Legal News

Kobe on Jury Duty: ?This is Important. You Have to Take it Seriously.?

By Ashby Jones

Granted, there are other pressing issues to get to this morning (and we will), but we’ll be honest, we’ve got hoops on the brain.

With that in mind, let’s take you out to the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana, Calif., where the Law Blog attended traffic school back during his reckless teenage years, and where Los Angeles Laker and arguably the best hoopster on the planet, Kobe Bryant, showed up for jury duty on Wednesday.

According to this take, courtesy of the OC Register, Kobe was excused from duty, but not before sitting through the lengthy selection process.

He was quizzed for potential service on a misdemeanor case where two defendants are charged with 10 counts of vehicle tampering. According to the Register, when it came time to quiz Kobe, the judge on the case looked at the basketball star and asked "Bryant?" The room broke out into laughs.

When queried by lawyers, Kobe — no stranger to the legal process himself — said he thought he had good common sense and that he thought he could be fair. "I'm a good listener," he added.

During an afternoon recess, Kobe said "everyone has to do their duty … This is important. You have to take it seriously. "I don't think anybody wants to do jury duty," he added. "But it's your responsibility."

So, LB Readers, here’s the deal. One reader commented on the Register’s Web site: “While I may find fault with Kobe's apparent ego, you have to give him credit for fulfilling his citizen responsibilities.”

We’re of a few minds. On the one hand, Bryant did show up. On the other, given that Bryant probably knew he wasn’t going to get tapped for, say, a six-month murder trial, did it really amount to much more than a savvy public-relations appearance? Talk to us.

Photo: AP

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 19, 2009 (boomark / email).