Did you ever go to court?

[wayfriend]

That's between "Have you ever been arrested?" and "Have you rehabilitated yourself?" in that old song, right?

I had to fight a ticket once that I got in an accident that was the other person's fault. The person whose neighbor was the police officer who was at the scene and wrote me up. After thanking that person for the lovely casserole she sent over to the police officer the night before.

That was fun.

Then there was the time I had jury duty in a drunk driving arrest. I could not believe how arrogant the police officer was when he testified. It was like he was god and everyone else was an idiot for questioning his judgement. In fact, much of what he said sounded like blatant lying, merely to shut down the defense lawyer's lines of questioning.

That was pretty fun.

Then I got selected for jury duty at federal court. It was a racketeering charge, U.S. versus the Sopranos. Okay, I'm kidding ... but only a teeny tiny bit. I was scared. So I set out to get rejected during jury selection.

When they asked if anyone would consider an officer's testimony differently from a citizens', I raised my hand, and proceeded to tell them about my first to times in court.

[Menolly]

Yes.
Multiple times.
Never for jury duty.

...again...'nuff said...

[Chrysalis]

I was a witness in the youth courts here a few months back. A teen using other peoples ID and addresses for fraudulent purposes.

He pleaded not guilty right up until the day of the trial. Upon hearing two witnesses were going to give evidence and had actually turned up on the day he changed his plea. So a custodial sentence plus community service etc were imposed upon him.

[Sunbaneglasses]

There have been two different times that I have received a letter asking me to appear for jury duty at the District Court in Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is about 50 miles away and if I remember correctly the letters said something about court possibly lasting for weeks, here is the letter that got me out of doing it the second time:

"Pleas I dont much see no way that I can come up there and do jury duty on count of my transmision is tore up in my car I dont much see how I can get down there to Tuskaloosa and back. Another thing is I just started workin down at the walmarts and I dont wont to miss no days. My mamma takes me to work right now but I dont much think she can drive me to tuskaloosa and back cause her car aint doin much better than mine ."

Have a good un
Paul


FYI, Apparently if you can convince the court system that you are an idiot you can get out of jury duty. It worked for me.

[CovenantJr]

There have been two different times that I have received a letter asking me to appear for jury duty at the District Court in Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is about 50 miles away and if I remember correctly the letters said something about court possibly lasting for weeks, here is the letter that got me out of doing it the second time:

Pleas I dont much see no way that I can come up there and do jury duty on count of my transmision is tore up in my car I dont much see how I can get down there to Tuskaloosa and back. Another thing is I just started workin down at the walmarts and I dont wont to miss no days. My mamma takes me to work right now but I dont much think she can drive me to tuskaloosa and back cause her car aint doin much better than mine .

Have a good un
Paul

I think you've worked in customer service at some point.

[Sunbaneglasses]

There have been two different times that I have received a letter asking me to appear for jury duty at the District Court in Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is about 50 miles away and if I remember correctly the letters said something about court possibly lasting for weeks, here is the letter that got me out of doing it the second time:

Pleas I dont much see no way that I can come up there and do jury duty on count of my transmision is tore up in my car I dont much see how I can get down there to Tuskaloosa and back. Another thing is I just started workin down at the walmarts and I dont wont to miss no days. My mamma takes me to work right now but I dont much think she can drive me to tuskaloosa and back cause her car aint doin much better than mine .

Have a good un
Paul

I think you've worked in customer service at some point.

Dealing with the public for years has changed me, I recognize it and accept it.

[MsMary]

I've been to court a couple times for traffic tickets and a number of times for jury duty. I've been selected for a jury three times. The first time we came to a verdict, the second time the judge threw the case out before we had a chance to deliberate, and the third time we jury members spent the whole day sitting outside the court room while the defendant's lawyer negotiated a plea deal, after which we were sent home.

[Damelon]

The only time I got called to Jury Duty was during Thanksgiving Week. I sat in the waiting room for one hour when the bailiff announced that the only case that could have went up for trial that week was settled and that we could all go home.

[The Laughing Man]

There have been two different times that I have received a letter asking me to appear for jury duty at the District Court in Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is about 50 miles away and if I remember correctly the letters said something about court possibly lasting for weeks, here is the letter that got me out of doing it the second time:

Pleas I dont much see no way that I can come up there and do jury duty on count of my transmision is tore up in my car I dont much see how I can get down there to Tuskaloosa and back. Another thing is I just started workin down at the walmarts and I dont wont to miss no days. My mamma takes me to work right now but I dont much think she can drive me to tuskaloosa and back cause her car aint doin much better than mine .

Have a good un
Paul

I think you've worked in customer service at some point.

