Legal Questioning and Jury Selection in Florida<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Earlier this summer, I was summoned to jury duty for the first time in my life. As an avid viewer of legal dramas and Judge Judy, my excitement nearly got\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legal Questioning and Jury Selection in Florida\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier this summer, I was summoned to jury duty for the first time in my life. As an avid viewer of legal dramas and Judge Judy, my excitement nearly got\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reel Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dewaynehamby\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-10-14T06:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/files\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-oSCnfQZmKDY\/T8wgB3jIN5I\/AAAAAAAAAmc\/pINnyo_V8yU\/s320\/courtroom.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"DeWayne Hamby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@dewaynehamby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@dewaynehamby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"DeWayne Hamby\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html\",\"name\":\"Legal Questioning and Jury Selection in Florida\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-14T06:20:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-10-14T06:20:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c2f078f578d8a98ba8dc3f2dad0632e\"},\"description\":\"Earlier this summer, I was summoned to jury duty for the first time in my life. As an avid viewer of legal dramas and Judge Judy, my excitement nearly got\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legal Questioning and Jury Selection in Florida\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/\",\"name\":\"Reel Faith\",\"description\":\"News and notes on faith in popular culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c2f078f578d8a98ba8dc3f2dad0632e\",\"name\":\"DeWayne Hamby\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aec351f57e304d60b5ad6f6b589ee89?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aec351f57e304d60b5ad6f6b589ee89?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"DeWayne Hamby\"},\"description\":\"As a journalist for more than 20 years, DeWayne Hamby has covered the worlds of church and culture for a variety of publications and websites, including Charisma, Ministry Today, New Man, and Christian Retailing. He and his wife, LeAnn, live in Tennessee with their three daughters. Connect with DeWayne on social media\u2014http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dewaynehamby and www.twitter.com\/dewaynehamby.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.dewaynehamby.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/author\/dhamby\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Legal Questioning and Jury Selection in Florida","description":"Earlier this summer, I was summoned to jury duty for the first time in my life. As an avid viewer of legal dramas and Judge Judy, my excitement nearly got","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Legal Questioning and Jury Selection in Florida","og_description":"Earlier this summer, I was summoned to jury duty for the first time in my life. As an avid viewer of legal dramas and Judge Judy, my excitement nearly got","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html","og_site_name":"Reel Faith","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dewaynehamby","article_published_time":"2009-10-14T06:20:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/files\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-oSCnfQZmKDY\/T8wgB3jIN5I\/AAAAAAAAAmc\/pINnyo_V8yU\/s320\/courtroom.jpg"}],"author":"DeWayne Hamby","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@dewaynehamby","twitter_site":"@dewaynehamby","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"DeWayne Hamby","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html","name":"Legal Questioning and Jury Selection in Florida","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-10-14T06:20:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-10-14T06:20:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c2f078f578d8a98ba8dc3f2dad0632e"},"description":"Earlier this summer, I was summoned to jury duty for the first time in my life. As an avid viewer of legal dramas and Judge Judy, my excitement nearly got","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2009\/10\/legal-questioning-and-jury-selection-in-florida.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legal Questioning and Jury Selection in Florida"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/","name":"Reel Faith","description":"News and notes on faith in popular culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c2f078f578d8a98ba8dc3f2dad0632e","name":"DeWayne Hamby","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aec351f57e304d60b5ad6f6b589ee89?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aec351f57e304d60b5ad6f6b589ee89?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"DeWayne Hamby"},"description":"As a journalist for more than 20 years, DeWayne Hamby has covered the worlds of church and culture for a variety of publications and websites, including Charisma, Ministry Today, New Man, and Christian Retailing. He and his wife, LeAnn, live in Tennessee with their three daughters. Connect with DeWayne on social media\u2014http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dewaynehamby and www.twitter.com\/dewaynehamby.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.dewaynehamby.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/author\/dhamby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2815"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Earlier this summer, I was summoned to jury duty for the first time in my life. As an avid viewer of legal dramas and Judge Judy<\/i>, my excitement nearly got the best of me. Unfortunately, I had to send my regrets due to an impending out-of-town business-related trip. Much to my surprise, however, I received another golden opportunity last month, which I attended this past Monday.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

With only three court visitations in my life, one of which was a high school field trip, I looked forward to the opportunity to see how the system works. After researching the process, I packed up my laptop, a copy of Green Lantern: First Flight<\/i> (pretty good film to pass the time with) and my iPod and hit the courthouse Monday morning.<\/p>\n

For the first hour or so, more than a hundred of us were wrangled into a large waiting area downstairs. I was excited to find the last table seat by an outlet available\u2026until I found out why it was open. The woman sitting beside me was coughing her head off. Deciding between a dead laptop battery and the potential Swine Flu carrier was difficult. I chose germs and so far I\u2019m still feeling okay.<\/p>\n

After a while, we were summoned to a courtroom where a judge filled up the jury box and asked questions of the potential jurors. Name, occupation, spouse, spouse occupation, children, children\u2019s occupations, dog, dog\u2019s occupation. Also, have you ever been in a courtroom before? If so, why? Who won? Do you know anyone in the legal process, besides Matlock? Will that impede your ability to be fair to the defendant? Do you know the defendant? Do you know me? What\u2019s my name? How did I get here?<\/p>\n

Some of the jurors were asked some pretty tough questions, some that were personal opinions based on their experiences (lawsuits, injuries, etc). But I think I had the toughest question of them all. I braced myself when asked this: \u201cMr. Hamby, could you describe for this court the typical plot of an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard<\/i>?\u201d<\/p>\n

In all my years of waiting, my first opinion pronounced in a court of law, with prosecutor, defense attorney, defendant and judge all staring at me, I responded, \u201cBo and Luke Duke were cousins, good guys, who drove a car around. Somehow, Boss Hog and Roscoe would do something bad, change speeding signs or steal money that was intended for a local church and the Duke boys would save the day.\u201d Time for cross-examination. The defense attorney followed with, \u201cAnd what did they do in every episode, Mr. Hamby?\u201d \u201cWell, they would always jump a huge ravine in the General Lee at least once, sometimes more, in each episode. I think it was required, part of the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the jury selection process wasn\u2019t as grim as an actual trial, this little moment provoked some of the best laughter of the day. I even saw the defendant out of the corner of my eye kick his head back laughing. Perhaps he was daydreaming about Daisy bringing him a cake with a nail file in it. Out of all the questions, I\u2019m glad the Pop Culture expert got the question I did, even though it didn\u2019t get me selected. Perhaps next time I\u2019ll be a little more serious.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"