Jury duty

Somewhere in the vast bureaucracy that drives the wheels of justice, my name came up as a potential juror. Today was my day to show up at Superior Court in downtown Phoenix. I rolled in around 1:00 (perversely, lower numbered groups got to show up later in the day). After dragging my laptop along to sample the "wireless internet" promised on the summons, I was disappointed to find that they charge 8 cents a minute for the privilege. Forget that.

Around 2:30, I got tapped as part of a crowd of 48 to head on up to a courtroom. The first 21 sat in the comfy seats - they were the prospective panel. I sat on the benches with the higher-numbered potential jurors. After two hours of chipping away at the panel (work excuses, etc.) I ended up on the panel. We were told that 9 out the 21 would be chosen. They then completed the voir dire (an Anglo-French term meaning "tell the attorneys if you're married and what you do for a living") process. When it got to me, I answered that my occupation was "scientist" (well, that's what it says on my business cards). The defense attorney perked up immediately and looked at me like I shot his dog. He snatched up his pen and started writing (probably something to the effect of "Juror #16: NO WAY!").

The judge let us all take a break while the attorneys got to bicker over who they would pick. I wasn't on the list, and got to go home. I won't have the chance to spend three days (the projected length of the trial) downtown, and be paid the princely sum of $12 a day (plus mileage) for my efforts.