Civic Duty

I got a summons for jury duty. I don't know anybody who gets it in the mail and thinks, "Yeah!!! It's FINALLY my turn!" But we go, because it is our responsbility. I was sent in a group of 45 potential jurors for a criminal trial: aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The defendant allegedly tried to run down his former girlfriend with his car. The judge asks all kinds of questions designed to eliminate anyone who would not be a fair and impartial juror. It amazes me how much detail people volunteer! Alcohol might have been involved in the incident, so the judge asks if anyone has had, or if someone in their immediate family has had a DUI. People were volunteering things like their sister-in-law's cousin's uncle's niece's best friend's ex-boyfriend had 3 DUI's in 1985. Huh?!! Then he moves on to asking if anyone has ever been arrested. Juror number 44 addresses the judge as "dude" and uses a lot of "you know what I'm saying" to announce that he's been arrested for DUI, drug possession, domestic violence, driving with a suspended license and on and on. You know what I'm saying? The judge asks if all of those charges have been cleared up. Juror number 44 scratches his head and says, "umm, I think so." Right after this, the judge gives us a 10 minute break. We are to leave our Juror numbers on our seats and sit in those same seats when we return. When we come back in ten minutes, Juror number 44 is not with us. The bailiff removes the number 44 from the seat, know one says a word about it and the elimination process continues. I'm just guessing that someone did a quick computer records check and Juror number 44 had some outstanding issues that needed to be cleared up. Ten jurors were chosen for the trial - I didn't get picked. I didn't know there would ever be an advantage to always being picked last for the team!!!