Good morning, all! Today is my first day of jury duty since 2001. I am not thrilled in the least but I will be up`beat today while I pray to God to get me out quickly. This is about my 6th round with jury duty, not to mention at least 2 Grand Jury summons, and I've only sat on one case, late in Novemeber of whatever year it was, a minor case of robbery and drug dealing. The defendent was clearly guilty of robbing at gunpoint a young but illiterate Spanish couple who should have spent less time keeping each other company and keeping an eye on their shady passenger.
The trial lasted for three days and the jury - because of a couple of nitwits (I think it was 9 to 3 found him guilty) insisted the evidence was weak - was sequestered and put up in a hotel overnight. We ended up a hung jury and all I could think of during the process was, I have Christmas arrangements to finish for a band rehearsal next Monday! When we were dismissed, we were told the information we couldn't hear at trial and asked why we couldn't reach a verdict. One of the 3 holdouts, a late-20s teacher, made a comment that there was no DNA evidence from the stolen hat. The prosecutor looked at him in amazement and said, "this is a simple robbery not a major case of murder! You're watching too much television." I vowed then and there that my self-employment was more important than dealing with 11 other people on anything. I also believe self-employed folk should be exempted from jury duty. Who's to say I won't be offered a last-minute job while I'm sitting downtown? Or, how you you give up a week or more of your time when you could be earning a living? If Jury Duty paid me $45/hour I might consider a career in it.
Okay, I''ve got to hit the market and then go, so let's jump to the TOD:
1. Richard Lester's films, especially THE RITZ, HELP! and FINDER'S KEEPERS
2. All of Ken Russell's films
3. Bob Hope's THE CAT AND THE CANARY
4. THE STUDENT PRINCE IN HEIDELBERG (silent film)
5. THE UNINVITED (Stella by Starlight!)
I know there are more!
