Crazy Week

First off, Monday I woke up and discovered that my lovely Ball Python snake, Satine, had passed away. It's totally my fault for not feeding her but mostly for not keeping her watered. I feel really bad that I'm the cause of her death. It was a shock to me and a cried a lot that day. I cleaned up her things and washed out her tank. It's still sitting on the living room dresser waiting to go outside to the garage. I buried Satine by the rosebushes.

I didn't get much done on Monday because I was numb. But I did manage to get my laundry cleaned. I didn't get any of my room cleaned like I wanted to. In fact all week I haven't really done any room stuff. I did get my laundry washed on Monday and folded and put away on Thursday. I also took two items to the dry cleaner this week. I've never done that before. But they really needed to be cleaned. I picked them up the next day.

Probably the biggest reason I haven't got anything done is because of jury duty. I was called in Tuesday morning. At 8:30am. I was almost late because it was snowing and very slushy on the roads so traffic was slow. I did take trax but it took me longer then normal to get to the station. I was running out the door to begin with. I had to scrape the snow off my car. Then traffic was slow. Then I slid into the parking spot going up on the sidewalk. (The car is fine.) Then the train was coming so I ran from my car to meet it and a slipped on the slush and fell. Oh and then I finished getting ready on the train. I put my socks on and took off my blue nail polish. It was a fabulous morning. *Rolls eyes* But I surprisingly still made it to the courthouse ten minutes early.

So jury duty on Tuesday ... I was in the second half of prospective jurors for that day. I was given the number 13 and was known by that only. Questions later and I was picked to be one of eight members of the jury. The case we were hearing was for three accounts of aggravated assault by the defendant to which he had plead not guilty. We were in county court because the incident involved county police not just citizens and police for that particular city. ... So we are picked. The judge tells us a little bit about the case and the charges. Then we break for lunch. ... We have a hour and a half. I have no cash. I walk to Subway to find out if I have enough points on my card to get a sandwich. I can't remember where the Subway is downtown so I wandered a bit too much. (Ends up it was a couple more blocks down from where I was looking.) I get to Subway and I don't have enough points. So I call my brother who works downtown. Turns out he is home that day so I can't get money from him. So I just go back to the courthouse and waited for the bailiff to come bring us back to the courtroom. ...

By the way, that bailiff that escorted us around on Tuesday was super cute! And he was really friendly. I liked him a lot. Seriously. He was hott. Maybe it was just the uniform but I don't think so because the other bailiffs were not that good looking.

Back to the courtroom we went. We hear testimony from several different witnesses including all three people whom the defendant allegedly assaulted. We took a break about two hours into it all (around three o'clock). They had cookies and soda and water bottles waiting for us in the jurors room during that break. We all liked that. ... Then we go back and hear more witness testimonies. ... At about 5pm we break for the day. Oh yeah. Did I mention this was an expected two day case? lol.

So I go home and crashed. I was so tired. It's really tiring just sitting in a courtroom that is really quiet if no one is talking a listening to the same story four different times. lol. I don't know how judges do that all the time.

So the next day, Wednesday, we were instructed to be at the courthouse at 9:30am. So I get there and we are escorted up to the jurors room and wait. The judge wanted to speak to us. Turns out that the lawyers and the defendant settled it that morning without needing us. So we went in for an hour and then were let go. (We still get paid for that second day too.)

The defendant took a deal taking the guilt for one aggravated assault charge but not the other two. We, the jury, talked about it out by the elevators and agreed with the deal. The other two stories didn't match up at all and were a little to opinionated which is why they offered the deal in the first place. The witnesses were telling different things then what the lawyer knew about. It was great. The one account that we agreed on (that the defendant took the rap for) was aggravated assault against a police woman. She was in an unmarked police vehicle but in full uniform. She felt threatened and was going to shoot him. But by the time she got the truck in park and was going to flip her lights on he was gone. It was the one account we all really believed was aggravated assault. But like I said the jury didn't have to deliberate on it because the defendant took that plea deal. I don't what the sentence will be. They had not determined sentencing when the judge and the lawyers talked to us.

So that's my first jury duty experience. Going in and being picked for an estimated two-day trial. And then having it settle out of court so I didn't have to decide anything. I learned a lot. And I actually had a lot of fun doing something completely different.

Wednesday after I left the courthouse I had lunch with Chad, who works downtown. That was a lot of fun. I want to do that more often. :)