Sympathy like.
I’ve been called for jury duty several times, and actually, by fluke, ended up serving on one (more on that in a bit).
The county we live in has a 6 mo. minimum between jury duty calls between the time you’ve actually served on one. But, since our hood was limitedly annexed by Austin several years ago, and the brunt of the city is within the county south of us, we can also be called for jury duty there every 6 mo. after serving, and they can overlap (unless that has changed in the last few years). In one 3-ish mo. timeframe I was called for jury duty in both counties, and was dismissed from both. Most likely because I let them know of the fact that I have both a friend and a BIL that are police officers. Seems to have worked every time, except the one I mentioned above that I ended up serving on...

It was a DWI case, but, it wasn’t typical.
The guy had been at a friends house all day helping him work on his car. On his way home on a neighborhood street, a kiddo rode out of a driveway into the street and ran into the side of his pickup...if he woulda’ driven by a split second later, he woulda’ hit the kiddo.
Anyway, the driveway the kid came out of to cross the street was his grandparents and he was crossing to get back to his family home directly across the street. The guy stopped to check on the kid, and the grandfather saw it all and ran over to check on him too. The kid was actually fine, but, a little shook up. By the time the 3 of them decided all was OK and no big deal, the guy was getting ready to drive away as the kids father came out, heard what happened, and quickly got his plate number as he was driving away. The grandfather also told his son that he thought he smelled alcohol on the guys breath, and that he saw some beer cans on the floor of his truck.
Father called the police and they gave the guy a visit at his home. But, that was about a half hour later. The police found him to be very intoxicated when they arrived, but, he claimed it was because he was so shook up from the incident, that he had drank a half bottle of vodka when he got home...
Without going into further details (3 days worth), the testimony and evidence was just too overwhelming not to convict.
The judge gave him probation and so many hours of community service along with some financial restitution.
Here’s the fun part...
After it was all over, just I and his defense attorney ended up in the elevator down. Awkward for a few moments, but, then he asked me what led us to vote to convict.
I explained to him, without going into detail here, (even after we reached the lower lobby, and headed out of the building towards our cars) how his clients story just didn’t seem credible and had so many inconsistencies.
At that point, I asked him what he thought.
He stopped on the sidewalk, as did I when he did, turned and looked me straight in the face, and said we made the right call, as he was 100% sure the guy had been drinkin’ all day.
Then, as we were standing there, I asked him “By the way, why did I get chosen for this jury after y’all knew I had my own DWI back in ‘85, and have a friend and a BIL that are both cops?!”
He replied “Simple, the lady we were gonna’ choose instead of you was out in the hall loudly discussing the case, which not only disqualified here from the jury, but, got her a hefty fine. And, well, you were next in line.”

Honestly, it was actually a fascinating and crazy experience, all at the same time. I learned a lot, and I’m glad I experienced it.
But, ultimately, once was enough...!!!
