Jury Duty

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fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
The eyes are on me. I have been summoned.

Anyone had to do this before? How was it?


I've been called twice but the cases were dismissed before I had to do anything. I think this happens most of the time. The first time was approximately 18 years ago and I had to go to the courthouse and wait around all day before they told me to leave (pain in the butt). The other time was a year or so ago and there was a phone number I called the day before I was to report that told me whether to show up or not. I was told by a recording not to show up.
 

misery chastain loves co.

MORE Count Chocula please.....
Jul 31, 2011
2,642
15,099
50
Brewer,ME
I've been called twice but the cases were dismissed before I had to do anything. I think this happens most of the time. The first time was approximately 18 years ago and I had to go to the courthouse and wait around all day before they told me to leave (pain in the butt). The other time was a year or so ago and there was a phone number I called the day before I was to report that told me whether to show up or not. I was told by a recording not to show up.
Dang! I was actually kind of hoping to get out of work! lol.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
I've gone in once. Right before we were called into the courtroom, the judge walked in the room. Apparently the accused plead.

I've told this before, but the judge thanked us for our time and then asked if we had any questions. I asked what our case would've been had it gone forward.

Live Perversion.

I can't tell you how bad I wished I had gotten on this jury. hahahha!

It had to do with an old man soliciting sex from little boys in a park bathroom. (for the record, it was a sting operation that caught a number of men doing this.)

I would've hung the geezer by his clacker balzs.
 

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
2,906
6,242
62
I was on a jury in Florida one time where this guy was hanging out at a bar where (I believed) he knew his ex-girlfriend would be. She shows up with some other guy and then

He said: She instigates a fight between the two men (boys).
She said: He instigates a fight with her and Handsome Hero jumps in to save the day.

In any case, all agree a fight ensues and all agree ex-boyfriend stabs girl in her bum with a little pen knife (part of which breaks off and is x-rayed actually in her bum); all also agree that Handsome Hero clocks ex-boyfriend in the head at least once with a tire iron.

Oh it was jolly fun, let me tell you, but it takes a lot longer in real life than it does on TV and most people have a tendency to believe the last thing they hear . . . which in this case is a defense attorney.

The ex-boyfriend ended-up with aggravated assault, which was less than I thought he deserved for stabbing a defenseless girl, and I think the judge thought so, too. I was watching his face when we read the verdict and he looked more than a little surprised.

There are ways to avoid being selected for an actual jury, but you might be too principled to employ them.
 

pegasus216

Eternal Members
Jun 20, 2013
6,825
44,212
75
Delaware
I served on a grand jury once. It was an arson case. We just had to decide whether it should go to jury trial, and only took 1 day. I found it very interesting, and I asked one of the witnesses' if he was afraid for his life. He was.
 

misery chastain loves co.

MORE Count Chocula please.....
Jul 31, 2011
2,642
15,099
50
Brewer,ME
I served on a grand jury once. It was an arson case. We just had to decide whether it should go to jury trial, and only took 1 day. I found it very interesting, and I asked one of the witnesses' if he was afraid for his life. He was.
I think it will be interesting as well. I WANT to get picked for a case. Hey, I watch Law and Order:SVU, I'm sure it's exactly the same ;-D
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
I got called a week or so to register for the next quarter, but no actual call to duty. First time in 30 years of being a registered voter! My husband has been called at least five times (though none of the cases has actually gone to trial).
 

cat in a bag

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2010
12,038
67,827
wyoming
I have had to register for quarterly duty, but never was called. My husband served on a jury last summer in county court on a check fraud case. Then he was summoned for district court jury duty, but he did get excused from that duty.

He had to call a number every Sunday night to see if he needed to report to the courthouse, for 4 months. One week he forgot to call and he was supposed to be there in the pool for possible selection, and they called work and told him he had 20 min to get there or they were sending deputies after him. ;-D It is funny now, but it really was just an oversight on his part. He made it. I believe that was for the check fraud case that he ended up serving on. Then, since he had served, he was excused for the rest of the time and didn't need to remember to call that number anymore.
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
Served on a jury years ago in Florida. I had a suit that fit me. Imagine that. Not anymore. Anymore I'd have to go in in my best shirt and...pants are a problem, paint splatters, caulking. Yeah, you see me coming you best go the other way. Was some sort of DUI case as I recall. Don't recall if they paid us anything although they did feed us. I think it lasted one day, possibly two. I've had to fill out a questionnaire several times here in Michigan most recently a month ago. They either changed the questions...or something...because when I'd filled it in before I told them to call me over the winter I'd be happy to serve. Winters with 200" of snowfall is not conducive to the construction business. I don't and can't draw unemployment and if the winter months are slow well then that means no money is coming in, so forth so on. This last questionnaire I simply guess-timated how far it is to the courthouse from where I live...'bout 12-13 miles I believe...I did do a Mapquest or some such thingy...and I don't recall any of the other questions though they were few. I'd hate to have to serve on a jury summer although a day or two wouldn't break me. They will ask if you have formed an opinion and if you have formed one, you best scoot out the door...they want you to leave if you have formed an opinion. We found the defendant innocent.
 

