Now Where Were We? Day 5

Sorry, things got wild for a day or two.

Day 5 started at 11 AM with closing arguments for both sides. The defense referred more back to the testimony and reminded me that our friend had gotten $900,000 when his part of the company was purchased and now he was wanting more dinero. Hmmmm. The plaintiff's closing arguments reminded me of exactly how much more dinero he thought he was owed.

Then the judge read us the charge. In Civil Court, there is a question to answer and then based on the answer that the group comes up with you move in a flow chart pattern until you get to the end. We deliberated for 7 hours. Here is what we determined. He was not wrongfully terminated from his employer, all attorney's fees were split down the middle, and he won $503.00. Yes, all of that for $503.00. That was one amount of money he said he was owed for interest upon interest and he got exactly what he asked for. All of that time, money, and energy on so many people's parts for $503.00.

So, there you have it. The decision that changed the world. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

And I got my check yesterday. It was $206.00. Srsly.

Jury Duty Day 4

At the end of Day 3, the Plaintiff rested. One of the jurors, the assistant principal, did a fist pump at the end and said, "YES!" out loud. It was then that I realized she and I might be cell mates. We became really good friends by the end of it and her son will be a freshman in band next year where my oldest child goes to school. Small world.



Day 4. The defense started bringing in their witnesses. The VP of Human Resources and CEO took the stand. Same story second verse. Uno Amigo on a Mucho Grande Siesta making a whole lotta dinero. The CEO was very candid about the lack of work on Uno Amigo's part. I would die if my boss got on a witness stand and said the things about me that he said. They questioned both of them extensively and we got to look at the same exhibits over and over. Did I mention that there were 5 D ring binders full of exhibits?

And none of us could utter a word about it. It was like reading the best book in the world and not being able to tell a soul about it. Things got a bit more exciting when the defense witnesses took the stand.

Jury Duty Day 2, and well, 3

Sorry for the lapse in posting, I had some naps that needed to be taken and sleep that needed to be caught up on. It is bad when the person in the world you most cannot stand is yourself. I was there. Better now.

Day 2. After being the late returner from lunch I was never late from that point forward. Just thought I would throw that in.

We got to the courthouse at 8:30 AM and began hearing opening arguments and testimony from the plaintiff. The companies in question were doing this job called submetering. I now know more about submetering than any one human should ever have to know, unless you are getting paid for it. I was getting paid for it, but at $40 a day it was a bit much. Submetering works like this: Apartment complexes have one gigantic meter that reads all of the electricity used by the entire complex. Submeters are installed so that each individual unit can be charged for its individual consumption. That is what submetering is. So, the plaintiff and two other guys (we'll call them the Three Amigos) owned this company that sold submetering services. The defendant, we"ll call them The Big Bad Wolf, bought the Three Amigos company. With that purchase came employment agreements for all Three Amigos. Two of the Three Amigos are still employed by The Big Bad Wolf and are doing well. Our plaintiff, we will call him Uno Amigo, believes he was terminated without cause from The Big Bad Wolf. We are there to determine as a jury if he was or was not terminated without cause and if any damages are owed to either side.

So, Uno Amigo takes the stand. Being a nurse I am already sizing everyone up to see if I have recently recovered them from surgery or a colonoscopy so that I can plead that I know someone and can get released from this tiny hell I have been thrust into all in the name of answering questions honestly. There are 13 jurors in case someone has to bow out. No such luck on seeing ANY OF MY PATIENTS in that courtroom.

And for TWO DAYS we heard Uno Amigo drone on and on about how he was mistreated and misunderstood and how he was on his second marriage and his first wife was a drug addict and now she had turned her life around and was a great mother and he had a 19 year old son and a 9 year old daughter. Surprisingly, we didn't hear much about wife #2 for the entire testimony nor was she in the courtroom. Red flags were going up all around my mind on that one. Later, we found out that she gambled $200,000 of his money away. I would say this guy has a knack for aligning himself with women with addictions. And, I am figuring out quickly that Uno Amigo has a problem with authority and feels like every circumstance that has happened to him is through no fault of his own. After subbing at the schools as a nurse, you all know just how fast he was earning my vote. The issue was that Uno Amigo did not show up to work on a regular basis. It seemed as if his life was one Mucho Grande Siesta. And, there were enough exhibits on The Big Bad Wolf's side to prove that. He proved that he took about 3 trips, but beyond that he couldn't prove that he was or was not at work on any given day and we were all supposed to trust that he was working without having any physical evidence to the contrary. Let me tell you, Uno Amigo was getting paid Mucho Dinero for taking a Mucho Grande Siesta. The one thing I loved about the judge was she told us at the beginning of every day how many breaks we would have and how long and how long of a lunch we would have. I need a schedule people and for that I am grateful that she did that for us. I sincerely believe she felt sorry for us.

Here is a little tidbit for you concerning the attorneys. The plaintiff had two attorneys: one was his brother in law (married to gambling sister) and the other was a really nice guy from Austin that is married to a nurse. He may have lied his eyes out to me but I was automatically drawn to him because, hey, his wife is a nurse. I never forgot that one thing he told me while we were "interviewing" to be jurors. The other side had 3 attorneys, 2 males and 1 female and believe it or not I made great friends with them in the end. But more on that later.

So that was Tuesday. Wednesday the judge had to be in Austin and we were back at it on Thursday and Friday was a government holiday (Good Friday).

Next up, Day 4 which was the Monday after Easter.

