'Tis over and I am a bit miffed

It was a short stint doing the juror thing. I am over $100 richer and this was a poor way for our tax dollars to be spent.

The gag order no longer pertains, so I will give a very brief description of what happened. Yesterday there were 49 prospective jurors. We all filed into the court room for some general questions. Right away I got a rather ominous feeling that I was going to have to excuse myself if they didn't "cull" me from the pool. At the end of the day about half were gone. More specific questions were asked today. More and more I got that feeling; the one that says this will be real interesting, but I can not serve. After about an hour to an hour and a half we were excused back to the jury room. At this point there were maybe 25 potential jurors, including myself. We file out and across the hall...the room was DIRECTLY across the hall. There is a man sitting on a chair by our door with a notebook. The cover of the book was raised as a sign. I cannot tell you exactly what it said but the part "Medical Marijuana" was in very bold letters. Several folks in the room were astounded, and I went to the bailiff and took him aside for a personal discussion. It was as I figured and knowing that, I really didn't think I could comfortably serve. About 45 minutes later we all filed back into the courtroom. I was going to tell the judge that I needed to leave and would discuss my reasons privately. Before it could even come up the judge addressed the issue of the sign, and decided that the entire pool of jurors needed to be excused as we were all "tainted" by the sign. This is a big trial. This will not just go away. This also cost an untold amount of money, and all the work that occurred in the two days was thrown out. There were some amazing people in this potential pool and I think the guy would have had a fair trial. My pharmacy background and my disability made me feel the need to decline serving. However, this could prove to be interesting enough that I just may go down and watch how it all plays out.

So, I am good for another couple of years as far as serving. I will appreciate the extra $$ when the check comes in. However, I am frustrated as all get out in the way this came down. As we filed back out of the courtroom and turned in our badges, the guy was back at the door with his sign. (I was good and did not say anything to him, but gave him "that" look. You know, the one that I gave my teenage kids when they went well beyond "pushing" me.) I suspect the dude was oblivious to the look, but it made me feel a teeny bit better.

G2