Done with Jury Duty!

My first “jury duty” experience is over. I sat on the jury for a criminal trial in the Municipal Court of Seattle. It was an interesting experience, and I think I have more “why” questions now about the legal system than ever before. A very worthwhile experience, although I know some of my fellow jurors found it frustrating.

The most interesting anecdote about the trial was just as we’d rendered a decision in our deliberation (and had called the baliff to come get us), the fire alarm in the building went off. Someone on floor 3 (we were on 9) had burnt some popcorn in the microwave. They evacuated the building, which put this very weird “hold” on everything until the fireman resolved the issue (put out the popcorn?) and cleared some of the smoke.

All in all, the trial lasted just a touch more than two days – we were chosen on Tuesday and finished up this afternoon.