Justice is served!

A summary of the day at the H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse:

Summoned for 10:30 jury service....

• Arrive 10:15, lines are stretching out the door to get into the courthouse.
  
• 11am: Watch orientation video in juror lounge, do some Ken-Ken, check email, read book (The Pursuit of Alice Thrift), check email
  
• 12:30: new panel, I'm the first number.  My many years of artful dodging have come home to roost
  
• 12:45: assemble in atrium
  
• 12:55: assemble, recheck numbers, form lines in front of courtroom
  
• 1:05: admitted to courtroom
  
• 1:10: judge appears, attorneys introduce themselves, judge excuses us for lunch, return 2:10
  
• Decent lunch at Merzi, marvel at Penn Quarter, recall days of glass pipes and dark alleys
  
• 2:10: at courtoom, note defendant wandering around in atrium and courthouse corridor
  
• 2:20: admitted to courtroom
  
• 2:30: complete Sudoku (difficult), consider intervening in conversation behind me about the deficit
  
• 2:40: complete crossword (easy), consider intervening in conversation next to me about immigration
  
• 2:50: awake from short catnap
  
• 2:55: judge appears, attorneys introduce themselves, approach bench
  
• 3:00: judge thanks us for our service and dismisses us
  
• 3:10: juror office overwhelmed by dismissed courtroom, but dismisses us all for next two years
  
• 3:15: get receipt of service from ATM, along with $4 for Metro
  
• 3:20: say hello to defendant, discover that case involved "unauthorized use of motor vehicle" from 2011, dismissed because police officer unable to attend, apparently not for the first time.
  

(46 jurors + 3 attorneys + defendant) * 2.5 hours/person = 125 hours lost productivity.

Justice is served!