[Jimmy Stewart, Frank Capra, the Richmond Superior Court, and me]I am going off to do jury duty in a few minutes. The greatest likelihood is that I will sit around for a few hours and then be thanked and sent home.
In the movies, the juror who has gone to the trouble to take written notes is usually selected as foreman, so I am taking a notebook and pens. I would like to be on a jury, but it would be a huge pain in the ass if it conflicted with my going to China for the eclipse.
Curiously I find that I have no strong prejudices, as I would expect to have. I have no impulse to Hang 'em High, nor to sympathize with a youthful defendant facing a jail term. Which makes me a good venireman. (A venireman is a potential juror - only when the jury is selected and seated do 12 of the veniremen become jurors. The word has become obsolete apparently because 'venireperson' is thought ridiculous, in spite of being a perfectly good word.)
About civil cases, I do have a sense that insurance companies are moral sludge and it would be hard to find in favor of a corporate defendant against an injured plaintiff. But that is such a universal sentiment that it is grounds for instant mistrial to so much as mention insurance in a tort case. So there is not much prejudice that is out of the ordinary about that.
In any case, the greatest likelihood is that I will be sent home either this morning or this afternoon.
In the movies, the juror who has gone to the trouble to take written notes is usually selected as foreman, so I am taking a notebook and pens. I would like to be on a jury, but it would be a huge pain in the ass if it conflicted with my going to China for the eclipse.
Curiously I find that I have no strong prejudices, as I would expect to have. I have no impulse to Hang 'em High, nor to sympathize with a youthful defendant facing a jail term. Which makes me a good venireman. (A venireman is a potential juror - only when the jury is selected and seated do 12 of the veniremen become jurors. The word has become obsolete apparently because 'venireperson' is thought ridiculous, in spite of being a perfectly good word.)
About civil cases, I do have a sense that insurance companies are moral sludge and it would be hard to find in favor of a corporate defendant against an injured plaintiff. But that is such a universal sentiment that it is grounds for instant mistrial to so much as mention insurance in a tort case. So there is not much prejudice that is out of the ordinary about that.
In any case, the greatest likelihood is that I will be sent home either this morning or this afternoon.
Have fun storming the castle!
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