The very idea of being a member of the Planning Profession and of a jury in a high profile murder trial is a frightening one. For openers, you don't for more than five seconds have any confidence that the court system is going to protect your anonymity. And you know that there are wild eyed Pro and Con people "out there" with assault weapons who are going to kill you when the trial is over -unless you come up "hung" - no decision.

The second most frightening thing is that instead of spending time with family and friends for the next several months, you're going to be sequestered with a bunch of people you've never met, didn't particularly want to meet, and who, like you, are probably borderline idiots for failing to come up with an angle to get out of this duty. Planners are given an “out” on this, aren’t they?

You can't talk together about the reason you were assembled. You can't talk about what any witness said, or about the great legs on the court reporter.

You can't watch news on television, or read newspapers or magazines which haven't been practically shredded. You can't, in fact, do much of anything except eat and defecate. And take an occasional shower.

However, you can (as far as I know) talk with your fellow sequestered, about other subjects. And this leads me to a question: if it is appropriate for opposing attorneys to question prospective jury members, and to excuse some on sheer instinct, why shouldn't it be possible for prospective jurors to query other prospective jurors, in order to determine some sort of compatibility factor?

So what occurs to me is that, as a prospective juror, I should be allowed to provide to the managers of the judicial system a set of acceptable specifications of other jurors which, if not met, would automatically excuse me from any duty thereon. My approach would be to have prospective jurors respond to MY list of questions.

And this is what I would ask:

Do you drink Jack Daniels Black Label neat?

Do you drive a red pick up with four tires on the rear axle?

Do you quote from the Readers' Digest?

Do you support sainthood for Rush Limbaugh

Well, what would YOU ask? A positive answer to any of the above would automatically eliminate him, and probably you, from duty on this Jury.