jury-duty-free!

Today ends my Grand Jury Duty summons for at least 6 years. One year ago, I received my Grand Jury Duty summons in the mail. I had to postpone because I was to report the same day I started my new job.

Four months later I received a summons. I reported to the court that day, and learned that with Grand Jury Duty, you are not selected to serve on a jury that determines guilt - you are selected to be on a jury that determines if the prosecution has enough evidence to indict. The service is a set time - in the instance of my second summons, it was 2 weeks, Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm. If you can commit to the full time [are willing and able to serve] when they call the roll, you say "volunteer." If, through the roll-call they get enough volunteer's to fill the seats, they then lottery draw the names.

If you cannot commit, for any reason [illness, vacation, conflicting work, etc.] then you say "application" to which they grant a postponement, as long as they have enough volunteers to fill the seats.

So, it's a little bit of a gamble. On my second summons I wasn't able to commit to the time, so I said "application" and was granted a second postponement.

This time, I went into it a little more prepared. I arrived today to learn that the jury duty was to be for four weeks, Monday through Friday, from 2-5pm. I texted my boss to tell him what the service would be, and if I should go for the gamble. He said yes and that I might as well get it out of the way now.

Roll call began and I wanted to keep track of my odds - I made a hash mark each time someone volunteered. It got to my name and I said "volunteer" and made one more tick. When roll call was finished, there were 100 people that volunteered. The woman next to me guessed that they were filling 3 jury's using 69 people. Apparently she was as well-versed in grand jury selection as I am becoming, because she hit the nail directly.

Once they have the 100 names of volunteers, they put them into the spinner and the rest is up to fate and luck.

And Lady Luck shined down on me today. I was one of 31 people that volunteered, but were not selected/needed to serve because the seats were filled by others. And because of that, I have a slip that says I cannot be summoned for Jury Duty in the great State of New York for six years.

I won the lottery today. And it felt like *almost* a million bucks.