My jury duty experience overall was about as positive as it could have been.  I generally had not been a fan of the jury system.  The concept of having a bunch of questionably educated people with virtually no background in whatever the case deals with deciding a verdict based on limited information (mostly the information that was provided) does not really seem like the best or most efficient way of finding the "truth" or delivering "justice."  But something the judge said made me feel less negative towards the jury system.  He said something to the effect that we're basically being called on to weigh the quality of the evidence.  I suppose most reasonable people could do that.  And most of my fellow jurors up to the task, as we came to a unanimous decision in a short amount of time.

The case I was on was a medical negligence suit where an elderly woman fell in her bathroom (and broker her hip) in an assisted living facility and it allegedly took the staff 45 minutes to respond to her personal beeper.  The only evidence was the testimony of the daughter and granddaughter who heard the old woman say "45 minutes."  The woman had passed away like a year after the accident at a really old age (not related to the broken hip).  I was actually shocked this case even made it to trial (which is more of an indictment of the US judicial system than the jury system).

Why would you bring a case to trial when you have no substantial evidence?  Two family members relating what a drugged up elderly woman said when they had been happy with the service for two hand a half years is just sooo weak.  And they weren't even suing for millions of dollars - the old woman fell on her own and the "response time" did not worsen the injury.  It was just what "45 minutes" of pain was worth.  Seriously?!?  I suffer thru aggravation on a regular basis reading Xplore's hand histories or Les's impending fat women posts but you don't see me calling my lawyer!  Hey... wait a sec...

And if you were looking for a "sympathy" jury why the hell would you put *me* on the jury when I just told you I was a professional poker player and I had an MBA (some of the few questions you were allowed to ask)?!?  And I'M ASIAN!!!  On paper, wouldn't it look like I would just care about the *facts*?  You might be saying, "well, that's just silly stereotyping."  No - it's all about the odds and that sh*t's all about statistics!  The ability to correctly determine odds and tendencies and apply those small edges to your favor (like we do in poker) is something that has tons of applications.

Continued later...