Jury Duty

So yesterday I was selected to go to jury duty. I had mixed feelings going. First of all, I didn't have anything planned during the day so I was fine with going. But I knew that jury duty day means just a lot of waiting.

I brought a book, water, and my Chinese flashcards. Yet, I only wait an hour and a half before I was called into a courtroom. There were 24 possible jurors called into a criminal court case. They only needed 6 jurors. Since I was sitting in the third row of benches, the lawyers told us most likely the third row would not be chosen. Yet they explained the basics of the case and asked us all to comment if we would be biased. Felicity told me the other day to speak up during the questioning and more likely I wouldn't be selected. So I objected to one of the prosecuting attorney's question to me. Well, it turns out my objection was the basis the defense attorney was going on. So he kept saying, "just like Miss Lee said, ..." Oops. So after the first round of questioning, we had to wait outside the court room.

The bailiff then came in to call some of us in for a second round of questioning. He said, "the judge would like to see all of the second row and Bethany Lee." Oops. Actually I wouldn't have cared that much if I was chosen, but I do think knowing some of the basics of the case, I'm not sure if I wanted to choose what is right and wrong.

Finally, everyone got called in again and then the 6 jurors were selected. I was relieved not to have been chosen. The funny thing is that all the people that were selected were people that spoke up during questioning.

I thought today was super informative and kind of fun. This was my first time in a courtroom. I have only been called for jury duty one other time in Los Angeles but got dismissed early.