Earlier this week I had jury duty, which meant that I had to drive to the county seat and visit the court house. Our county seat is Stockton, which has an interesting history and reputation. We will not go into that in this post :-).

It was an interesting day as I had a lot on my mind with Old Blue being in the shop and not being sure what needed to be fixed yet. See Old Blue Monday for details.

When I arrived at the courthouse, one of the first things that I saw was a statue of the Goddess of Justice.

The statue originally crowned the dome of the second San Joaquin county courthouse that was built in 1888. When the current court house was built the statue was restored and placed on this pedestal.

Here is a clearer shot where you can see more detail of the statue, including the scales of justice.

After a short wait to get through security I made my way to the jury room in the basement of the courthouse. I checked in and settled in to wait out the day. I was able to get a lot of reading done while waiting for them to start calling groups of jurors to go served in the different courtrooms.

I was hoping to at least get called into a court room so that I could observe the judicial system in process. Unfortunately, there were either delays or settlements that resulted in more than half of the jury pool being dismissed. I was included in the group to be dismissed. I did get the chance to serve on a jury about 6-8 years ago and it was an interesting experience. My next chance will be in 2015 so this was the last time that I will serve jury duty in this courthouse. They are starting construction on a new courthouse that will be open near the end of 2014.

I had planned on taking a nice walking tour of downtown Stockton, but with uncertainty about my car and needing to start packing for my next trip I decided to only take a few pictures.

Stockton has some interesting architecture. I like corner buildings like this that have such a physical presence. I also like the the old fire escapes. I am really glad that they have restored some of these beauties in Stockton.

I also want to share this beauty.

I really like this beautiful old Fox Theatre that was built in 1930. Hopefully someday I will go to a show in this beautiful old 2,00 seat Movie Palace. Today it is know as the Bob Hope Theatre. The marquee is showing one of the marquee events that Stockton hosts each year. The 2013 Brubeck Festival is this week and is spread throughout several venues in Stockton. This year is special as the life of Dave Brubeck is remembered.

One more thought on jury duty. Even though I was not called into a courtroom, I know that just the presence of the jury pool sometimes helps decide cases. Can you imagine the pressure that the jurors put on an attorney and client as they decide whether to settle or take an issue before a jury?

Steven