The Verdict's in!!!

Today was Jury Duty day. What a procedure, it's as close to complete chaos as the situation can get. First, the justice court is near downtown Vegas. Parking is the first problem with this procedure, as the only place they will validate your parking is at the Freemont Experience garage, which is about a 1/2 mile away. Not so bad if this were February, but when it's 108 outside the last thing you want is a leisurly stroll in the heat. Plus, I talked to at least 2 people who had handicap's and had to make that long walk. You would at least think they would give the handicapped parkers someplace closer to the courts.

So, I get to the courthouse at 7am (reporting is 8am). I like to get places early and I know there is security and such. There are a bunch of people milling around the security checkpoint before they open the doors. They announce that we should form two lines, take off our belts, everything from our pockets and jewelry. Had I known this I wouldn't have worn my belt since it has a big end and is difficult to get out of the small loops on my pants. After taking about 10 minutes to get through security you head to the third floor where you enter the "big room" as they call it. This is where all potential jurors get orientated and wait for their assignments. The place had to hold between 300 and 400 people and by 8am it was nearly full.

After a brief welcome and what to expect today, they showed us the standard juror movie where we are told what to expect and what an honor it is to serve. At 10am the baliffs start coming down to take groups of jurors to courtrooms. Now, this is where the chaos starts. They call the first group of numbers, juror ID's 101 - 256. Now, I've done this process before and I've never seen more than about 40 jurors called to a courtroom at once. They tell us we have to line up in the "big room" in order of our id's. My ID was 219 so I was near the back of the line. This room, though "big" wasn't big enough to hold one single-file line of nearly 150 people. And of course you had people with id's 120-130 back with us in the 200's. I wanted to ask if they could count. The lady in charge then starts at the first of the line checking our id badges and checking off our names on a chart. After this the baliff tells us what he's going to do (which he doesn't) and then starts the line towards the elevators where we are to go to the 15th floor. Now, here are 150 people in line and they assign us one elevator that holds maybe 20 people. You do the math, it had to take 30 minuetes before the baliff got to my end of the line. My question is, why don't they call 20 people at a time, check off their names and take them up. Come back down and the next 20 people are checked off and ready to go up. NO, they have to line all 150 up first, check the names and then we just stand their waiting for the elevator.

I felt like Iwas in Kindegarten again, lining up by our names to go into class. Now, the baliff said once we ALL are on the 15th floor we are to then go into the courtroom by our id numbers. We get to the 15th floor and he tells us to sit where we can find seats. About 20 minutes later he says to come into the courtroom (no mention of our id's). So now you have everyone mixed as we file into the courtroom and take seats in the audience. The judge welcomes us and begins to tell us the procedure (which we already know by the movie). The plaintiff and defense introdue themselves and the nature of the case. This one was a malpractice suit where a guy had his appendix taken out and then a year later had to have major surgery to correct something the doctor didn't take out he was supposed to the first time.

they call Id's 101-107 into the jury box and then start the questions. "How long have you lived in Vegas, where do you work, what do you do, are you married, what does your spouse do, what's your education level and background, can you fairly judge this case, have you ever been involved in a law suit, do you have relatives in the medical field, have you ever sued anyone, have you ever been a witness before, have you ever served on a jury." And those questions came from the judge. then both attorneys added their own questions. After one hour they finally got through the initial 8 potential jurors. Let's see, they just called juror 107 and I'm 219.... only 112 more to get to me. At 8 per hour that means I may be out of here....... BY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Ok, last time I did this procedure they only called about 40 people into the courtroom and they didn't even get through all those. So why the frickin' hell are there 150 jurors in this courtroom when you know the attorneys only get 4 acceptions and the judge maybe excludes another 5. That comes out to about 25-30 people, not 150. It was agonizing.

At 1pm the attorneys where out of acceptions and the juror was sitted. How many id's did they get through? How about to number 140 and there were some abscenses in between 101 and 140.

We, the remaining 100 or so were excused to return to the "big room" and maybe reassignment. When I got back they told me to take an hour lunch break and come back. At 2:15 I returned and the lady announced I could leave, my duty was done. What duty!!!! I didn't do anything. Why did you let me go to lunch when I was being let go afterwards???? ARGH!!!!

I made my way back through the Sahara desert to my car and only saw one set of bones along the way. Got home by 3pm and decided I was too tired from my "duty" to go to work.

At least I'm done with jury duty for 18 more months.

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Today is day 37 of NS. I didn't weigh in today since I was up early and gone. I will tomorrow.

Breakfast before I left for jury duty was French toast and my NS entree (shredded wheat) with 4 oz of milk. Calories : 347

Lunch : Since I didn't want to eat at the court cafe, I brough along one of my Nutripeptide bars and that was my lunch. 170 calories.

When I got home I made a nice salad and had a sandwich : calories : 200

Dinner : NS Entree (beef Tacos), stir fry veggies with Polenta, mandarin oranges. 460.

So another good day on NS and jury duty is done. Now I can go to bed a happy camper.