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"Do you smell pina coladas?"
Sep. 23rd, 2007 01:36 pmSo I was on call to serve in a federal jury for the last two weeks. The first time I went (dad drove me) I lucked out and got sent home but I had to keep calling to check in the second week. On the last day to call in I thought I was home free but lo and behold I got called in again but rather than the 9AM call time I had before this time they wanted us there by 7:30AM. As it is in most cities parking downtown is predominantly parallel parking which I haven't done since my driving test years ago so I was going to have to park at the one available parking garage open to the general public. Also, I'd never driven downtown so armed with my dad's directions and a map from mapquest I made it there ok. Although I did get turned around a bit and a street I was expecting to pass disappeared. Go figure. Well long story short they were selecting for two similar cases and I was the very first person selected that day to serve for a two day trial. Thankfully it was a 9AM start time so I didn't have to leave home at 5:30AM like I did for the 7:30AM call time. I left home at 6:30AM and allowed plenty of time to deal with the construction outside of town, all the heavy truck traffic from the gas rigs, and early morning school and work traffic once I made it into the city.
That was the first time I'd ever served on a jury and while I certainly believe that it is our civic responsibility to serve when call upon to participate in the justice system it did leave a troubling feeling. The decision we made would have a profound affect on the life of the defendent. Either all charges would be cleared or there would be time behind bars. I really couldn't get over the similarities between the prosecution's case and another recent case that hit closer to home. The difference being that the latter had a very wonderful feeling of elation and relief and the former, when we decided on a verdict, didn't. It was an interesting experience but I certainly hope it's a while before I'm called to serve again.
On a slightly different note, there were time in that courtroom when we were completely bored out of our minds. The amount of time spent on the dimensions of a window in county lock up had even the judge annoyed. I'm a little embarassed to admit that during the brief pauses I found myself thinking about the Forever Knight episode "False Witness" when Nick claimed to have seen the murder of their informant by a slippery pornographer. Granted the Canadian and American judicial systems do have their differences, as is often the case a lot of Americanisms creeped into the show.
I kept flashing on Natalie's "Do you smell pina coladas?" query when Nick walks by her into the parking garage elevator. Oh Natalie if you only knew. That's not Nick's regular aftershave, lol.
So here's a Forever Knight picspam from the trial portion of "False Witness".
That was the first time I'd ever served on a jury and while I certainly believe that it is our civic responsibility to serve when call upon to participate in the justice system it did leave a troubling feeling. The decision we made would have a profound affect on the life of the defendent. Either all charges would be cleared or there would be time behind bars. I really couldn't get over the similarities between the prosecution's case and another recent case that hit closer to home. The difference being that the latter had a very wonderful feeling of elation and relief and the former, when we decided on a verdict, didn't. It was an interesting experience but I certainly hope it's a while before I'm called to serve again.
On a slightly different note, there were time in that courtroom when we were completely bored out of our minds. The amount of time spent on the dimensions of a window in county lock up had even the judge annoyed. I'm a little embarassed to admit that during the brief pauses I found myself thinking about the Forever Knight episode "False Witness" when Nick claimed to have seen the murder of their informant by a slippery pornographer. Granted the Canadian and American judicial systems do have their differences, as is often the case a lot of Americanisms creeped into the show.
I kept flashing on Natalie's "Do you smell pina coladas?" query when Nick walks by her into the parking garage elevator. Oh Natalie if you only knew. That's not Nick's regular aftershave, lol.
So here's a Forever Knight picspam from the trial portion of "False Witness".
Toronto during the day
