I got kicked off the jury

After a maddening 3 day wait, I finally got called to the box to serve as an alternate. But, I didn't last long. I was kicked off by the defense. I think it was more that I was a pastor and this was a DUI case than the fact that I'm friends (though not extremely close friends) with a judge and a public defender. That is, however, the farthest into the court room I've gotten (in any official capacity).

My observations -- this was a misdemeanor DUI case -- is that jury selection is often tedious and time consuming. The attorneys can kick off more people than you think -- 10 each -- and they play something akin to a chess match. You think they're done and then they start knocking people off. The goal of course is to mold a jury that one thinks will help one's own side and that's what they're supposed to do.

I've been in other jury selection processes (2 other time) and both went much faster. Part of this is the result of the manner of the judge. The last time I was in this situation (in the pool) the judge moved rather quickly.

One funny thing today was that just before we were to go into the court room, a somewhat disturbed man was going around engaging prospective jurors telling them apparently "He's innocent." This meant that the judge had to meet with each juror who had had contact with the man to see if the pool had been tainted. But we went on with it after lunch and got things taken care of.

As tedious as the process is, and one might not care for all the parties (some attorneys kind of give you a bad taste), but the process is better than any place else in the world. But there is always room for improvement. Although I would have fulfilled my civic duty appropriately, it's good to be off!

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