At 08:02 PM 7/13/02 -0500, Ronn wrote:
>Unfortunately, when I talk to my "smart" friends who have been called for
>jury duty, they report that as soon as one of the lawyers finds out what
>they do for a living ("programmer", "tech writer", "university professor",
>etc.), they are summarily dismissed.
The one time I've served this wasn't an issue, but it was for Grand Jury
duty. It was really a fascinating experience, if stressful (two jail
inspections, a police shooting, and a post 9/11 hearing of a pre 9/11 "bomb
threat - any more details and I'll have to kill me...). The only science
issue to come up was my urge to ask the error bars on every report of "x"
grams of substance "y"... FWIW, beware the grand jury... it's just shy of
a prosecutorial rubber stamp (but then it's not reasonable doubt... just
more than likely)
>(FWIW: I can't give you any personal experiences from jury duty, as I've
>never been: frex, the first time a notice arrived for me to report for
>jury duty was a few weeks after I left home to go on active duty, and
>every time since then I've gotten a notice, something like that has
>happened to prevent me from going.
First call was mid-postdoc... too short a term position to lose to an LA
trial so I had to be excused. Second was two days before I moved from LA.
> It could be worse: I remember having to call the courthouse when I
> found a notice in the mailbox calling my mother for jury duty a few
> months after she had passed away. Apparently, it takes awhile for the
> records from one government office to get over to another one . . . )
My late dad still gets the occasional job offer. I wonder what
qualifications they're looking for? ;-)
Sean
