I got called for jury duty last Thursday. The judge spent over five minutes reading out all nineteen felony charges against the defendant, all incredibly awful, and a list of eighteen (potential) witnesses. I was in the group they told to come back today since I had no reasonable excuse to be excused.
They called out the first eighteen and I was number twelve, which meant that if I was picked my butt would be in that chair for the next three to four weeks listening to increasingly vile things. The only thing worse would to have to be an alternate. The prosecutor loved me and didn't ask me any questions after the judge did and I was getting really worried, but then the defense lawyer started in and I must have said something he didn't like because he sent me home. People were giving me the thumbs up on the way out. You could tell that nobody wanted to be on that jury.