[pbflyz]

I've been called 2 times over the last three years. I was never selected to sit on a jury, but both times I sat and watched the voir dire process unfold. It was amazing to see the lengths people would go to to avoid sitting on a jury. Even after the judge explained that the trial would take no more than a day or so, these people whined, lied and did anything that they could think of to make themselves seem unfit for their civic duty. It took more than 60 people to sit a jury of 12. All of them were qualified, of course, but almost 50 of them wormed out of it.

Examples: The clown who wore the NRA T-shirt (nothing against the NRA, but he wore it for a reason), the handful who pleaded in very broken english that "I no speak English so well.." (though I heard several of them conversing in pretty good English out in the hallways) And then there were plenty of middle-class white folks who just shuffled their feet and gave a lame condemnation of the justice system or, my favorite: Most just told a half-baked story about a loved one or relative who had been a victim of the same exact crime. (If this were truly the case then life in the OC would look a lot a Tombstone episode...)

The Judge, prosecuting attorney and DA were used to this nonsense, and waved them off disgustedly and proceeded to the next liar.
Unbelievable!

Here's a thought: If you're found unfit to serve on a jury more than, say, two times, on your third reject you put on an orange jumpsuit and go pick up trash alongside the freeway. Either way, you perform your "civic duty."