weekend update

[lunabee34]

1. lyr pointed me toward Euripides's Helen, so I am now reading Women on the Edge, a collection of four of his plays (Alcestis, Medea, Helen, Iphigenia at Aulis) translated by Ruby Blondell et al. It starts with an intro giving historical context about Athens, ancient Greek culture, the role of women in ancient Greek society, tragedy, and Euripides. My library has online full text access, so yay!

2. I got summoned for jury duty in a couple of weeks. The only other time I've been summoned was last year, and after sitting around for awhile, the judge came in, spoke for a few minutes, and then read out all the cases to which the lawyers responded that the clients had plead out. So I didn't actually do any jury duty. I'd kinda like to serve on a jury at least once just to see what it's like; of course, even if they actually do have trials, there's no guarantee I'd be chosen to serve. Have any of you served on a jury? What was it like?

3. Huh, I think that's it. What are y'all up to?

Comments

[amejisuto]

I've never been called to Jury Duty, thank Gods. The thought of all that sitting and waiting does bad things to my nerves. LOL.

I'm not up to much this weekend, mainly reading and cleaning the house. The Great British Bake Off's final is on PBS and I'm going to watch that this afternoon. Its a rerun but I don't remember who won so I might as well watch it again.

I hope you're having a great weekend!

[lunabee34]

The worst part is that you can't bring anything with you. You can't have a book or notebook, so it's just wasted time.

I don't watch regularly, but I enjoyed the few Bake Off episodes I've caught.

I hope you're having a good one too.

[kalloway]

Have any of you served on a jury? What was it like?

(Random stranger stopping by~) I did once! My very first time getting called to jury duty and I got picked right away. It was for an impaired driving case and there were three charges for us to decide. Two of the three were pretty cut-and-dry, the third was a little fuzzy and I think the defendant only wanted a trial because he had previous convictions and he was looking at jail time.

We weren't allowed to talk about the case in the jury chamber until it was time to deliberate. One guy had been a jury foreman before so we all voted for him to do it again. The first morning was basically an overview of the case, evidence, and testimony. We were given a long lunch break (maybe two hours? I walked a few blocks, ordered and ate, went back and read for a bit) then another couple hours of evidence/testimony.

Then we all went home for the night. The next morning, we deliberated for probably about an hour. Since there was the one fuzzy charge, we were allowed to review video while discussing. Even though we all felt the charge was... fuzzy, the wording of the law made it clear the defendant had violated it, so we all agreed on three guilties. Then back to the courtroom, where the verdict was read, and we were all dismissed. Deliberating was probably an hour total.

It wasn't actually very exciting and iirc, the tiny paycheck was for about seven hours of service. (They did pay for mileage as well.)

[lunabee34]

Thanks for sharing your experience! That's really interesting. :)

I'm in a really rural area, so I think if I get asked to serve, it's one of those all-day things where they do a bunch of cases back-to-back with the same jury. I know that's what happened the first time when no jury was formed. But I'm not exactly sure.

We'll see what happens.

[princessofgeeks]

grading papers. happy to see blooming daffodils and hyacinths around the neighborhood. raking winter leaves. so glad it's march. february about kilt me.

[lunabee34]

Amen to that. I'm not ready for the unremitting heat, but I am ready for the sun. I am so so ready for the sun.

[sallymn]

I've been called in three times (twice in the same year, muttergrumble) and thankfully never got any further than turning up for a few hours because I would be hopeless, I simply know that being me I wouldn't be able to rule someone guilty (I actually put that down the second time in my request to the judge to be excused and yes, he accepted it). The first one, we sat round for five hours - I did have a book - then was told there was a guilty plea and we could go home. The last, it was a really really distressing crime and the judge asked that anyone who for emotional or family reasons didn't believe they could be objective to say so and be excused....

[lunabee34]

That's interesting!

I expect this to be one of those juries where you see a bunch of cases back to back, all for relatively minor things. Not sure exactly, though.

[sallymn]

That's what 90% of them probably are.

[chanter1944]

Re jury duty: The ever-excellent silveradept just went through the entirety of the process, and wrote a journal entry about it. Go figure, eh?

[lunabee34]

Thank you! I just went and read the entry. Very detailed and fascinating.

[lyr]

1) Yay!

2) I have been dismissed from at least half a dozen juries during the selection process, and only actually been picked once. It was a stupid case to take away a cab driving license from a driver who left a water bottle on his passenger seat, which was against regulations. He was defended by the worst lawyer I have ever seen, and the case pled out when I finally couldn't refrain from laughing at the defense anymore, even with my fist stuffed into my mouth. Once I started laughing, the rest of the jury did too, and then the judge had to put her head down on the bench and laugh until she cried. The defense decided he should offer a plea at that point, though honestly I think we were all planning on finding his poor client innocent even though nobody actually doubted the presence of the water bottle.

3) I should be sleeping, but obviously I am not. It's not that I have insomnia, I just have trouble making myself stop doing things and let the day go.

[lunabee34]

I am loling over here. Poor cabbie. I am aghast that a water bottle could be the impetus of a trial; that's nuts.

I hope you were able to wind down and get some sleep.