Life in the Ivey house has been pretty boring lately. I've was working long hours and finally about to have a break. I didn't have much on my calendar for last week except I had to report for jury duty on Monday. After the previous work week, I was actually looking forward to being somewhere other than the office and having a good excuse to not answer my phone or email. I also looked forward to picking up the boys once I was dismissed and getting home early. It didn't quite work out that way.
One thing I learned is that the county is probably the most inefficient organization I have ever experienced. I had a book with me and actually read the whole thing, start to finish, while I was there waiting. Another thing I learned is that there are a lot of stupid people out there, and the voir dire process is great for exposing this stupidity. When I had had just about all I could take (it was almost 7:00 pm), they finally picked the jury, and I was one of the lucky 12.
It took 3 days to present the evidence, make closing arguments, and deliver a verdict. The defendant was charged with aggravated robbery. The most interesting witness was the defendant's accomplice who claimed that his handwritten signed confession was all a lie and that he had been sexually coerced into testifying by the female prosecutor. We also got to watch the video from the surveillance camera at least 20 times. After about 8 hours of deliberation over 2 days, we the jury found the defendant guilty of aggravated robbery. While we were deliberating, the attorneys had negotiated a sentence in the event that we came back with a guilty verdict so the judge sentenced the defendant to 5 years in prison, and we were dismissed.
Other than jury duty, we have been pretty low-key. The boys are talking more and more, which is fun to hear. And they are exploring everything. They have figured out how to open the drawers of my dresser so we have discovered my clothes all over the place. Once they have emptied the drawers of all clothing, they like to climb in. They also love to try on our shoes. I put one of my tall boots on each of them and got some pictures of them walking around the house. And they are fascinated with my suitcases and love to drag them around.
