Joggers in the Park

I’m out! I’m out of the Little Drummer Boy Game for this year. This game is simple; as soon as you hear the Little Drummer Boy Christmas carol you are out of the game and must publicly announce it. I was cycling in the park. I cruised by Steinberg Ice Rink and it was blaring from the PA system. My only consolation is that I made it a little longer than I did last year. There is always next year.

As the photo with this post implies, it has been unusually warm this weekend. We’ve had highs in the seventies both days. Close to the record highs. Temperatures like these make it easy to workup a sweat.

You are hereby summoned for jury services in the Saint Louis County Circuit Courts, then and these to serve as a petit juror until discharged by the Court. – My summons

I have jury duty tomorrow. The weather looks like it will remain warm, so I think that I’ll bicycle to court. No, I won’t be wearing any bike togs, except for my helmet, just street clothes. It is less than two miles to the courthouse, so I should be able to ride it without getting all sweaty.

My instructions say not to bring any weapons or cameras to court. There was a shooting years back, in a domestic case, so now everyone must go through a security checkpoint. I never planned on bringing a weapon to court, but I would like to bring my iPhone. I’ve been told that there is lots of waiting around involved. Unfortunately, my iPhone does have a camera embedded. I can just see the bailiff telling me to turn around and put my phone in the car and then have to explain that I didn’t drive. I’ll try calling in the morning, before I leave. I will have a book.

I suspect that I won’t be asked to serve on a jury. My juror number is too high. I suspect that I’ll spend Monday and maybe Tuesday splashing around in the juror pool and then be discharged. This is the first time that I’ve ever been summoned for jury duty, so the novelty of the experience has created some anticipation. I’m sure that this novelty will quickly wear thin, when the interminable waiting begins.

I have prepared myself for this civic responsibility. I’ve read the instructions sent to me. I checked out the court’s website and gleamed a few more details. I’ve discussed the process with people at work who have already served. Most importantly though, I have watched a couple of movies. You know, training videos.

The first one was “Twelve Angry Men”, starring Henry Fonda. This movie takes place entirely within the jury deliberation room, on a hot summer’s evening in 1950s NYC. One-by-one Fonda, the lone holdout convinces his fellow jurors of the defendant’s innocence of murder. The other movie is “Runaway Jury”. John Cusack plays Juror #9 on the inside, while Rachel Weisz teams with him from the outside. They conspire to subvert the jury system in a high-profile civil litigation against the gun industry. While what they do is wrong, their actions are inspired to prevent and even greater miscarriage of justice, personified by Gene Hackman, jury consultant for the defense. Tomorrow should be an interesting day, except for all the boring parts.