Court System

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Jury Duty Episode 2.5

I call today’s post episode 2.5 due to the fact that I’m 2.5 days into serving jury duty and am actually pleased with the way it’s been working out thus far.

Initially, like most people when I saw the summons for last Friday, I was like oh crap!!! Not being too much a morning person, the idea that I’d have to actually get up and go early during rush hour to court was not my idea of a fun or an ideal situation, especially with how jury duty has worked out for me in the past.

I never forgot those long days of just sitting there waiting to hear your name called from among the pool of people there. Well as a law-abiding citizen I answered my summons and went. Day 1 ( yesterday) started out in typical fashion. I arrive at the courthouse, go through metal detection, and then have to surrender my camera to the police officer until the end of the day.

You would have thought this cop had never seen a camera before the way he gushed over it. Every other word out his mouth was an”Oh boy!” and “let me give you a receipt, I know you don’t wanna forget this”. It was almost to the point where I looked at him sideways like is he planning on jacking my shiznit? You best believe I scrutinized the receipt carefully for any errors in the description written on the receipt before proceeding to the jury room.

I sit for several hours before my name is called. Lucky day!!! Once inside the room that myself and several others were summoned to, a court employee in charge of gathering jury pools told us that sometimes they have cases that get done in a single day. I found that hard to believe.

I smiled at the thought of serving one day and being done with service for several more years…perfect! Well, due to the fact that several hours passed since the typical 9am start time, we were told that we would have to come back the following morning for the case to start.

Whoo hoo!!! since we weren’t going to be utilized that day we were free to go for the rest of the day. I wanted to give that court employee a high-five!! Before Stephen A. Smith could say “quick, fast, and in a hurry”, I was gone.

That ladies and gentlemen is what you call the Get Away.

Day 2 began with me rushing with rush hour’s masses from the bus to the train which was packed full of the typical selfish idiots who don’t move all the way into the train cars but block the doors.

I managed to squeeze into an express train just in time to see the hapless people oblivious to what rush hour means, standing on the escalators blocking both sides, appearing with sad faces as the doors closed behind those of us who rushed up the stairs to catch the train.

For some reason today the trains weren’t moving quite the way I’d have liked especially for rush hour on an express train but I managed to make it to the courthouse a few minutes after the 8:50am call time.

Arriving for duty your honor and ready to give evidence!!…evidence.

Today I decided to leave the camera at home and once inside the court and in the room we were to gather we were greeted by the same court employee from the day before who then proceeded to tell us that the case wasn’t ready for today and would start tomorrow.

Ladies and Gentleman, there is a God!!! God worked it out so good that we were given two options. Option A) stay with the rest of the jury pool for the day where we might be placed on another case. Or Option B) Leave for the day with full attendance credit and return same time tomorrow for this one day trial. Oh I almost forgot with the option of staying you could also end up still having to come back the following day anyway.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know which option I selected. Attendance was taken and those of us who elected to leave for the day were gone.

Stay tuned for day 3…

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Being Black in America (Chad Johnson headed to Jail)

Written by Akan Bosemann

Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson, found out today what being a Black Male let alone Celebrity can expect to encounter in the judicial system. Prejudice and Racism are alive and well and always donning various outfits. Some of them old, some of them new, some with face lifts to present time tested tried and true practices.

For those of you who haven’t heard about this by now. Here is the crux of the situation. Chad Johnson former NFL pro bowl wide receiver had a domestic violence case stemming from an incident he had last summer with his newly wed wife, a reality show actress.

He was put on probation and missed a meeting with his P.O. and so he had a court date today to address that. The plea deal reached would allow that he wouldn’t have any jail time and was all set until an ego-maniacally acting judge revoked the deal because, as she stated she didn’t believe he was taking the court case seriously by patting his attorney on the ass and saying good job.

Now before you leap to the conclusion he deserved what he got one has to understand the context of what was unfolding right before our eyes. First off, an agreement had already been reached. The judge was satisfied with the deal. Chad was then asked if he was happy with the services and representation his attorney provided to him by the judge.

This is important because the judge asked him the question. She went on to tell him that he should be very happy with his attorney and that she knows he’s a good attorney and does good work. Chad tells her his attorney’s awesome and he is happy with his representation. It is at that moment that he lightly pats his attorney as most athletes do to one another on the ass.

The sheriffs along with some other people present in the courtroom then laugh openly in response. He did what came natural to him as an athlete in response to the judge’s prodding him almost imploring him to demonstrate physically how grateful he should have been to have this plea agreement come out good for him.

Then suddenly, she snaps and says she’s not accepting the agreement and asks if Chad thinks there’s something funny about the days events. Chad never smiled or laughed and says he doesn’t find anything funny. He even looked behind him at the people who were laughing. She yells the whole court room was laughing and she isn’t accepting the plea deal.

If you view the video footage of the black sheriffs who laughed they suddenly stop laughing when they realize their laughter just got Chad Johnson a fellow black person sent to jail for thirty days. Yet Chad gets the blame from Stephen A Smith and Skip Bayless. It doesn’t matter that they believe he was stupid.

The judge simply over reacted and took her emotions out on him for what others were doing. If anything the judge should have realized he (Chad) has no control over the actions of other people. In addition it was the sheriffs who were unprofessional in their response by laughing out loud.

TMZ’s Harvey Levin spoke to all these points and I was surprised to say the least, to see and hear him in defense of Chad Johnson. That woman needs to be in jail for thirty days for her gross over reaction. Even the attorney whose ass was patted said he didn’t believe it was in any way meant as a sign of disrespect to the court.

America take a good look at yourself in the face and dare cry about how black people are always complaining about injustice. Here we have another example of it on video. The evidence is indisputable if you’re a reasonable and rational thinking person.

If not God bless you that some day your mind will be lifted out of your ass. At the end of the day what I took away from what I saw was a white female judge satisfying herself and her ego by arbitrarily sending a Black Man to jail as if she had just undergone a rite of passage. Sick to my stomach!!