God is not without a sense of irony: I've been called for jury duty.
The way things work in California is that I got a summons nearly a month ago. It came with a questionnaire to fill out (basically asking me what my job is) and send back, and then call a number they provided on the date provided to receive further instructions.
I spent little time thinking about it, since I have always figured that as soon as anyone discovered I was a lawyer it would be a near automatic exclusion from jury service -- especially given the kind of work I do.
I thought so little about it that Friday morning I made some specific plans to visit San Diego this Tuesday and take the day off. After I got home from work last night, however, and called the number I was simply told this: Call back Monday after 5 p.m. and we'll let you know whether you need to show up Tuesday.
Umm...great. I'm baffled at why, in the initial summons, they couldn't give any idea of a date range for which their services might be required. Is that too much to ask? Perhaps I should've known better, but I had absolutely NO idea when calling last night that I would potentially need to clear my schedule the next week. I figured we were talking sometime in August, which shows how little I know about what goes on behind the scenes to get jurors into a courtroom.
At any rate, I've got to change my San Diego plans now. I suppose I'll find out Monday whether they're going to make me show up Tuesday.
3 comments:
As one that has done jury duty, I think that it is a huge incovience. It was the longest 5 days that I have had, and well it was just a simple case. Hope that you don't get called, maybe you won't, I guess some of us aren't that lucky. I am here for your support there, as one that has done that before.
Don't worry, Aaron. Even if you do get called, you won't get seated. When I was on jury duty, one of the voir dire questions was "Have any of you ever been to law school?" Sure, as a lawyer the state is required to include you in the pool of "peers" to be selected from, but the lawyers on both sides of any specific case will strike you from the jury before they'll strike the KKK member. You're too dangerous. Moral of the story: you can leave for San Diego by 10:00.
Updating this story: I spent the week "on call" meaning every day I was supposed to call in at 5 p.m. to find out if I was needed the next day. I wasn't needed.
Post a Comment