With apologies to my fellow jurors, upon whom I inflicted my awful sense of humor, Mary K, Barbara A, Michael M, Anna H, Maryln P, Paul S and some one I forgot.
Zenger!
No matter how many times in the courthouse that the lie was repeated “You must decide based on the law as the Judge gives it to you”, it doesn’t make it so. The jury is sovereign. We have Freedom of the Press because a colonial jury in Boston refused to convict a newspaper editor regardless of the law. We ended Prohibition because juries refused to convict on an absurd law. So, of course, the Gooferment has to dumb down the people so it can have it’s way with us.
If EVERY jury was fully informed, they could end the drug war in an instant. I’d suggest that every juror, when presented with a non-violent drug case, merely vote “not guilty”. Steadfastly, without discussing why, with the courage of Gandhi & Martin Luther King, and that lone fellow in Tiananmen Square (i.e., The Unknown Rebel from the famous photo, taken on 5 June 1989 by Jeff Widener), vote your conscience. When the Gooferment can’t get the convictions, then maybe they will get the message.
I resent being made a slave to the State, wither by them stealing two days of my time and attention, or in the huge percentage that they make me a slave by taxes, fees, inflation, and form filling out. Sorry, but didn’t Lincoln free the slaves.
And, for the benefit of two insurances companies quibbling about who was going to pay how much. Sorry, not my business.
And, the way some, not all, of the staff and sheriff’s deputies, treated the folks being herded like cattle. I’d have fired at least tow of them. But then I only pay their salaries.
OK, now, on to my petty gripes.
Most jurors drive, park in the garage next to the court house, BUT have to walk around the block to use the “juror entrance”. Of course, the lawyers, bureaucrats, and the rest of the “anointed” can use the entrance closest to the garage. Argh! What disrespect.
Metal detectors. Sorry that’s unreasonable search and seizure. Every juror should be allowed to carry anything that they want into the building. The Second Amendment was to make the Gooferment afraid of the people. And, tread lightly around their Rights. We now have it backward. I heard MANY jurors express that they didn’t want to be there but were afraid of the Gooferment and the consequences.
It would be interesting, if one had time to challenge them, to confront their “summons”. Just ignore it. Non-cooperation. Peaceful. But complete non-cooperation. Spirit of G, MLK, & and that chap. Just lay down.
Wonder what they would do?
They start at 8AM supposedly. But, why that time? We spend an hour listening to gooferment propaganda about the wonderful system. I’d like to see a Libertarian dissect the thing for truthfulness, self-serving statements, and errors.
Some fellow had a tiny pen knife. That they made a big deal over. And, if he didn’t take it back to his car, then they’d seize it and he couldn’t get it back. Thieves.
Their vocabulary was insulting: “We’ll release you”, “Dismiss you as a group”, and “check in”.
Pity the poor smokers.
They paid for the parking, but if you took your car for lunch, they’d only pay once. And, if you lost your ticket, your problem. Just like when you visit any business? They need to take lessons from the casinos, or Disney.
And the five bucks for the first two days. Breakfast and Lunch? So, is that an added tax?
And, since I pay taxes to the county, I think they are (a) over staffed; (b) have too many deputies; and (c) too many deputies cars parked around the building.
It’s a mugging. For your time, attention, and money. For what? Some vague illusion of duty? Like I am a valued member of this fiction. No, it’s a gang, that maintains control by the illusion of legitimacy.
At least now, I won’t be “summoned” again for three years.
How insulting!
Reinke Faces Life 
Not sure about your comment on following the law as the judge presents it. I think the majority of people who serve on juries (yourself excluded) do not have enough knowledge or insight into the law today, and how it is to be applied. And that’s not really their fault, we have allowed so many frivolous law suits and runaway legislatures to make it all so very complicated and convoluted that it is difficult for a lay person to figure out what is right. And look what happens when jurors disregard remarks from a judge….in the O.J. trial they ignored hard evidence (O.J.’s blood at the crime scene) and decided to follow a ‘slick’ attorney’s comments and antics instead.
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