I got bounced from my only jury call for being a law student. At the time, I was really bummed. I still like observing trials, but you can get some really tedious civil cases that can be hell on a juror.

I had to go in to be in the pool last winter. I showed up, and followed my little group into a room where a woman was suing the company that owned her apartment complex after she fell during the winter.

When they asked if any of us had ever fallen on someone else's property, I was among those who raised their hand. Then they asked if any of us have ever entertained thoughts of suing the property owners. I was one of two who raised their hands. When the lawyer asked me about that, I replied that I'm clumsy and have fallen down a lot, and at times it could have been avoided had the property owners maintained things better. But then I usually rationalized it out as I also had some responsibility in the issue, and in matters of my own safety, so I had never actually gone through with suing.

I was not surprised when I was not picked, after managing to take both sides of the argument in one sentence.

When I was called for jury duty, one of the guys in the jury pool violated the judge's orders and was "disciplined accordingly." The judge didn't get specific but I really wanted to ask for details.

I was one of the defendant's peremptory challenges.

It's entirely possible that voir dire weeded out the people in my pool who wouldn't have taken the experience seriously. I know some of those people answered the way they did in order to try and get out of serving.

Voir Dire could have been fun for Tim, when he got asked about his recent job and told them about producing a show where people drive around the country and kill people. :-)

Hope he's not on a traffic case....

I know some of those people answered the way they did in order to try and get out of serving.

Oh, the people in my jury pool went to great lengths to demonstrate that they weren't fit to serve on a jury. We had one guy who, an hour after he'd already been asked his questions, raised his hand because he had more to add. He spent the next 20 minutes ranting about how much he hated doctors and the medical profession. (It was a medical malpractice case.)

He was still sitting in the jury box when I was excused.

I never get picked for juries. I'm, like, the least desirable juror ever.

On mine, there was a woman in the pool who was rather...not all there. She kept getting lost in the courtroom. Seriously. I was surprised how many not-crazy people they dismissed until they finally got to her.

And then I sat on the jury of the Stupidest Case Ever.

When I had jury duty I begged off the first case because the brother of my Kiwanis Club advisor was the defendant. Probably going overboard, but I wanted an absolutely clear conscience about my vote being unbiased. Then I got rewarded with a damages lawsuit built entirely on the testimony of one expert witness, who changed his story in mid-stream on the stand. Needless to say, we didn't deliberate overly long on that one.

There were two lawyers on the jury I was on. One had to reschedule a trial of her own to be on the jury. And the one person who was really excited about being on a jury was the alternate, so that was sad.

Also, the judge's clerk gave us candy.