I was summoned to Jury Duty this morning. Here's what happened to me on this crazy day.
I had to be there for 8:30am. I was in line at 361 University Ave emptying my pockets and passing through the metal detector at 8:25. While inside, hundreds of us sat and listened to information about how the day would unfold before watching a propaganda video entitled "Jury Duty and You". The video is pretty effective, but suffers from poor production values circa 1988.
The lot of us were divided into four panels. I was green. Around 10:30, the greens were called to a court room and our names were put in a drum and picked at random. When called, we were to go to the front of the courtroom and face the accused.
While staring into the accused's eyes, the crown attorney and defense attorney each had a shot at saying "content" or "challenge". If they challenged, the potential juror was sent back to the pool. If both said "content", the person became a member of the 12-person jury.
Just my luck, I was drawn from the drum and selected as juror #3. The judge advised us that the case would take at least a couple of weeks and we heard the Crown Attorney's opening statement and from a couple of witnesses this afternoon.
No, I'm not going to write about the case. I'm not even going to tell you which case. I take it all very seriously and I've got a big responsibility here.
I'll update you again when the verdict is in.
