than two months away …)


 


2 comments:

  1. I served on a federal jury, I was called to jury duty for 4 times and served on one. It was an asbestosis case. It was fun entertainment, the plaintiff lawyers were like Mutt and Jeff. One was fat and with food stains on his shirt and tie who asks gentle questions and if didn't get the right answer the other lawyer would bang his fists and yell at the witness.
    I have been called to state jury duty so many times that I lost track but I didn't serve on any cases.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KNOCK ON WOOD I have never been called up for jury duty.

    ReplyDelete

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