Runester

They never even used the term voir dire once, what a rip …

So, jury duty was very interesting. I got there in plenty of time, and got to where I needed to go, etc. No problems there. We were shown an orientation video (where the word impanelment was used instead of voir dire) and then we just hung out and waited. I finished reading my book (“The Power of Intention” by Dr. Wayne Dyer) and then did a little writing in my notebook.

The other potential jurors got bored and eventually this boredom overcame anyone’s shyness and a very nice discussion group formed. We talked about all sorts of things, I got to know a little bit about six or seven of them, and they turned out to be very nice people! After lunch break, I expected more waiting, but instead we were lined up and marched into a Superior Court room and voir dire began!

Though people were relaxed and friendly, and cracking jokes after lunch … being in a court room and seeing a defendant who’s life would be seriously affected by who got chosen as juror’s and what decisions they made … immediately sobered everyone up. The judge explained the rules, and told us a little bit about the case – it was a criminal case, with one man charged with one count of "Assault & Battery with a deadly weapon." We were introduced to the Assistant District Attorney for the City of Worcester, to the Defendant, and to the Defense Attorney who represented him. Then, the judge began asking questions.

Long story, short: the jury was filled with fourteen (14) jurors (twelve plus two alternates) that neither the prosecutor nor the defense attorney objected to – before I was called on. The rest of us were dismissed and sent home (or, in my case, work) having satisfied the conditions of our duty.

In summary, I got to learn and experience a side of the criminal justice system that is rarely shown or explained on TV or in any civics class. I got to meet some really nice people and spend a pleasant morning doing something new and interesting. And, finally, I got to finish my Wayne Dyer book and even write down several ideas for Everway which I will be able to write up and post soon. All-in-all, I had a really great day!

Hey, I know how to spell voir dire …

Well, for the first time ever, I’ve been called for jury duty. I start tomorrow morning, bright and early (8:00 AM). I’ve heard that I may not even be needed, in which case I’ll get a chance to read my book and then drive to work. Or, I may have to sit and wait for several days until they decide whether or not to use me. Finally, if I am called in, I then get to experience voir dire, and have yet another chance of being dismissed. If, after all that, I actually make it on a jury … the odds are it will be a single day case.

The whole thing is kind of interesting, and will be the closest I’ve ever come to a real trial apart from one incident in traffic court (I was ticketed for squeeling my brothers’ hot rod’s tires, many years ago!) and watching The Practice on Sunday nights. I’ll have to write about my experience when I’m done.

Oh, and don’t let me forget to explain, here, all about Wiki’s and collaborative web editing. Cool.

Not as quiet as it may look …

I know it looks really quiet in here now … but, it’s not! All of the writing and updates are currently taking place over here.

By the way, I watched a horror movie last night, named “The Devil Within Her” starring Joan Collins. At first the highly dated clothes, and hair styles, and cars, and just about everything else was amusing. But, to be completely honest, aside from the occasional glimpse of Joan Collins breasts, this was a stupid movie! Joan plays a stipper (though it was hard to tell because of the lack of nudity and completely lame-ass dancing) who rejected the advances of an evil dwarf … and get’s cursed with having a devil possessed child for her trouble. Then, the rest of the movie has everyone repeatedly say how extraordinarily “large” and “strong” the baby is, as he goes about killing nearly everyone in the film.

Yeah, you heard me right – the BABY kills nearly everyone in the film, and the adults keep commenting on his size and strength.

I did learn two important lessons from this movie, though.

1) strip clubs in the 60′s were incredibly non-erotic and lame ~or~ no one in Hollywood at that time had ever been to one.

2) dancing, leering, baby cursing dwarfs may be intrinsically evil, but apparantly they also work in above mentioned (lame-ass) strip clubs.

See, television can be quite educational, even without PBS.

New Web Host!

This site is now being hosted by GoDaddy.com instead of Yahoo! Geocities. Just sayin’ …

{first posted 4/2/2004 6:40:14 PM}