Juror Number 43

I spent several days at the Federal Courthouse for the district of Kansas this past week. We were initially warned that there was a case scheduled to start that week which was slated to run 4-6 WEEKS! Now, I know I was kind of looking forward to jury duty, but 4-6 weeks??? That's just crazy. As it turned out, our jury pool spent all day sitting in the jury assembly room on Tuesday, we didn't have to go in Wednesday, and Thursday we were there from 8:30 - 10:00 am. Just before we were released, the chief judge of the district came down to thank us and to apologize for having us sit around so much. But, as it turned out, our mere presence there as a potential jury may have influenced the criminal defendants to finally accept guilty pleas.

The 4-6 week trial (that never was) started out as an international drug smuggling case with 20 defendants. By the time we were called in to serve, all but TWO of the people charged had plead out. The last two were a husband and wife who owned the business out of which the whole drug ring was operated. On Tuesday, while we all cooled our heels in the jury assembly room, the husband had his attorney try every delay attempt in the book. When those all failed, he ended up pleading guilty.

The wife was not going to change her plea though. So the judge gave her a continuance until Thursday morning to try and reach a deal. As of Wednesday night, the lawyers told the judge that she was going to agree to a plea. However, this same woman had twice before told her lawyers she would plead out, only to change her mind once she actually made it into the court room. So the judge had the jury pool come in again on Thursday morning.

That morning, at 8:30 her attorneys said she'd changed her mind AGAIN and would not be pleading. So, they were set to start court at 9:30. Sometime in that hour, she changed her mind AGAIN! So between 9:30 & 10:00 she made her guilty plea official. Then the judge came down, gave us the entire scoop on what had been going on, and let us go with thanks.

So, I didn't get to serve on a jury... yet. I have to call back in over the labor day weekend to see if I have to report in on September 5th. Federal Jury duty is a 2 month obligation. So, I've still got a shot at a mini-vacation from my own reality.

What I did with my summer vacation...

This entry will be sad, very sad, because:

1. My summer vacation was only 4 days long.
2. Two of the four days were spent driving 10+ hours each day.
3. The driving was done with a 22 month old toddler in the car.
4. Said toddler is very likely cutting her 2-year molars, as is evidenced by the recurrent line of drool running down her chin, the sticking-of-fingers-down-her-throat, a pervasive disinterest in most solid foods, and a marked increase in crankiness.
5. Said toddler also had a completely disrupted nap and sleep schedule over the 4 days, just what was needed to crank the crankiness up to the next level.
6. The 2 days not spent driving were spent in exotic and fascinating Fargo, ND.
7. Seriously, Fargo.
8. The 2 days were spent in a Holiday Inn, and right down the hall from my in-laws.
9. Seriously, my in-laws.
10. One of the 2 days was my birthday. (Happy 29th [for the 6th time] to me.)
11. The Citizen Eco-Drive watch my husband thought he had bought me for my birthday, was not, in fact, an Eco-Drive watch, but a plain old Quartz watch which I can't wear because I kill the battery within 2 weeks flat (some crazy personal electro-magnetic thing).
12. Because we were out of town, my birthday cake was store-bought; while it was not half-bad for store-bought, it wasn't anywhere near home-made quality.

So, with my whiner temporarily whined out, I will say that the visit with the in-laws went very well. They drove down from Saskatchewan and we headed north from Kansas City; Fargo is where we met half-way. They had not seen Miss M since last Christmas, and she's grown and developed SOOOO much in the past 8 months, we were overdue for a visit.

I was a little fearful that she might play shy around them, but we spent the weeks prior to the trip looking at pictures of our Canadian family and saying their names. She took right to them and treated them just as if she saw them everyday! She charmed and amazed everyone with her curls and verbal skills.

So, my summer vacation is over. We were planning to go somewhere later in August for a whole week (a whole week away from home with a toddler; how can I stand so much FUN? I know, I know...). However, something even MORE FUN popped up unexpectedly on my calendar for August and September; yes, I have the honor, nay, the privilege of being selected for Federal Jury Duty for the KCK district! So I have to call in each weekend to see if I have to report in the following Monday. Kind of makes it hard to plan anything. I'm kind of hoping to get picked for something (something white-collar and non-gruesome, preferably), because the court house doesn't allow ANY electronic devices inside AT ALL. I'll have to take an actual pulp and ink BOOK and get some quality reading done! For anyone with a toddler, un-interrupted reading time is BETTER than a physical vacation. It's a mental vacation. In fact, if I can find someone to serve me a frozen margarita at the court house, I may never leave...