Jury Duty

Dun, dun, dun. . .This is the defendant, The Edge (of 17).


Dun, dun, dun, dun. . .She's accused of a bad merge, and has been offered a bailout. . .


In lieu of forking over $158.00, she has performed eight hours of community service, paid a small fine to the scholarship fund and has agreed to serve on a jury, in our courtroom, Teen Court!

(Cue dramatic crescendo. . .and cut to commercial.)


Hey, look, isn't that Judge Wapner??




The Edge called around 6:30 while she was on a break.


"So, what are y'all doing?" I asked.


"I can't tell you, Mom. . .I'm under oath!" She sounded so responsible. Who knew?


She arrived home an hour and a half later, and I cross-examined her. She gave me a brief overview of the evening. The cases she heard involved shoplifting.


"Some of the other jurors wanted to 'stick it' to the defendants like they'd had it 'stuck' to them," she said, her voice welling with compassion.


"Well, the idea is that it's supposed to be a deterrent. Do you think it helped?"


"I'd like to."


She said she'd questioned one young lady about why she made the choice to steal.


"A lot of my friends do it." The girl had responded.


"Well, maybe you need to get some new friends!" Was my daughter's response.


Hmmmmm, now why did that sound familiar?


I'm glad that she was offered this opportunity to resolve her fine, and hope that the experience reinforced some of the things her Dad and I have been pounding into her little rock head for the last seventeen years.


Yep, she MAY turn out okay. Of course, the jury's still out on that one. . .


Have fun!