I had jury duty yesterday. I love jury duty! The only sucky part is that one side is, of course, the victim.  The first time I was called in some years ago, I treated it like a job interview, down to business attire. 🤓 And I was in fact selected. But this time I dressed down to be more comfortable because I had no idea how much I may be walking at this unfamiliar courthouse. I don’t think that played a part in my not being selected though. The vetting process took over three hours for a pool of 50 jurors, and about half were excused during the first hour.

So, I arrived about five minutes early: time enough to get parked, walk in, and go through security. On the way in, a few other people were ahead of me, including a police officer in uniform. He held the door open for me at the courthouse entrance. I said, “Good morning”, thanked him, and thought no more of it. Perhaps he’s there on some official duty? I’ll say.

Once we the jurors were ushered into the courtroom to be briefed on the details of the case, this same officer walked in and sat on the defendant side! He was being tried for police brutality. 😩 Sooo wasn’t expecting that!

And yeah, definitely I’ve heard of this issue, but I felt a little surprised that he was someone I’d ran into just an hour earlier. Why are the parties involved not there way earlier or way later so as not to run into jurors in the first place? Or have separate entrances?? Certainly, my brief interaction with him didn’t mean that I now know him or his character; however, I’d already judged him as a “good cop” without even realizing it…not that my mind couldn’t have been changed during the trial. I mostly think of the police as helpful and good despite the occasional bad press. Clearly. Or I wouldn’t have done a double-take when he took a seat to defend himself.