I forgot to tell you about jury duty!

I was subpoenaed for jury duty. I believe in doing one's civic duty, but it's always a waste of time for me. I'm a lawyer and used to be a trial lawyer. Nobody wants me on their jury. I could change the whole direction of the jury with one good anecdote or one, "what the judge meant by that is..."

Still, in New York, they don't give exemptions anymore. The Chief Judge of the state decided that everyone should serve, so I have to go in.

So this morning I went in, ready to go through the process. I was sent over to County Court, where they try felony criminal cases. The case being heard was a rarity for these parts. It was a murder. Thankfully, we don't see much of that kind of thing on Long Island. In fact, I knew the case. The guy who was killed was someone who had been a criminal, did time and then, having reformed, became an activist trying to turn young people away from crime. When he was killed, it was thought to be an assassination by a former associate or gang member or something. As I recall, the police later said they thought it actually was a random robbery gone bad or some such.

When it was my turn to tell the judge if there was any reason I might not be suitable as a juror, I said, "I'm the former senior trial attorney for the county attorney's tort & civil rights litigation bureau. Among others, I represented the police department and the DA's office, and I think I bring a bit more knowledge of the process to this than you'd like in a juror."

The judge was chuckling, and, without the slightest comment from the prosecutor or defense attorney, he excused me from that case and any other criminal case. The clerk marked my card "civil only" and sent me back to the main jury waiting room.

Once I got there, I was able to get the ear of the deputy commissioner of jurors. Under the current system, they at least had to try me for one jury panel, but they'd done that. He knew I'd never get on a civil jury either (again, too much knowledge of the process, etc.), so he told me to sit tight. As soon as they started excusing jurors, he'd let me go--and he did.

So that's it. I'm done with jury service for a few years.