Do you solemnly swear?

Death, taxes and jury duty are the only sure things in this life. My time has come to be summoned for jury duty. I got summoned to Wrentham District Court. Now Wrentham is nowhere near here I live, but since it is in the same county, I can get called there.

Normally, one wouldn’t associate Wrentham, Massachusetts with a place to have adventures. The only thing Wrentham is known for is:

a. Wrentham Village Outlets
b. Proximity to Gillette Stadium, Foxboro where the Patriots play.

It is also where the Wrentham District Courthouse is located. It does look rather picturesque and New England-like, doesn’t it?

Since I have no sense of direction, Mr. Ken and I decided to take a dry run out to Wrentham on Sunday. Wrentham is all the way down near the Rhode Island border! It took us an hour to drive there and it was Sunday with no traffic. Are we still even in Massachusetts?????

The downtown was sort of cute, but I knew I was in the “country” when I saw the parking lot. It was dirt. The good news is that you don’t have to pay for parking. I guess there isn’t much upkeep for a dirt lot. Most courthouses have pay lots, so I guess that is something positive.

I bribed Mr. Ken with a promise of a nice brunch if he would accompany me. Since Mr. Ken never turns down free food, we were off. I had forgotten that Sunday late morning is a very popular time for brunch, even out in the middle of nowhere, which is where we were. We ended up at a Dunkin Donuts. There is nothing like a Dunkin Donuts brunch for ambience!

I did some reading about Wrentham District Court and found out the two most common cases heard there were domestic violence and disturbing the peace (from the drunken Patriots Fans I am sure). Oh great, I get to hear about wife beaters or else some drunken yahoos. How on earth can I be impartial?

On a side note, if you want a laugh, try googling “how to get out of jury duty.” Um, if I even half-attempted some of the things that were suggested, I think I would be cited for contempt of court. One supposed “tried and true” method is to dress like a slob in sweat pants, a t-shirt and a baseball cap. Well now, I do NOT wear sweat pants in public; I wear them for sleeping. I wear t-shirts for exercising and I wear a baseball cap for hiking. If I wanted to pretend that I was going on a rigorous hike and then taking a nap, I might consider this outfit.

Stay tuned for how it turns out. Unless of course, I am silenced by the court. I am sure I can’t write about the case I hear, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with writing about my experience.

What experiences have you had with jury duty?