I was innocently visiting a few blogs this evening when I came across one titled "Yes, Your Honor..." and about had a heart attack right then and there. It had nothing to do with the actual content of that entry, but with the meaning behind those words.
I had been summoned for jury duty.
I received an envelope in the mail sometime in December, before Christmas, informing me of my upcoming duty (it is a privilege). It was dated for sometime in January, but being that it was before Christmas, I couldn't think much past December 25th, let alone into some random date in January. So it got put in the mail pile to deal with later.
And then that post pulled up that piece of information to the forefront of my mind. Crap! It had either past or was coming up! I had a fit and informed my mother and Rob at the same time that I had jury duty but had no idea when. Rob begins telling me the sheriff will come to the house if I don't show up and my mom says, "you need to go sort this out. Bye." Neither are comforting.
Halfway through the pile (which is embarrassingly larger than necessary) an envelope appears with "IMPORTANT: JURY SUMMONS ENCLOSED." Yeah, I am supposed to report 01/20/09, TOMORROW!
I have a small freak out. I didn't remember this. I didn't tell work I wouldn't be there. I didn't fill out the questionaire about my life and return it in the enclosed envelope within 10 days of receiving it. Whats going to happen to me??
Just go. That's what I was told. Just show up at the courthouse tomorrow and they'll tell you what you need to know.
Oh wait.
When I first read it, I only saw key words like "01/20/09" and "8:30am" and "be there or the sheriff will come after you." Okay, so that isn't verbatim, but its on there. I didn't read the whole paper like it said. An hour after finding out and freaking out, I grabbed the paper to fully read and ingest what was there. So I actually read instead of skim and find out you are supposed to call the weekend before to get details. Thankfully, this has been a holiday weekend, so I can call Monday evening.
Oh, looky there. They don't need the jurors summoned for 01/20/09. Must be a slow court month. Thank goodness.
Oh, but don't be discouraged. Our services will be requested at a later date.
1 comment:
So this reminds me of my quasi-jury duty experience! I did the same thing except when I re-read my summons the date had past! I didn't know what to do so I thought, "surely they will contact me or something". Well they never did, and since then I have been pulled over and the cop didn't say anything about a warrant for my arrest. Maybe I'm just lucky?? Anyway it is something I think about every once in awhile and have a mini freak out about.
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