As anyone who has ever watched Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law &Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order UK, or the lesser known Law And Order: Mall Security Division knows there are two sides to the criminal justice system for the investigating and prosecuting of offenders.

While the shows in the L&O canon go into great detail to tell us their stories, there is a third side to the justice triangle that is often overlooked.

I am of course talking about the juries who listen to the prosecuting and the defending and render a verdict. I recently was called to jury duty, this is my story.

While Americans have many rights and responsibilities as part of being voting citizens, one area of responsibility that is often compared to that of having a root canal is the requirement to serve on a jury when summoned.

My day in court as it were occurred yesterday and started with a one hour drive in rush hour traffic to arrive at the Juror Processing Center. Throughout the entire commute I was reminded of why I never want to make a long rush hour commute a part of my daily life.

More power to those brave folk who make the bumper to bumper drive twice a day. As for me I will keep my short interstate free commute for as long as I can.

Of course in the spirit of full disclosure it should be noted that one can take a bus ride from the suburbs to jury duty so it is not necessarily required to use a car.

After parking in a shaded parking garage I arrived at the Juror Processing Center right on time. After a quick trip through the metal detector I was directed to one of five separate but equally important waiting rooms filled with a couple hundred of my peers.

It should be pointed out that the juror waiting rooms are below ground to allow easy access to the tunnel system that connects it to each of the various courthouses. While this works great for the convenience of travel. It does not really bode well for electrical devices such as cell phones.

While there was wireless internet access available my cell phone could not get a signal in the depths of the juror cellar.

So as I sat there looking at all of the happy people on their Kindles and laptops enjoying the wireless connectivity I wished that I had brought a low tech book to have something to do to pass the time.

Thankfully though I did have my MP3 player so all was not lost in terms of passing the time.

After about three hours of waiting my number was called and it was off to the criminal court building for juror selection.