Jury Duty Day 1

Monday April 6th is the day I started this journey (insert The Bachelor/Bachelorette sarcasm right here).

I reported to the courthouse at about 0830 and they were in the middle of showing some video on how to be a juror and how being a juror changed my life. The only way being a juror changed their life was they were probably $200 richer for being in that lame video.

So, some judge gal gets up and gives this whole song and dance and I pull out my knitting which is the public equivalent of the Yak Lady from the circus entering the room. I instantly become the walking freak show and people around me are trying not to stare and others are asking me questions. Then the judge asks anyone who feels they need to be exempt to come to the front of the room and form a line. About 75 people go up there and I wonder if any of these folks can 1) read or 2) have Internet access because all of this could have been taken care of on line or via mail. So this takes another 45 minutes and then they start calling names. Good thing I was listening as I was number 6 out of 400. Lucky me. So they tell us what court to go to and that this will be a civil trial. I am still resting under the assurance that I will never get picked, per my husband, because he is a police officer and I am a nurse. So, I text him to tell him who the judge is and what court it is and he texts me back and says, "You will probably get picked" and I think my heart might have stopped right there.

We go the court room and have to wait outside and then we get called in. I am LUCKY JUROR NUMBER 4. They hand out these duplicate copy forms, clipboards, and pens and we have a questionaire to fill out. Name, age, where do you live, how many kids, how long have you been married, how many times have you been married. Then it gets more personal. What TV shows do you watch. I am thinking, oh my hell this could be a catch. Do I go for full disclosure and admit that I watch the Bachelor and Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels? No, I go for conservative and say HGTV, Grey's Anatomy, and something else I can't remember. Then it asks what do we do in our spare time. Do I admit knitting? Sure, they might think I am a nut and then I won't get picked. So I put knitting, reading, watching TV, spending time with family, neutral stuff. Then they ask what 3 people you admire most and what 3 people you admire the least. So I answer for admire most my husband and my parents. Who do I admire the least? If I put Bret Michaels it won't make sense because I didn't admit to my Rock of Love obsession. If I put Barak Obama I might get questioned by the Secret Service which would be worse than Jury Duty. If I put Bill Clinton then they will know I am a serious conservative. So then I am mad thinking, "Is this Jury Duty or am I being interviewed for Homecoming Queen?" I look at the girl's paper next to me and she put the people she admires most are Oprah and the least is Rush Limbaugh. Insert VERY HUGE EYE ROLL right here. Finally I decide to put people who abuse children and animals and otherwise I cannot think of one specific person. So we turn them in and they start questioning us one by one and eliminating us one by one. By lunch there is still no jury so we are excused with instructions to be back at 1245. Guess who was late getting back? Two things ran through my mind: 1) I am so going to jail and 2) Surely now they will think I am irresponsible and won't pick me. Then they ask us if we are related to any attorneys and I say yes, my brother is an attorney. Did I tell you that 2 of the potential jurors got into a car wreck in the parking lot at lunch? Neither one of them got picked. One of them had been laid off 9 times since 2000. You do the math. Now I am really sweating because I have no honest NO answers. Then everyone rests and they are ready to pick the jury. And I get picked. So here we are: a nurse, two principal/assistant principals, a boat salesman, a customer service manager, a controller, a computer expert who works for a church, a chef who is self employed, a photo lab manager, a USPS employee, two HR people, and one other girl who I can't remember what she did but she was very nice. We sit in the jury box and get 1001 instructions from the judge and then we go to the jury room and read 2 more pages of instructions and then we are dismissed.

And I call work and let them know I got picked for the longest civil trial in the history of the world because they told us it would be at least a week.

More tomorrow.

Forgive me Father for I have sinned

and please don't make me do Jury Duty again.

IT IS OVER. Shut up.

I am going to work a little late this morning since I got home from Jury Duty at about 9:30 PM last night.

More later.............I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Happy Easter! Still gagging........

Not really. Just can't talk because of JURY DUTY...........or my one way trip to hell. Tomorrow we are back at it. As you can tell, I can HARDLY wait. Here are 2 things I CAN tell you about Jury Duty:

1. The people on my jury panel are wicked fun. One girl is a cook (like, professionally) and baked another girl a cake for her birthday. It made me want to stand up and say, "Y'all quit!"

2. The process is like watching paint dry.

Here is some baby love to tide you over this Easter.

Apparently, Vanilla is NOT my flavor

Part of our wedding vows when we got married in 1989 were that I would never have to do jury duty because I was marrying a police officer.

It worked back in 1992.

Apparently times have changed.

Fast forward to April 2009. I got summoned for Jury Duty and once again was reassured by Hubs that I wouldn't get picked, no how no way.

Maybe I should have paid more attention in Poli Sci. Ahem. Because imagine my surprise when I got called to CIVIL COURT. So, I texted Hubs and he said, "you will probably get picked." And, I did. At 3:30 PM. Because I could not answer any of the questions honestly that would get them not to pick me. Apparently, the criminals are taking Monday off. Insert head slap here.

I didn't just get picked, but was the 6th juror called out of 300, and the 4th juror seated out of 52 on the panel. The attorneys told #52 that he probably wouldn't get picked but he was there for math's sake.

I had a fleeting thought of offering to buy his number in exchange for mine.

But I don't think I look good in Jailhouse Orange.

And, the case will last at least a week.

Now I know how OJ's jurors felt. Maybe I should start shopping for a book deal.

I may not be blogging for a few days.

Word.