My Day in Court

Today was my day to report for Jury Duty. After getting up at 6:30a, I trudged downtown for the 8:30 reporting time. The Jury Room was crowded and at 9:00 they called the first panel of potential jurors. Without fail, I was called. The bailiff took us up to the 14th floor where we awaited entry (for 45 minutes) into the courtroom. While we were waiting, the bailiff made an off-hand comment that Jeffrey Feiger had been spotted in the building. What he failed to mention was that he and his lawfirm were representing the plaintiff of the case! After introductions were made, we were told that the trial was expected to last 2 weeks....not good considering we'll be in the midst of moving next week.

The first round of questioning potential jurors must have taken at least an hour and a half (the judge, plaintiff and defendent attorneys each taking 30 mintues). The trial was a wrongful death civil suit, which resulted in very interesting questions. Of course, you can always tell when people are saying things or making things up just to get out of their civic duty. I was called up to replace one of the 3 original jurors, but was quickly excused by the judge because of moving. Needless-to-say, with everything going on, I was happy and made it home by 12:30p.

I was really impressed with the judge today and how she not only handled the explanation of the case, but also how she put things in layman's terms so that we could understand what was going on. I was also impressed with the way she handled the attorneys involved. At some point in my life, I'd actually like to see a trial through to the end. This just isn't the best time for a 2 week trial.

Feiger, by the way, looks exactly the way you'd expect. He is probably best known for his defense of Jack Kevorkian, the doctor who was convicted of assisting terminally ill patients commit suicide (physician assisted suicide/euthanasia).