Dealing with the public for years has changed me, I recognize it and accept it.

we need to start a support group.

[Menolly]

I've been called for juty duty twice.
The first time Beorn was still nursing.
I told them I strongly believed in nursing mothers being allowed anywhere, and that I wanted to serve, as long as I could bring my nursing infant with me.

I was excused.

The second time was within this past decade that we have lived in Gator Town. Although we live here year round, this is our "school address." Our "permanent address," and the one tied to my driver's license which is what generates jury duty lists here, is about 150 miles south of here. I told them as long as they paid my mileage at the agreed upon rate from Gator Town each day, I was happy to serve.

I was excused, and haven't been called since.

[Lord Mhoram]

Negative; but I got my first traffic ticket a couple weeks ago.

[CovenantJr]

I think you've worked in customer service at some point.

Dealing with the public for years has changed me, I recognize it and accept it.

we need to start a support group.

As long as we're not supporting the public. Bunch of illiterate freeloaders.

[Chrysalis]

As long as we're not supporting the public. Bunch of illiterate freeloaders.

gotta love the general public!
Credit to you Cov for surviving the Dept you worked in! I can't wait to get out of local government work.

[CovenantJr]

As long as we're not supporting the public. Bunch of illiterate freeloaders.

gotta love the general public!
Credit to you Cov for surviving the Dept you worked in! I can't wait to get out of local government work.

You credit me with a single department?! I scoff at such a trifling woe! Offhand, I count no less than five different customer-focused local government departments on my CV, including such 'delightful' realms as Social Services and Parking Enforcement. And that's without my couple of years in retail.

[Chrysalis]

As long as we're not supporting the public. Bunch of illiterate freeloaders.

gotta love the general public!
Credit to you Cov for surviving the Dept you worked in! I can't wait to get out of local government work.

You credit me with a single department?! I scoff at such a trifling woe! Offhand, I count no less than five different customer-focused local government departments on my CV, including such 'delightful' realms as Social Services and Parking Enforcement. And that's without my couple of years in retail.

Opps! I had been thinking of your stint in the Parking Enforcement! You are far braver than I for that job!
I have also shifted positions within the council but all have been library based. Well except the short time with the employment service...now that was hell on earth!

[CovenantJr]

I'm not sure whether Parking Enforcement was better or worse than Housing Benefits...

To get back on topic, no, I've never been to court. I haven't even set foot in one.

It saddens me a little to see so many people having been called up for jury service more than once. My grandfather wanted to be called until the day he died, but it never happened.

[Auleliel]

The closest I've been to court was as a "witness" on my high school's mock trial team. We lost.

[Tulizar]

When I was seventeen I had to go to court on a careless driving charge. My lawyer met me at the courthouse. He asked me to refresh his memory about my case. That really scared me.

I had to wait an hour or so before the judge heard my case. It was a long hour. That guy blasted everyone who stood before him. He was fining people, suspending driving privelages, and ordering jail time without blinking an eye. I didn't know what to expect.

I think my lawyer must've known the prosecutor or something, because the only thing he seemed to do was read the police report and proclaim I did my best to avoid the accident. Thankfully I had a thorough police report that included several eyewitnesses who essentially supported my defense. The charges were dismissed and all was well.

Oh yeah, one word of advice to anyone who goes to court: DRESS WELL!! I swear the judge was harder on a lot of the people because they looked like slobs. I was only seventeen, but even I knew enough to wear a dress shirt and tie. I couldn't believe how many people wore old jeans and crappy t-shirts.

I was called to jury duty twice. The first time I was excused because my cousin was the defendant. The second time court was cancelled due to ice storms.

[Sorus]

Twice for jury duty. The first time we sat around for four days while people were interviewed one by one. I was never called up, and after the fourth day the remaining people were dismissed. It was boring and a waste of time, though they let us read, so in some ways it was better than work. Second time was pretty much the same thing, though I got called up early on the second day and they dismissed me when I said quite honestly that I had already decided the defendant was guilty. I've been summoned a couple of times since, but they have a new system where you just call in the night before and they tell you whether you actually need to show up or not. After a few days of being told I didn't need to go in, they dismissed me.

I've also been in court for personal reasons, mostly involving a couple of sociopathic ex-neighbors. And once against a landlord, trying to buy time in an owner-move-in eviction.

[Wyldewode]

Yep, I've been in a courtroom before a judge--for a civil matter that I don't want to discuss here.

I got one summons for Jury Duty a few years back, and was terribly excited about going, but when I called in the night before to check on the status they said that my group wasn't needed.

I'm like Cov's grandfather. . . hoping some day to get a real summons.