Case Closed!

Overall, my time in jury duty was quite interesting. It takes way more focus than I realized, especially for a five day case. I had to pay rapt attention and take notes for ~7 hours a day, learning intimate details of the Plaintiff's life. Being wholly consumed by the information presented, it was an additional trial to not talk about it to anyone! (Not even my fellow jurors.) By the end of the week everything was reminding me of the case, I would dream about the case, I would constantly be thinking about it. After it was done I decided to type up a summary of the information presented to purge myself. If you're interested in reading about it, check here.

Here are some things I learned during jury duty:

• Judges look bored most of the time, not avidly paying attention, like on TV.
• Lawyers really are just actors who are hired to fight someone elses argument, at least in my case.
• I think I would get depressed if it was my job to convince 9 people that the witness is a pathological liar. Who would want that as a job?
• Jury duty can be really fun if you get along with your other jurors. I think our jury was exceptional. Seven out of nine had at least a college degree, or were working towards it. Everyone was friendly and talkative. Every time we had a break, we would find things to laugh about. Sometimes we would all enter the court with grins on our faces. The lawyers must've thought we were crazy.
• When focusing on somewhat depressing things for hours on end, the strangest things become funny. I had to refrain from laughing several times during very serious discussions, just because of a facial expression or a gesture, or a completely unrelated thought in my head.
• If you care anything about your health, pack your own snack food.