Spreading Numismatics even in tough situations

AnkurJ · February 21, 2013 1:19PM

So in late December of last year, I recieved a notice in the mail for Jury Duty! Great....has it been three years already? Obviously so.
So I filled out the form and really didn't have any excuse not to go, and mailed it out. The day came where I had to report to court. Most of the first day was spent sitting around, until the end, where I somehow ended up in the juror box. I'll be dismissed I thought to myself. This was a medical malpractice case, and since I come from a medical background, they wouldn't want me.

WRONG!

I was picked as a juror for a FOUR TO FIVE week case! Thankfully my work paid for it, so I decided to make the best of it. There were a total of 10 jurors, and we all clicked rather quickly. After all, when you have to see someone on a daily basis for over a month, its better to be friendly. So eventually the discussion of coins came up. I told them I collected and why I enjoy it. The next thing I know, one juror brought his small collection in for me to look at. I gave him pointers and some non-pvc flips. I also brought the latest Goldberg auction catalog so they could see some amazing examples of early US coinage. Additionally, I brought some coins to share with everyone. Needless to say, they were facinated.

Eventually a discussion of gold and silver arised, and I told them about how coins before 1965 were 90% silver. I told them that people search boxes of half dollars and look for the silver ones. But warned them that many people do it, and silver is difficult to find. One of the jurors said they would love if their 9 year old son would spend time on something other than video games. It was worth a shot in my opinion. Jury duty ended on Valentines Day (started January 8th). Today I recieved an email from that juror, that she went to the bank and ordered a box of halves, and is opening 10 rolls every day with her son....and he is having a blast! And they already found two 40% Kennedys and a Proof! My next suggestion was to buy a lincoln cent album and try to fill the slots by roll searching. Cheap and easy fun.

Hopefully he will become a future YN

Ankur

WTCG · February 21, 2013 1:39PM

The last time I got a jury duty notice and actually got called into court was for a financial fraud/ ponzi scheme case with a witness list 300+ names long with a trial duration estimated at 7-8 weeks. I asked to be excused from the jury pool by telling the judge I had to travel frequently for work and that by week 4 I would likely be AWOL or intentionally find a way to get expelled. Based on that I got excused.

I don't know if this is the case everywhere else but in my area there is an issue with jury pools being constituted mostly of people over 65 years old. If I wanted to hang out with old people I can do that at coin shows.

Ahrensdad · February 21, 2013 1:39PM

Wow, that was a long case. Sounds like you made the best of it.

BryceM · February 21, 2013 1:50PM

Good for you for actually standing up and being counted.

Jury duty sucks, but imagine being falsely accused of something. You would be horrified to think the 10 or 12 people deciding your fate would be primarily those who couldn't think up an excuse to get out of jury duty. This would rule out most people with jobs, children, or other reasonably important business...... in other words, critically thinking, highly educated, motivated people can usually be dismissed if they desire.

Every person in this society owes it to themselves to step up and serve once in a while. It's a terrible system but it beats the alternative.

spy88 · February 21, 2013 1:51PM

<< <i>I don't know if this is the case everywhere else but in my area there is an issue with jury pools being constituted mostly of people over 65 years old. If I wanted to hang out with old people I can do that at coin shows. >>

LMAO!!!!!

Could just be a matter of picking people that either have the time and/or the experience, education, whatever, over the "younger generation". (I know jury selection is supposed to be random but...) The baby boomers from WWII are now senior citizens and are in the millions so it just figures to me that the majority of juries would be of seniors.