Friend of the Court

May it please the court, I have jury duty.

Maybe I'll be picked for a case involving El Cajon Highway patrol who have done some mischief and abuse upon innocent citizens. Of course, being fair minded and impartial, I would put aside my personal feelings and go strictly by law, being sure to acquit on a technicality even though they are guiltier than charged.

The big drawback is that they don't let you address the court yourself.

It would be interesting if I got picked at all, and then if it involved a case concerning some law I don't even think should be on the books. That's when all the wise slogans come in to play--"It's the law!" "No one is above the law" etc.

Chances are, if they get to the point of interviewing me at all, they will quickly send me home.
"So, Mr Ballistic, would you put aside your own feelings and common sense and convict even if the law is stupid, and an ass?"
"No."
"Go home you rebel!"

The courthouse I go to is in El Cajon. Nothing to do about that. I guess it is easier than going all the way to the coast, although I'd almost rather go there.

You can go in up to two weeks prior to the actual day listed on the summons. I think I will go early and get it over with. The biggest drawback is that I can't stand the vibe and atmosphere of anything having to do with the crime and punishment system. It seems so arbitrary and unyielding, and capricious. I have almost no faith in the system at this point. The concept and how it is supposed to work, I understand, but it hasn't worked that way for a very long time. Riffraff slides by while people who mind their own business and don't work for government are at greatest risk of harassment. Or so it seems.

People on their own turf, in a building they can lock down, who carry guns and disarm you at the door, are hard for me to trust. I suppose I am inordinately predisposed to some sort of phobia toward the type of authority you find in the garden variety courthouse. I'll need to be sure not to answer questions in a way that puts me on Homeland security's list of people who don't go along. Distrust and dislike of government are considered signs of mental illness, or they are trying to establish that view. Now, whether the distrust and paranoia are well founded is irrelevant. You do what you are told and you better like it, young man. And I don't mean perhaps.

So, I will try to behave. They may actually have accidentally rounded up some real criminals by mistake.