Being a lawyer doesn't get you out of jury duty
But having your swearing-in ceremony in conflict with the trial schedule does.
Phew. Got called for jury duty today, but when I told the judge that I was scheduled to be sworn-in to the MD bar next Tuesday, he told me that he wasn't about to prevent me from attending it -- and then he dismissed me completely. Yay.
In all honesty, I would have liked to have served -- it would have been really interesting to be on the jury for this felony murder case -- but not at the expense of my career as a lawyer or my swearing-in ceremony. Clearly, that's not hard for a judge, two prosecutors and defense counsel to understand, right? After all, they've been there. And I guess the last thing anyone wanted was a really pissed off almost-attorney on the jury. You know what they say about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing, right? Yeah, havoc could have ensued. (Not that I would have done anything to undermine the proceedings. But I would have been resentful of the missing the ceremony and delaying my career as a lawyer.)
Aside from that, however, being an attorney is meaningless when it comes to serving on a jury in DC. It wasn't my attorney status that got me dismissed. After all, there are gazillions of attorneys here in DC, almost all of whom have more experience than I have. In fact, when I was in the courthouse, I saw pseudo-celebrity attorney Eric Holder being sent off to be considered for a jury panel. This is a man who served as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (yup, the very courthouse we were in), the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Deputy Attorney General (the number two position in the United States Department of Justice), and Acting Attorney General. And, yup, he was there as part of the jury pool doing his civic duty.
Of course, I'd bet any amount of money that he was dimissed from serving almost immediately. But he was called, and he was there.
Phew. Got called for jury duty today, but when I told the judge that I was scheduled to be sworn-in to the MD bar next Tuesday, he told me that he wasn't about to prevent me from attending it -- and then he dismissed me completely. Yay.
In all honesty, I would have liked to have served -- it would have been really interesting to be on the jury for this felony murder case -- but not at the expense of my career as a lawyer or my swearing-in ceremony. Clearly, that's not hard for a judge, two prosecutors and defense counsel to understand, right? After all, they've been there. And I guess the last thing anyone wanted was a really pissed off almost-attorney on the jury. You know what they say about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing, right? Yeah, havoc could have ensued. (Not that I would have done anything to undermine the proceedings. But I would have been resentful of the missing the ceremony and delaying my career as a lawyer.)
Aside from that, however, being an attorney is meaningless when it comes to serving on a jury in DC. It wasn't my attorney status that got me dismissed. After all, there are gazillions of attorneys here in DC, almost all of whom have more experience than I have. In fact, when I was in the courthouse, I saw pseudo-celebrity attorney Eric Holder being sent off to be considered for a jury panel. This is a man who served as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (yup, the very courthouse we were in), the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Deputy Attorney General (the number two position in the United States Department of Justice), and Acting Attorney General. And, yup, he was there as part of the jury pool doing his civic duty.
Of course, I'd bet any amount of money that he was dimissed from serving almost immediately. But he was called, and he was there.
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