The court wants you, Baltimore citizen!

Today was my first time serving jury duty. About 800 people showed up to the courthouse, all of them pretty annoyed and resigned to their fate. When I arrived, the people in charge seemed lenient; after everyone signed in, we could have 10 min breaks at any time, an hour lunch break, and the pièce de résistance: the $15 the secretary gave you for showing up. In cash. I decided to go into the "quiet room" where I found a ridiculously comfy sofa and hooked up my laptop. The internet was free. I relaxed, considering that everyone I had talked to who did jury duty never got past the waiting room. So I thought things were going darn well, until I heard the announcement at 11 am. My number was called. About 300 of us had to report upstairs to the courtroom. We had to stand up when the judge sat down and swear in, right hand raised, cross my heart and hope to die. Almost 5 hours later, we were still sitting on those hard benches, sweating, praying that we wouldn't be selected to the panel -- the folks who were selected sat at the jury bench with sad, sad faces. They were like lambs heading to slaughter. The trial was for a gang murder, and the judge said it would take at least 5 days to get through all the witness testimony. The charges: first degree murder and 2 counts of conspiracy. Once the jury panel was filled, the defense or the prosecutor would inevitably "respectfully challenge" a seating, and they had to call names all over again to fill the spot. Basically what happens is if you're white, the defense wants you out, and if you're black, the prosecutor wants you out. Me, being neither, could potentially fall either way. It turned out to be a lot like Russian roulette. The judge called each of us to his bench to ask questions, and of course, I was terrified. The person on my left and my right were selected to the jury. But thank heavens, I was spared. The rest of us rejoiced when the judge let us go home "early," since we had missed our lunch break and an epic thunderstorm that made the courtroom lights flicker. So the moral of the day is: murder sux ass. V.v.V