I was stressing out. I left the house a bit too late and I'm stuck at a draw bridge not a quarter mile from the court house and it's 10:00 am.
Oh my God! I think. The Judge is going to throw contempt of court charges my way for being late. The bridge finally goes down, I drive to the parking garage, and by 10:15 am I show up in the Jury Reception Room where the officer tells me to wait, the bailiff will show up in a few minutes and collect me.
A few minutes later the bailiff comes around and leads me down several back corridoors behind the court room. My demeanor is one of doom—I'm sure I'm in trouble for being late, but the bailiff doesn't seem to be upset that I'm late and in fact, the impression is that I'm not late at all.
I'm releaved when I'm shown into the jury deliberation room and find the other six jurors sitting there, waiting.
So I sit down and start reading.
Around 10:40 pm, the bailiff comes in and escourts us to the court room where we take our seats. The judge then informs us he has good news and bad news.
The bad news? We are no longer required for jury duty.
The good news? We are no longer required for jury duty.
It seems the case was settled with the defendant pleading guilty and getting 15 years. The judge thanked us for our time and handed out certificates of appriciation.
I was upset that we had to return the official Jury Pins^TM.
So that's that.