A lesson for Ashcroft. For those who were wondering: I did indeed make it onto a jury. It was a criminal case. A gentleman (a 20 year old kid, really) was accused of: possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana, and (this is the one I wanted to put him away for) failure to stop at a stop sign.

It really all came down to two things: the accused is innocent until proven guilty, and guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. So, in this particular case, though on the face of it the evidence meant the guy was probably guilty of the cocaine charges, the simple fact was that there was no corroboration of this evidence--basically it was just "he said, she said"--and the state had the burden of proof, which they didn't meet. So, Not Guilty. We did find him guilty of the Mary Jane and the stop sign.

I have a clear conscience. We ruled on the evidence and on the evidence alone, not on our sympathies or conspiracy theories or hatred of cops or whatever. We did what we were supposed to do with a minimum of fuss.

It was actually a good experience. I'd do it again, despite the splitting headache it gave me. Besides, the courthouse cafeteria had great french fries.