George W. Bush shows up for jury duty
Even former presidents get called for jury duty.
George W. Bush set the George Allen Courthouse abuzz Tuesday when he reported for jury duty. He was one of 219 people to appear.
“He sat, literally, right behind me and I was like, ‘I feel like I know this guy,’ ” said Joel Ehambe, an Irving, Texas, resident. “I didn’t pay too much attention until the judge himself said, ‘It’s an honor to have the former president of the United States (in the courthouse.)’ I turned around and I was like, ‘Oh, I do know that that guy.’ ”
Bush, along with his Secret Service detail, arrived at the courthouse early on Wednesday.
It didn’t take long for word to spread via social media that the former president had been in the house. Bush was on a 35member jury panel sent to the fifth floor court of District Judge Eric Moyé.
Lawyers were picking jurors for a civil dispute that had been sent for trial.
“This is the first time we’ve had a president here,” Moyé said. “Everybody was very excited to see him. He was very affable.”
The former president’s pres- ence caused quite a stir in Moyé’s court, but not in a bad way.
Ehambe and jury panel member Dale Lucky were impressed by the former president’s humor, regular-guy demeanor, and by the fact that he didn’t try to shirk jury duty.
“We were sitting there and the president, he was making a lot of jokes, and he had a lot of people laughing in there,” he said. “It was my first time ever seeing him, outside of being on TV. I think he was a pretty cool guy.”
Lucky called it a “once-in-alifetime experience,” saying he doubts that he would ever get that close again to a current or former president.
During a break, Bush took pictures with each of the 35 members of the jury panel. Ehambe has already sent it to his mother and posted it on Facebook.
Ehabme wasn’t picked, and neither was Lucky, nor the former president. Moyé says the president’s juror number was high enough that he wasn’t picked to be on the jury.