I was selected for Jury Duty.  I was dreading it and excited about it at the same time.  I had so many things I needed to get done, but this was a change from the monotony of the day-to-day.    I did have one small apprehension and that was in order to get there timely, I needed to take highways. By timely, I mean actually making it on time.  As John says, I have no sense of time and my time is usually at least 30 minutes late.  This is why all of our clocks are set ahead, but that is another story.   I don’t like taking ‘city’ highways. They make me very nervous, especially when I don’t really know where I am going.  On the day of jury duty, I pulled the directions up on Google maps and headed out.   I made it onto the first highway fine and then the second highway pretty good, although the instructions were a bit confusing.  Then as I was approaching the next highway the exit sign was covered with cloth like it was closed!!!!!  There were cars in the exit lane, but I thought they were going to have to get over when they realized the exit was obviously closed because THERE WAS CLOTH COVERING THE SIGNS!!!!!   I drove by the exit and watched  wistfully as all of the cars in the exit lane exited onto the highway I was supposed to get on.  Fortunately, I had Google maps going.   She directed me to another highway and I prayed that she actually knew what she was doing (because I obviously did not).   I exited onto that highway and knew I had to be cutting myself close on time.  Then I had to exit onto another highway which led into town.   The traffic was pretty congested because it was between 8 and 8:30.  I was in the far right lane of 4 lanes.  Google instructed me to turn left on Park Street in 1,000 feet.  I was in panic mode.  I was in the far right lane of bumper to bumper traffic, I couldn’t see the street sign and, at that moment, I had no concept of 1,000 feet, other than it wasn’t a mile.  Somehow, I managed to slide all the way across 4 lanes and into the left turn lane. I did not look behind me for fear of all of the angry glares that were probably focused in my direction.   I still didn’t see a street sign.  I made my turn and noticed that Google was telling me I needed to turn right because I had turned one street too early.  WHY would they have me turn on an alleyway street and not a major street?  Now I was wise to her ways and when she told me to turn on the next street I was looking for an alleyway.   Sure enough there it was.  An alleyway.   I found the courthouse and was looking for a place to park.  I was beginning to realize that Olathe had a good scam going on.  The directions to the Country Courthouse were not marked and every parking spot nearby was 2 hour parking.  I knew there would be no time to run out and move the car, so I drove around and come across a parking garage which appeared to have been found by every person in Johnson County at the same time.   I was giving myself pep talks to keep myself from hyperventilating, because I KNEW it had to be getting close to 8:30.  “Ok, you can do this.  Park the car and run.  I wonder what the penalty is for missing jury duty. Stop it Beth!!  You are going to be fine.  You left in plenty of time.  Maybe they throw you in jail…BETH!!!  You are being ridiculous.  Find a spot and get the car parked!”   My eyes scanned the parking garage horizon and I saw car after car inching up, up, up the parking garage.  “Oh Beth, this is not good.  I TOLD YOU!!!  We are definitely going to jail.  No, no. We are not going to jail.  We may have to serve in a month-long trial, but we are not going to jail.”  I saw blue sky up ahead and new fears had taken over as I was certain that by the time I got out to the open air there would be no spots available.  And then, like a sunbeam shooting out from a cloudy sky,  I looked to my left and gave thanks that I had a small car as a bunch of big trucks and SUVs had  passed a little parking spot that my car fit in perfectly.   I slipped my little car in, got my stuff together and took off towards the courthouse.

I made it to the front door where there was a metal detector and a scanner that you had to run your purse through.  Inside my purse was my monster phone, my tablet and my e-reader.   My bag was pulled aside.  Not for any of these items, but for the owl coin purse that was bursting at the seams and causing some worry.   I had to take out all of the aforementioned items to access the coin purse.   The guards watched in disbelief as this magician continued to pull out electronic devices from her purse.  I then handed over my ragged, but cute, owl coin purse to be checked out.  People were lined up behind me (I assumed that they were also running late and were being further detained as I fumbled through my purse for the cute little owl coin purse. I secretly hoped that none of these people were assigned to my court room.  I tried to make the best of the situation by telling myself that I may have no concept of time, but, by golly, I am prepared!!!

