Yes, it’s me. Guilty as charged.

I’m the one person in the United States who is excited by the prospect of jury duty.

One jury that’s been in the news a lot recently – 11 women and one man – reached a verdict Monday in the trial of former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

He’s also guilty as charged.

A lot of people groan at the thought of jury duty, but it’s important and should be taken seriously.

Political pundits bad-mouthed Blagojevich and the press relentlessly reported on his coiffe and comings and goings from his apartment in a full-body form-fitted jogging suit. Those things did not prevent him from signing book deals and parading through the talk-show circuit.

But a jury, 12 people selected from the general public, have now prevented him from that. They are convicting him, throwing him in jail. They’re trying to put a stop to his exploiting his exploitations, betraying the public as it’s elected official.

You, dear citizen, are an integral part of the checks and balances system on corrupt politicians.

Maybe I’ve romanticized jury duty; I do watch a little too much Law & Order. And my first, positive impression of jury duty still lingers years later. When I was in third grade, I learned about jury duty in social studies class. I thought it sounded like the greatest job in the world. $17.34 a day? That was a treasure trove of riches to an 8-year-old.

When I was called to jury duty a little over a year ago, I was more than excited. I imagined dramatic gavel banging, attempted witness tampering, shouts of “Objection!” and “Order in the court!”

But my day at the courthouse was less than glamorous. After watching daytime talk shows on television all morning, it was finally announced who made it through the first cut. We were led to the courtroom and met the judge and parties involved. But the case was settled out of court when we, the potential jurors, took a lunch break.

When dismissed from duty by a court official, everyone but me clapped and whooped. I was sad to accept my check and leave the courthouse no closer to upholding the tenets of justice than when I entered it.

I have friends who lie to get out of sitting on a jury. I’ve heard stories of people pretending to be prejudiced, telling the lawyers what they don’t want to hear so they’ll be dismissed.

And I can understand the aversion to sitting in a courtroom for days, missing work and barely getting paid to do it. But it’s part of the legal system of the United States.

I don’t want to get all high and mighty and tout jury duty as a right and a privilege, and well, a duty. But it really is. Don’t tell me you don’t wish you were on the jury for Blagojevich.

Just because other jury panels are less publicized doesn’t mean they’re less important. Guaranteed by the sixth amendment, everyone has the right to a fair trial in front of an impartial jury. And I believe everyone has a right to have that jury made up of a representative sample of their peers, not just the ones who didn’t try hard enough or make up enough excuses to get out of it.

So, I implore you, when you’re called for jury duty, don’t pretend to be sick. Don’t act crazy and prejudiced so you don’t get chosen. Just sit down and reason out the facts of the case. Society will thank you for it.