Yaho0 – A Denver woman has pleaded guilty to second-degree perjury and attempting to influence a public servant for faking post-traumatic stress disorder to dodge jury duty, according to a statement from the Denver District Attorney. Susan Cole arrived for jury selection in June 2011 looking purposefully disheveled, wearing curlers in her hair and mismatched shoes, according to an affidavit obtained by the Denver Post. Cole reportedly told Denver District Court Judge Anne Mansfield she “broke out of domestic violence in the military” and had “a lot of repercussions,” including PTSD.”Her makeup looked like something you would wear during a theater performance,” court reporter Kelli Wessels told investigators at the time, according to the Denver Post. “When the judge asked the entire panel if anyone had a mental illness, [Cole] stated she had difficulties getting ready in the morning, which was apparent to me by the way she was dressed.” Cole was excused from her civic duties. But her plot was foiled four months later when Judge Mansfield heard a woman bragging about how she faked mental illness to evade jury duty on a local radio show. As a mental health professional, I find this disturbing and upsetting,” Dr. Joseph Calabrese, a psychiatrist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, told ABC News at the time. “PTSD is a very serious, life threatening illness. And things like this tend to trivialize it.”

I can’t even tell you how offensive this is. No not that making fun of PTSD. The over acting. I mean as a member of the Get Out of Jury Duty Screen Actors guild I find this type of behavior repulsive. The curlers in the hair. The mismatched shoes. Where is the subtlety? Where is the story telling? Where is the art? I believe William Esper said it best. “Good acting — real acting is impossible to spot.”   Amen.  This on the other hand is an insult to everybody who takes the getting out of jury duty craft seriously.