If you've been showing up here for long, you may recall that I got summoned for jury duty in federal court back in May. (Some offered creative suggestions for how to get out of it--suggestions I did not take, though sorely tempted.) Well, I got summoned again recently, this time for county court. Can they do that again so soon? Yes... Can. Did. Yesterday was my day in court.

So I spent most of it reading. Why? Because most of jury duty is waiting--at least, before the trial gets going, it is. So what did I read? I opted for something law-related: Fighting for Dear Life by David Gibbs, the attorney who represented Terri Schiavo's parents.

What I found most interesting: a timeline relating to Terri's initial trauma:

0500
Michael Schiavo states he finds his wife, who had collapsed on the floor of their apartment. This is the time used on all depositions, trials, and media reports.

0538-0540
Michael calls Terri's dad, Bob Schiavo, and tells him she has collapsed. Bob tells him to hang up and call 911.

0540
A St. Petersburg police report incidates the time of the 911 call.

Does anything strike you as strange about the times here?

The autopsy ruled out the possibility of an eating disorder or heart attack--which had been cited as the causes of Terri's coma, by the way.

Back to my day...I got sent to a courtroom in Mesquite at 1:30. And after 15 minutes there, it became apparent that the plaintiff was a no-show. So they sent twelve giddy jurors home, knowing our time would count as our "duty." Maybe now I can go more than three months before getting summoned again? But it did give me a chance to reconsider my opinions on the whole Schiavo case...

Currently if a spouse of a disabled person has entered into another committed relationship, that spouse is permitted to continue as guardian. So we might need to relook at the whole conflict-of-interest thing, eh? Just in case said guardian has reason to want to prevent his or her spouse from any chance of being rehabilitated. I'm not accusing anybody, I'm just sayin'...