To The Pointwith Boris Bozic
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3 Comments Jury Duty – Day 3

Article written by on the 27 Nov 2014 in Personal

My internment continues, and I’m worried about the psychological impact.  Desperate times call for desperate measures,  I reached out to Amnesty International and asked them to take up my cause.  They hung-up on me! That’s…just…rude.  In my desperation I even contacted Greenpeace, and to my horror they refused to intercede on my behalf.  My plea “look, I get I’m not as cute as a baby seal, but maybe it’s time for guys to start thinking outside the box.  Who knows, it might lead to more donations,” fell on deaf ears.  Is mankind devoid of any compassion? Rhetorical question, based on my experience I think we all know the answer to that one.

I’m thinking of reaching out to all my brothers and sisters in the mortgage industry to support me in my time of need.  As a sign of solidarity, which would lift my spirits immeasurably, it would be nice if everyone wore a yellow ribbon until I was released.  Of course you wouldn’t have to ware it after 4:30pm because that’s when I get to go home.  Frankly, waring a yellow ribbon while I’m at home tonight watching the Leafs versus Penguins or Raptors versus Hawks, on my 65′ flat screen TV, would be, well, silly.

A gentlemen from the jury pool approached me this morning to introduce himself.  For the purposes of this blog I’ll call him George, because that’s his name.  A mutual acquaintance forwarded my Jury Pool – Day 1 blog to him, assuming he was in in the same jury poll, and suggested that he looks out for me.  So he did.  We laughed, we cried and we both stared out the window, green with envy at all those who are free to go about their day.  I said to George, “I will never take my freedom for granted again”. He said, “Boris, we brake for lunch in 45 minutes”.  George, is my rock.

11:28am – Do my ears deceive me?  Someone from the courts is making an announcement to the entire jury pool. He just said we’re free to go for the day.  But wait, there’s more. This guy is milking it, wouldn’t be surprised if he said, “I’m here till next Tuesday, try the veal”.  Praise Jesus, he just said our services are no longer required, period.  We don’t have to come back, and we won’t be called to serve for at least three years.  Of course we have to hang on to our summons in the event the government screws up – what are the chances of that happening? – and sends us another summons to appear before the three years are up.  The original summons will act as my get out of jail card.  My jury journey has come end.

A heart felt thank you to all the staff at MERIX. You were there for me in my darkest hours.  I will never forget the marching band that you arranged to have greet me at the foot of the court house stairs, and escort me on the long 750 meter walk back to my office. I Never Stopped Believing -

Until next time,

Cheers.

 

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0 Comments Jury Duty – Day 2

Article written by on the 26 Nov 2014 in Personal

The shackles of civic duty is becoming more difficult to bare with each passing moment.  I’m alone with my thoughts, actually there’s another 150 people in the room but I don’t care about them because all they do is get in the way of a good story.  Back to me, oh the inhumanity of it all.  Being forced to sit around, do nothing, and just wait. I want my freedom, and I just made a decision to go on a hunger strike until I’m freed. I will only eat if If one of two things happen, and in no particular order.  Firstly, I am dismissed or chosen to be on a jury, which will then permit me to leave so that I can go back to making the world a better place.  Two, we break for lunch.  

12:08pm..Hunger Strike Ends.  My compliments to the chef at Burger King.  The Double Whopper Combo was magnificent.  The recommended beverage pairing? Diet Coke.  Simply superb.  I have been working on my girlish figure some six months now so I have to be mindful of the calorie intake.

A dear sweet elderly lady in jury pool has become the unofficial liaison between the court and the entire jury pool. Her updates are frequent and poignant. She notified us that none of the trials on the court docket this morning required a jury.  So we sit and wait, and then we wait some more.

3:45pm, new update from the unofficial liaison.  She informed us we could be going home shortly. Less than five minutes later the court announced we could leave for the day, but must return tomorrow by no later than 9:30am. Damn, she’s really plugged in.

Until next time,
Cheers.

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0 Comments Jury Duty

Article written by on the 25 Nov 2014 in Personal

In theory I think everyone agrees that jury duty is a time honoured civic responsibility. Jury duty accords citizens to have direct involvement in the justice system. Being a juror is an enormous responsibility, and if selected to serve you are legally bound to do so. There’s no excuse for not serving, unless of course you receive a summons requiring that you to take part, which may result in you actually sitting on a jury. Well, that’s exactly what happened to me, and my initial thought was probably not unlike most people’s, “how do I get out of this?”

Once the initial thought passes, but it never really completely goes away, you start to deal with practical matters rather than theoretical. Example, the timing. I was summoned to appear on Monday, November 24th. Not optimal given that it was day one of the CAAMP Mortgage Forum in Montreal. I was in Montreal for the weekend festivities, but come Monday morning I was on a flight from Montreal at 5:30am, and in the courthouse in Toronto by 8:45am. I arrived tired, but what I soon found out made me cranky, really cranky.

Jury Pool – Day 1

There I was in a room with 150 other perspective jurors. Before long, a gentleman working for the courts, enlightened us on procedures and what to expect. He asked us if we read the entire summons? Of course I didn’t read the entire summons. Upon receiving the summons I was aggravated, and I just looked for the date that I had to appear. Well, if I had read the entire summons I would have learned that I have a legal obligation to be part of the jury pool for five days. Unless I was chosen or excused, I could be there from Monday through Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm, with no per-diem! Once the shock wore off there was only one thing to do. Search google for how to get out of jury duty. I came across an interesting article in the Huffington Post, by Peter Worthington, co-founder of the Toronto Sun. If you would like read the entire article here’s the link. To capsulize, he told the Sheriffs Office that he knew serial killers, and stayed in touch with them for years after he reported and covered their crimes. He was summarily dismissed from the jury pool. Okay, here’s my problem, I don’t know any serial killers and I have never corresponded with any. I know what you’re thinking, that’s odd. So I’m going to have to be creative. If the Judge asks me if there’s any reason I couldn’t sit on a Jury, I’m thinking of responding as follows; “well your honour, eight out of the ten voices in my head say don’t shoot…I’m sure we’re going to be okay.” Or if he asks me if I could convict someone knowing they could spend the remainder of their life in prison, my answer might be; “hell yeah. As matter of fact your honour if you want to be bring back capital punishment I say getter done. You kill someone in Toronto, I say we kill them right back”. Just spit-balling.

Finally around 3:30pm we were notified that we could go home. Reminded that we all to be back the following day, by no lather than 9:30am. So, the experience continues.

Until next time,

Cheers.

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