Jury Duty

It is never convenient to receive a summons for jury duty. When you are a full-time RVer, it may be worse than for people who spend most of their time at their place of residence. Several months ago, John received a jury summons for a time we would be in the southeast section of the United States. He asked to be excused. The jury commissioner agreed, if he agreed to give a date when we would be in Colorado and agree to serve at that time. He did agree and gave August 15, when we knew we would be in the Denver area. We made our reservations for the two Colorado State Parks we always stay in here, planning to be near the Arapahoe County courts on that date.

Monday, he appeared. There were several hundred prospective jurors summoned for four scheduled trials. His was the second name called for one of those panels. After filling out a questionnaire related to that case, two lists of prospective jurors were called off, one list to stay and possibly serve on the jury, one list of those that would be excused.

Since they had been told the trial would take 8 days, John really hoped he wouldn't have to serve. We had reservations in the state park for the allowed 14 days and only 11 days were left. It would really put a wrench in most of our remaining plans for the Colorado visit. It wouldn't be impossible for him to fulfill his duty, but it would certainly be inconvenient.

You should have heard the relief in his voice when he called just before noon, saying, "I've been dismissed. I'm on my way home. Start preparing lunch."

We wonder when one of us will receive another summons. The selection is random, so it could be next year or not for 5 or 10 years. Who knows? I served on one about 3 years ago.