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Blue Jays fan excused from jury duty to watch playoff game

Blue Jays fan excused from jury duty to watch playoff game

For André Chapman, his intense love of the Toronto Blue Jays was able to trump his civic duty. That’s because the Ottawa-based consultant, who’s been a fan of the team since as long as he can remember, was dismissed from jury duty so he can watch the playoffs in Toronto this week.

During jury selection on Sept. 29, the judge gave Chapman the opportunity to explain if there was any reason he wouldn’t be able to serve. Even though his reasons had nothing to do with work commitments or doctor’s appointments, Chapman decided to speak up.

“I gave him the reason — I’d been waiting more than 20 years to go see them live at a playoff game,” he told Yahoo Canada News.

The judge responded by assuring him the court could likely work around the schedule, particularly since the Friday was leading into the Thanksgiving long weekend. The Crown was okay with it, but the defence passed on him as a juror.

But Chapman wasn’t off the hook. He still had to wait around for a second round of jury selection for another trial. That judge didn’t give him a chance to present his reason for being unable to serve, and before he knew it, he was swearing the oath and sitting in the jury box.

“I was a little disappointed I was going to miss a game,” he says.

After being selected, jurors were given the opportunity to write a hand-written letter with any prior scheduling the judge should know about. Many of the jurors submitted notes, including one woman who had a doctor’s appointment, so Chapman again stated his case.

“I explained I had the ticket and really wanted to go to the game,” he says.

Two days later he was called in for the first day of the trial. It was early proceedings, and the judge brought in a total of fourteen jurors, including two alternates, to read all the letters of request aloud. It was then that Chapman discovered he was free to use his $90 ticket to the game, which is in the homerun section of the outfield at Rogers Centre.

Although he wanted to score tickets to both Thursday and Friday’s games, it wasn’t in the cards. Still, the self-proclaimed Blue Jays “superfan” is thrilled to see his favourite team in the playoffs on Friday.

While he was in Toronto during the 1992 playoffs, the then 10-year-old had to watch it from a hotel room.

“I remember hearing the crowd, the noise of the street and everyone celebrating,” he says. “I could hear from the 25th floor. That was pretty special.”

As a child, Chapman would watch games when they were still at Exhibition Stadium, and in recent years, he’s seen them on the road in eight different American cities.

“I think it would have been interesting to be on the jury and go through those proceedings,” he admits. “It’s an honour to be selected. But at the same time, I had prior commitments, and jury duty happens more often than the Blue Jays make the playoffs at this point.”

The last time the Jays made the playoffs was in 1993.