@PM

The Lazing Dutchman
Aug 8, 2008
444
1,635
43
The Netherlands
As I live in a country that doesn't have jury trials, I'm not exactly familiar with the proceedings. I always thought (a bit naively maybe) a jury was composed as needed by randomly picking some names from the population register and that's it. But as I read now you'd have to stand by for a couple of months, may or may not actually be required to show up and have to find out for yourself whether you have to go or not? And even if you have to go, there's still some selection procedure you have to go through before actually becoming a member of a jury?
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
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DiO'Bolic

Not completely obtuse
Nov 14, 2013
22,864
129,998
Poconos, PA
I served on a burglary case. I was 18 years old. In deliberation each of us started off by commenting one idea of what we thought was key to the case. After our comments the jury voted on making me the jury foreman. "Give it to the kid" I recall them saying. And the kid was too young and naive to decline. The first vote came out 11 not guilty and 1 guilty. I stood alone. After a little over an hour of deliberating I changed my vote because of the sloppy work of the police and weak case by the DA (who later went on to become the county judge) and there was a very small level of reasonable doubt.

I found out people on juries make their decisions based on feelings as much as evidence. :(
 

PatInTheHat

GOOBER MEMBER
Dec 19, 2007
13,362
12,037
63
Lair of the Great Kentucky Nightcrawler
I served on a burglary case. I was 18 years old. In deliberation each of us started off by commenting one idea of what we thought was key to the case. After our comments the jury voted on making me the jury foreman. "Give it to the kid" I recall them saying. And the kid was too young and naive to decline. The first vote came out 11 not guilty and 1 guilty. I stood alone. After a little over an hour of deliberating I changed my vote because of the sloppy work of the police and weak case by the DA (who later went on to become the county judge) and there was a very small level of reasonable doubt.

I found out people on juries make their decisions based on feelings as much as evidence. :(
Probably make those decisions on feelings no more as often, and/or often on, which side told the best lies, and/or told them best, bad lie but good liar is what I'm sayin'.
Truth, truths, and nuttin' butt those "truths", they ain't always so very convenient for neither side, in our system of jurisprudence, and more oftener than most would like to think, is what I thinkin'.
 

Debbie913

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2011
6,563
18,409
Colorado
They say being picked for jury duty is completely random, but somehow my name gets picked more often than anyone I have ever known. (If my name is in a bin to win something good, I won't get called. :biggrin:)

The first time I got summoned, I tried really hard to get out of it. I was 20 years old and had a nursing baby at home. (TMI?) He was 5 1/2 months old. I couldn't get out of it and wound up sitting on that jury for a week. It was so boring! I had to work really hard to stay awake. It was about a man who rear-ended a construction vehicle and then took the company to court for his back injuries.

There were two times I spent an entire day sitting in the court house waiting to see if I'd get picked before I got to go home. One time, half of a day. I'm never lucky enough to not have to show up when you call the number the night before...

Then August of 2013 I got picked to serve on another jury. At least it was only a day and a half long. I still wonder occasionally if we did the right thing on that one...we had to vote "not guilty" based on the evidence. How do you say a man is guilty of running away when he had an ankle monitor on at the time that never showed him not to be where he was supposed to be? It was a sex-offender case, and he likely should have been put back in jail due to other things, but they were not allowed to be part of our decision...just whether or not he was on the run.

So, that's five times so far. I'm going to just hope I don't get called any more. I figure I've done my duty, right? There are lots of other people around here that need a turn!
 

KingAHolic

Banned
Feb 3, 2015
6,926
20,505
Old Dominion
The eyes are on me. I have been summoned.

Anyone had to do this before? How was it?

I loved it. Much better than work, something different and interesting. A bit stressful at time (the case I was on lasted a week), met interesting people. I'm in a different County now, and, filled out a form a few months ago and keep hoping they will call upon me!