27
An Incomplete Survey of Newspapers, Magazines, Periodicals and Books Being Read by Potential Jurors in the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse of Baltimore, Maryland, Room 236, Part 33, Videtta A. Brown Presiding
• Three Cups of Tea By Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
• The New Yorker
• Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris
• Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes
• The Great Depression Ahead by Harry S. Dent Jr.
• 1000 Years for Revenge by Peter Lance
• The New York Times
• A Quiet Belief in Angels by R. J. Ellory
• The Sex Chronicles Volume 1 by Zane
• ASP.net 3.5 (author unknown)
• The New Yorker (another copy)
• The Baltimore Sun
• The Economist
• Something on a Kindle Wireless Reading Device
JOE MACLEOD DECLARES UNDER THE LAWS OF THE GREAT STATE OF MARYLAND AND UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY THAT THE FOREGOING IS TRUE AND CORRECT.
Sort of impressive? Until you realize that the other 80% were on Twitbook, via their phones.
I'd like to go with "impressive." But they also show movies in those jury rooms. However. Baltimore's motto is The City That Reads (alt. wording: Bleeds, Breeds)
I heart Joe MacLeod
Me too.
Also, Kindle con:
You can't snoop in on what others are reading!
And how is a guy supposed to impress random girls on the train if they can't see what he's reading?!
And the corollary to that problem.
I swear, Butterscotch, I was writing my comment as you were posting yours!
It's cool, I have no idea what corollary means.
The Defense might want to save one of their peremptory challenges for the juror reading "1000 Years for Revenge"
Hi Doug.
I heard that if you bring in porn to read they won't pick you. Does anyone have any experience with this tactic?
Bart Simpson: Can you tell me how to get out of Jury Duty again, Dad?
Homer: The important thing is to say you're prejudiced against all races.
No experience, but please liveblog this if you try it.
I am torn–finally have a job that will pay for jury leave, so I DO want to live the Henry Fonda dream, but then there's Science to consider. I'll liveblog either way.
Has anyone ever…stretched the truth…to get ON a jury? Not that I've ever done something like that. I'm just curious…
@boy: Do you mean act like your brain is made of play-doh, to be molded any which way lawyers see fit?
I've been called to jury duty about five times. I've never been picked. But I can almost always guess who will be picked…about 90-percent accurate.
When they ask me what I do or what my background is, I always get a polite "thank you, juror is excused".
I'm thinking about stretching the truth the other way…just to get ON a jury.
The last time I was in a jury pool, it was for the criminal trial of a man who'd been caught coming out of a local motel with a 16-year-old girl and videos of said girl in 'sexual acts.'
You can imagine how quickly I wanted outta there. (And was duly dismissed.)
I was 2nd to last person called in my jury pool. If they had called me on the first day I would have been up for it but after 3 days of voir dire I was bored. So I told them I did not think I could be an impartial juror and they let me go.
Bittersweet, mine was a 15 year old kid who killed another kid as part of a gang initiation. He did not deny the murder but his lawyer was trying to prove he was coerced into doing it.
Oh boy. Mine was a fenderbender. Now I feel kind of like a jerk for playing fast and loose with the jury selection process.
Last time I had jury duty, I was reading a biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes pére that I had to review, & realized I looked like a giant judicial suck-up because of Holmes the Supreme Court justice. Then again, overestimating the interest of others in your actions is a side-effect of HOLY GOD THE BOREDOM.
I brought The Collected Letters and Essays of George Orwell to my one jury duty appearance. Alas, that was not why they did not pick me.
TODAY'S CIVIL DUTY
It's a really crazy coincidence, but my fiancee is in the same jury selection pool as you. Obviously she is in another room, as she would be reading something related to vampires.
Juror 339, THE STATE EXCUSES YOU WITH THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE. If you were not in the "quiet room," or a courtroom being Voire Dired, some of the movies screened were MEET THE PARENTS, MONSTER IN LAW, and RADIO.