My friend Laura was telling us about the hell that is jury duty at dinner last night. Like most of our friends, Laura doesn't suffer fools gladly. Unlike most of us, she has no qualms about letting her displeasure be known, no matter how important the idiot in question is. This makes for an interesting trial.

The highlights:

• Laura reprimanded the judge -- the judge, the guy who can declare you in contempt of court and lock you up -- for consistently starting court much later than the scheduled time. As a result, the jury had its call time moved back so it's more in line when things actually start.
  
• She became so disgusted the the prosecuting attorney's badgering of a witness that she fixed Glare of Doom #468 (a particularly potent weapon in her Glare of Doom arsenal) on him for the duration of his questioning of the witness.
  
• Said Glare of Doom freaked the prosecutor out so much that he actually called a sidebar, presumably to tell the judge "Make her stop looking at me!"
  
• The judge, being thoroughly cowed by Laura, pretty much told the prosecutor to suck it up and get on with the case. Laura remained unreprimanded and free to express her contempt.

I don't know what this actually says about the state of justice in this country. Never having been on a jury (I know, I know, I've just doomed myself), I have no idea how I would react. I'd probably have a seriously hard time not jumping in during testimony -- "Wait, that makes no sense! What sort of idiots so you think we are?" Hmmm. Probably not a good thing.