Also not fashion related, but in the day of the life of an entrepreneur, one can get called to jury duty. Fortunately, during the waiting periods, which is basically like waiting for a delayed plane at the airport, I can park myself next to an outlet on the floor and work on my laptop. And the courthouse has wireless, so that's nice. But, I don't get paid by the young Katie James LLC for these days, which for others, could be a free pay day of reading a good book. I do get $40, I think, for my time since I am not being paid by an employer.
So. I've just come out of 4 rounds of a group of maybe 100 people being considered for a sexual abuse trial of a child. Being an honest, upstanding citizen, I resisted temptation to answer the questions in such a way that would have me not chosen. Like, I did not raise my hand when asked by the defending lawyer if we thought we could absolutely not respect the law and treat the defendant, seated in front of us, as Innocent, as is his right protected by law. Some people raised their hands right away - the golden ticket out of a potentially 2 week long trial. I also did not complain about my schedule. A cancer doctor tried to, stating his 120 patients a day (woa, is that right? Or was it a week. Kind of think it was a day...), but otherwise, I kept quiet.
I did, however, when asked directly by the defence lawyer, admit that I was on the fence about being able to be impartial towards the defendant seated in front of me, and presume him innoscent. This was after she stated loads of reasons why it would be hard for us to do so, like use of the graphic language that would be used, the child that could testify, the fact that an arrest was made, etc. The man seated next to me, a southern gentleman from Alabama, of course said that he would absolutely be able to be impartial. That made me feel great. Note sarcasm.
Two thoughts here: 1. As a victim of a crime, where 5 young thugs gathered round me and one had me in a bear hug for a while, I was thinking I could be viewed as sensitive. But in my case, the officers completely arrested the wrong people. They arrested girls based on another hunch they had regarding a stick-up of a delivery man (one of the most dangerous jobs in the city, imo, because of all of the cash they carry). 2. The defense lawyer was doing a great job making us all doubt our ability to not cast guilt on her defendant. Now I'm wondering, is this a stall tactic? What if you can't find a jury? Maybe a Lawyer Mista can chime in here.
When the lawyers were done asking their questions, injecting us with feelings about the case, the defendant, and the ADHD child, we were led into the hallway to wait. Ten minutes later, we were all dismissed, and here I sit now waiting to be called and placed in the middle of somebody else's upside down life. Next time, in the court of law, I will be sure that I will answer, and think, that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty, and that I can focus on the evidence.
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