It was a great week to be called for jury duty

On Monday, Circuit Court Judge W. Stephen Nixon told a roomful of Jackson County citizens that they were lucky to have been summoned for jury duty. Only two trials were scheduled this week, Nixon said, and the parties in each were likely to reach settlements before noon, meaning everyone would be dismissed.

I was there because I’d received my first summons ever. When Nixon’s prediction came true, I felt very lucky indeed.

Nixon obviously knows that people dread jury duty. So did the people who made the sunny orientation video we all had to watch, which attempted to sell us on the joys of serving. The video had an all-star KC cast: The hosts were George “Droopy Drawers” Brett and Elizabeth Alex of KSHB Channel 41. Weatherbear Bryan Busby and The Kansas City Star‘s C.W. Guswelle waxed on about all the power we’d be wielding. (Gusewelle called jury service a “privilege,” but when you reach his age, your day’s highlight is waiting for the mail.)

I’d probably love jury duty, but I watch trials voluntarily. (So does Brett. Circuit Judge Jay Daugherty knows Brett from the ALS Association, and once told me that, during stretches of away games with the Royals, Brett and his teammates would pop into the courthouses of different cities for voyeuristic entertainment.)