Friday, September 9, 2011

Grand Jury Duty - First Day!

Today was my first day of grand jury duty.  I felt like it was the first day of school!

You have to go through security each time you leave the courthouse and come back in.  If you go outside to make a phone call, you have to pass through security again.

We started out by calling the session to order and had a grand jury seminar showing the importance of the grand jury and how we are POWER!!  I absolutely love how these people have a great sense of humor, for example, throughout the seminar, there was a power point presentation shown on the overhead projector so we could follow along with what was being said.  Every once in a while, you'd see photos that just made you laugh, like one of Roger Clemens with the caption that reads "I will tell the truth, really" (he was on trial for lying to Congress).  Or the photo of a ham sandwich and we were told it really isn't true that all DA's can indict a ham sandwich.  References to Law and Order TV show and 12 Angry Men.

This is what it looks like inside the room where we will be meeting for the next 2 years:


About half way through the seminar, we had to stop that and actually moved onto our first case.  We heard evidence from detectives, a witness and saw pictures.  This will be an on-going case that we will be investigating, so I can't tell you anything about the case itself.  It's all TOP SECRET!  So, don't ask.

When we finished up with that part, we went back to the seminar and wrapped that up.  It was really informative and nothing like you see on TV.  :o)

Then, we heard a second case and the attorney questioned a police officer about the case.  We were asked to hold our questions about this one until we meet again.  

We were there for a total of 5 hours today.  You have to remember, we are an investigative grand jury, not one that gets to yell "guilty" or things like that, we are helping the attorneys get enough evidence to move forward to present to the court.  We all ready have 6 cases to work on.  It's all a very interesting process.

We got our official notebooks and pens, which are taken from us after each session and double locked in a closet located somewhere in the courthouse.  Then they magically appear again for our next session.  At the end of our time with the grand jury, each notebook and all it contains are shredded.

So, until we meet again!

4 comments:

Peppercorns said...

That's really interesting Ducky and it sounds like you're going to enjoy being on the grand jury.

(But be VERY careful what you write in your notebook! I know you. LOL)

VintageEmbellishment said...

Pepper is right....I think the Judge reads the notebooks before they destroy them! LOL! Don't let all this power go to your head....just sayin...

Doodle said...

Wow, what fun! I've never had Grand Jury Duty, so I bet you're gonna have lots of fun. Well, whatever is legal to have fun. hahaha

Yes, be careful what you right ~ we don't want to be reading your blog with you behind bars because you goofed. But be ready to tell us details once it's all over. I'm sure we'll still be here in 2 years waiting for you!!!!! haha

Thanks for the cool artwork too! Now we can picture where you are every time you have to report.

VintageVendor said...

Enjoyed how you detailed the day and how it is so secretive. Hope the cafeteria had a good lunch!