By the time I made it up to the courtroom, there were about 15 other people there.  All of the other courtrooms had their doors open and people had entered. My assigned courtroom still had the doors closed  and all of the seats in the hallway had been taken.  That was fine because I knew I was going to be sitting for a long time anyway, but I was a bit perturbed that I was worrying about getting there on time and I had the judge that obviously ran on my time. 😛

We finally were allowed to enter the courtroom.   There was a guy about 35 sitting at the table with a lawyer.  At the other table was a woman about 40-45.  I have to say I had already pre-judged by the fact the young man (the defendant) sat at the table in a nice suit with a pad of paper in front of him.  The woman had a notepad, a red pen, a cigarette case, mints and her cell phone that sat on the table in front of her.  There were about 30 potential jurors and 21 jurors were drawn at random (I was not one) and then from those the lawyers questioned and immediately removed the ones that could not be impartial to the case and replaced them with those of us that sat in the gallery.  The gallery is filled with the “bone pile” (jurors that weren’t drawn) and  family and onlookers.  The plaintiff’s attorney (pattorney for short)  was very thorough and at first I thought he was going to be a much better lawyer because the defendant’s attorney (dattorney) was loud and precise with her delivery, giving a colder vibe.   Did I mention that the plaintiff’s lawyer was thorough?  One hour into asking questions and then questioning those jurors that had to raise their hands in response to the questions and it looked like he was only through page 2 of his 20 page questionnaire.

That brings me back to the case.   The case was an injury lawsuit brought against a relative by marriage.  From what I could glean from the information that did come out through questioning the jurors was that this woman and her husband were attending a huge party at one of the local motorcycle showrooms.  On the way home they went to the defendant’s house.  The defendant had being doing some remodeling and there was sawdust on the garage floor.  The plaintiff slipped and fell and tore her hamstring.   I do know that the plaintiff had at least one beer.  Now comes my biased observation….Yeah sure, we all just have ‘one’ beer, especially when we are attending a function that one juror had actually walked through and said it was like walking through a tailgate at a Chief’s football game and honestly, she didn’t look like a person that would have one beer with those ciggies, especially since she had mints to hide the cigarette smell.  I’d say she probably smokes and drinks quite a bit and in her drunken state fell off of her high-heeled boots(just my image) and being a person that is self-absorbed, as was apparent by her eye rolls when a prospective juror said they couldn’t be unbiased and the fact she was sending text messages while her lawyer was questioning the jury (yeah, typing with one hand while you think the phone is concealed by paperwork is still noticeable to those behind you.  I imagined she was facebooking…”OMG! This is sooo boring. Eff that juror!  Just give me my money.”) led to her fall and this lawsuit.

Did I mention the pattorney was very thorough? Time ticked away towards the noon hour and our first break.  The pattorney was still asking questions of the potential jurors and I noticed that I was feeling a sense of pride towards the potential jurors.   They freely, honestly and eloquently gave reasons for their potential disqualification and the reasons that, although they had biases against the plaintiff’s cause, they could set those aside and uphold the requirements of the law.

We had to break for lunch and then the pattorney resumed with his questioning.  No wonder this trial was a potential 3 day trial!!!  It was going to take at least 2 days for the pattorney to review the jurors!!!   Finally about 2 p.m. he was finished and the dattorney began with her questioning.  My opinion completely changed of her.  Although her speech was very precise, she engaged the jurors and brought an ease to the fears of not being able to be unbiased that were raised by the pattorney.   She was also able to finish her questions towards the potential jurors within about 30 minutes. I’m sure that a lot of that was due to the thoroughness of the  pattorney’s questions.  It left little doubt as to the ability of the juror’s to make decisions based on the law.

I have to say that I went into this thinking that jurors were more than willing to award millions of dollars to people trying to get something for nothing and even worse, something from someone else due to the plaintiff’s own stupidity.   I left that courtroom knowing that each one of those potential jurors felt the same way that I do.  There ARE too many frivolous lawsuits and we are all disgusted with people who are out to attain financial gain in a deceptive manner.   More importantly though, that each one of them took this duty very seriously and WOULD uphold the law.  This only proves that America has been and always will be great.   We the people!!!