The benefits of aging are numerous: a Senior property tax exemption, healthcare from Medicare, and an income stream from Social Security. But I recently learned of a new “benefit”, and I find it bittersweet. I will soon lose the opportunity to be a juror.
I thought I had a chance. I had received a summons to be available for jury duty at the county courthouse next week. I kept my schedule clear, and Friday night was set to visit the county website to find out which days I should report to the courthouse. But the county beat me to it. I received a text telling me that my service would not be needed at all.
And that probably ends my prospects for being a juror. In less than four months, I will hit the magic age after which compliance with a summons to jury duty is no longer compulsory. My birthdate will become an automatic “Get Out of Jury Duty Free Card.” I doubt the county will bother to summon me again.
I am disappointed. Jurisprudence runs in the family. Barb has sat on a jury for a pair of trials. My mother served on the jury for the infamous Mirage Bar trial in the 1970s. But I’ve never taken a juror’s oath. On my only previous summons, I made the drive north to the county seat, but never saw the inside of a courtroom.
Why do I want to sit in the jury box? It’s a childhood dream. I want to be there when the music plays and Perry Mason, attorney for the defense, strides into the courtroom.
I grew up watching Mason humiliate prosecutor Hamilton Burger every Sunday night, week after week, year after year. I admired investigator Paul Drake and was smitten with legal secretary Della Street. I waited along with the rest of America until the turning point in each episode. I knew that under Mason’s intense questioning, a witness would break down and admit to the crime Mason’s client was accused of. Mason never lost, and justice always prevailed.
TV law shows today are too muddy and indecisive. The Lincoln Lawyer has some tricks up his sleeve, but compared to Mason, he’s barely passed the bar. Has he ever terrified a witness into confessing on the stand? Jurors at his trials must be nodding off to sleep out of boredom.
Which makes it just as well that my only jury duty will be in my imagination. I may never serve on a real jury, but I’ll keep my Perry Mason fantasy intact. And my Della Street one, too. That verdict is final!
If you want to send me a message without going through Substack, email me directly at lesrraffblogger@myyahoo.com
Supposedly Perry lost only once. I don’t know the details, but they are probably online. Della was a hottie, long before she was Della.