Jury Duty

[steveo]

Today I got notice by mail that my presence is required next month at the court house for jury selection. This will be my first time inside a court house (an actual court room) and I'm quite excited. I hope I get selected and then get a juicy case like the ones on Law & Order.

Has anyone here ever sat on a jury and what was the experience like?

[Rick]

I have.
It was 3 days of sitting in the Jury waiting room with my trusty old laptop

I hope for your sake you get a quick case Like I did.
Over in a matter of hours.

Those poor people stuck on that 3 week trial regretted having shown up
I was disqualified :) ( I don’t have a High regard for Quack Doctors ) Malpractice suit

[Whyzman]

Two ways not to be selected:

1) You're a self-employed person whose business is not capable of hiring someone to do the work you do.

2) As Rick pointed out, display some sort of closed minded bias during the selection process. (e.g., "I hate doctors!"; "All attorneys are scum!"; "People who keep an open mind might as well be tatooed on their forehead, 'Dump trash here!'") :D

[steveo]

Today I went over to the courthouse and handed in my request form. I was told they are going to select 4 jury's on the day I go in (Nov4). The nice lady said they may or may not call me on that day so I should expect a long afternoon. That's it for now.

[CLTEK]

I was called upon at one time. Wasn't selected. Hehe :::evil grin:::

I was questioned about a gang related murder case. My answers?

"I used to work for the L.A. District Attorney, Steve Cooley and I was born into a 'law enforcement' family. You don't get arrested for nothing..."

Needless to say, the D.A. **LOVED** me. But the public defender wouldn't have me sit on his jury to save his LIFE! LOL :)

The truth of the matter is, I work nights. Jury duty would kill me.

cltek

[Gallaeglagh]

I've been called in a few times and it seemed like such a waste of time. Waited around for half day and then told go home, I was kind of hoping to get on something just to make it worthwhile for taking a day off.

[borgdrone1of2]

hello
i,m inocent so keep that in mined if your on my jury.
allso in saskatchewan theres a good chance of being arested for nothing being charged for nothing and doing 27 years ask milgaurd.
in la if you ride around in a white ford bronco you can get away with murder.
jmho;)

[steveo]

Today was the big day for selection. Me and about 120 people showed up in courtroom 201 to find out who would be the lucky 26. Being totally new to court procedure I had no idea what to expect. Along with the judge were four security guards, 2 crown prosecutors, 2 defense lawyers, a stenographer, a court offical who handled the names and another dude that told people where to stand at the appropiate time.

After roll call (8 people failed to show and warrents for their arrests were issued by the judge) we all settled in to see what would happen next.

First up was a murder case.

This got the crowd really buzzing as the two accused guys (both mid 20's) were led into the courtroom by the security guards. Although I couldn't hear all the particulars of the case it seemed these two guys were charged with beating someone to death. The process began. The lady called out the first 12 names and they had to stand next to the judge's dias. The judge asked if anyone would now make a claim to the court as to why they shouldn't be selected. After that both the crown and the defense would either give their consent or challenge the prospective jurer. If all parties consented you were on the jury. If one party challenged, the person was put back into the pool for the next trial.

1.5 hrs and 55 people later the jury was picked. Eight members were male in their early 40's. Four members were female in their early 20's. I will say that most of time during selection, both accused spent their time smiling or chuckling and at one point waving to all of us as they were led back to the cells. I thought this was rather odd being the people they were acting like goofballs towards were the people that would ultimately decide where they slept for the next 25 years.

The second case was announced.

It was a crime of theft.

Some old guy stole something from a woman I think. Being sitted at the back of the courtroom it was hard for me to hear exactly what the charges were. The buzz that swept through the courtroom for the murder case was absent for this case. All the same procedures were followed. It took 2hrs and 60 people to get this jury selected. For some reason the crown prosecuter kept challenging candidates almost to the point to where there was nobody left to choose from. At the end the judge thanked us all for showing up and dismissed proceedings. For the record, about 10 people were never called upon, I was one of them.

General observations...

Only one non-caucasion male was in the entire group. He was called upon but never selected when it was discovered he owned a chinese restaurant in which the crown prosecutor ate at often. The crown prosecutor told the judge he considered this some kind of conflict of interest I think. There were a few other conflicts in which potential jurers knew someone involved in the case or one of the lawyers. One lady was excused because she had two babies at home and her husband worked out of town. Another for a hearing disability, one was a teacher. One lady stated she had once served on a murder trial and quite frankly didn't want to go through that again. The judge dismissed her without blinking.

As stated earlier, the cross section of people chosen became obvious. Most were males in their early 40's, the remainder, females in their early 20's. I don't know why they choose this way. I suppose studies are made and formula's are followed. The good news is that I never got a parking ticket when I certainly should of.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

BUDDY! :D

Parking lot disruption is a serious offense!

I went to the local Wally World the other day. 7 out of 8 handicapped stalls were full. Not one handicapped license plate. One car was a Mercedes. Tell me that isn't 'above the law'...

Was kinda hoping you'd have served on the jury... and we'd have a day to day case scenaro... kinda like the old tv show 'Perry Mason'. :)

[yawningdog]

I served on a federal case in Norfolk. Tax fraud racket. Some guy did tax returns for a bunch of people and got them huge refunds, but they were so crooked, he had one lady paying out more in itemized deductions (health care, school, business expenses, etc.) than her whole gross income for the year. (Around $34k)

[steveo]

It's over now.

I was at the parent's on the weekend helping mom put up x-mas lights (ugh) and saw friday's paper on the table. On the front page was a wrap-up story of the two clowns who were found guilty by jury and would be sentenced on that judgement in a couple of weeks. These were the same goofs I was called upon for duty but alas never picked. The verdict doesn't surprise me.

this case is closed

names of all participants were changed to protect the innocent

[Flick]

It is no wonder to me why you were not selected.

[Whyzman]

Now Flick, what you don't know is that the defendants in this particular case worked for a traveling Circus. During the jury selection process it would have been within the purvey of the attorneys to refer to the defendants' occupation while screening prospective jurors due to the attire they wore while robbing the bank....