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.