I got summons!

[RoadKingLarry]

Jury duty.

Of course it starts the day before my long scheduled Dr. appointment with the specialist for my back problems.
 

I'm one of those odd ducks that actualy thinks jury duty is is a valid responsibility of the citizenry. I'm thinking I need to reschedule the Dr. appointment. Of course I'm also one of those types that probably would be rejected for a jury.

[vaskidmark]

Congratulations!  Even if you are cut eatly during voire dure be sure to hang around long enough to find out what they are serving jurors for lunch - you might get lucky and get pepper steak left over from the jail.  Be sure to get your parking validated.

stay safe.

[RoadKingLarry]

Be sure to get your parking validated.

I'll probably park at the company office across the street from the county courthouse. My boss offices there so I might even be able to dog a lunch out of him.

[Monkeyleg]

I also think it's a duty. Being self-employed (IOW, if I don't work I don't get paid), jury duty can be costly. When business is slow, though, it's not a problem.

Being white, male and middle-aged or older really reduced the odds of me being selected.

[RoadKingLarry]

Anyone got any good links for jury nullification t-shirts?

[MechAg94]

A lot of jurisdictions are pretty reasonable about rescheduling.  Depends on the population though.  My employer has always been real good with handling jury duty.

  I consider it a duty for the simple reason that if I am ever in the defendant's chair, I want good, reasonable people to show up for my trial, so I figure I ought to do the same. 

[BlueStarLizzard]

 

I'm kinda sad that I still have never gotten called for jury duty. I want to be able to complain about doing my civic duty at great length to other people, too!

I feel so left out










(just for the record, I'm not being a smart ass. I really do want to get jury duty at least once and I will complain about it, because that seems like what you are supposed to do. And I like complaining. :) )

[never_retreat]

This is where I put them.
They are usually nice enough to send me another post card saying they will reschedule it for me.
That gets the same treatment also.

[Levant]

This is where I put them.
They are usually nice enough to send me another post card saying they will reschedule it for me.
That gets the same treatment also.

Really? 

[vaskidmark]

This is where I put them.
They are usually nice enough to send me another post card saying they will reschedule it for me.
That gets the same treatment also.

If you ever come in front of a jury, I hope you remember that you and your plan are responsible for the jury pool being stacked in favor of slack-jawed Jerry Springer rejects and old folks with walkers and Alzheimers.

While I still rank voting as a civic duty, for all the good it seems to do, I rank jury duty even higher.  The fact that defense attorneys deselected me because I was employed in the prison system and prosecutors deselected me because I listed my profession as social worker notwithstanding, each of the time I was called I made sure to show up all scrubbed and my hair (head, face, body) nicely combed.  I understand the financial hardship jury duty can create for the self-employed, but still rant about how the result of a jury decision might have been better (define that as you will) if there were a better class of people sitting in the jury box.

Given how many cases go to deals instead of going to trial, those that do come up for assessment of the facts deserve the best jury possible.

stay safe.

[lupinus]

I got the call once so far. Don't mind it, agree it's a duty and my company paying me to not be there is a nice little bonus.

Actually got picked to sit on a jury, sadly the guy decided to change his plea the day the trial was set to start.

[never_retreat]

If you ever come in front of a jury, I hope you remember that you and your plan are responsible for the jury pool being stacked in favor of slack-jawed Jerry Springer rejects and old folks with walkers and Alzheimers.

While I still rank voting as a civic duty, for all the good it seems to do, I rank jury duty even higher.  The fact that defense attorneys deselected me because I was employed in the prison system and prosecutors deselected me because I listed my profession as social worker notwithstanding, each of the time I was called I made sure to show up all scrubbed and my hair (head, face, body) nicely combed.  I understand the financial hardship jury duty can create for the self-employed, but still rant about how the result of a jury decision might have been better (define that as you will) if there were a better class of people sitting in the jury box.

Given how many cases go to deals instead of going to trial, those that do come up for assessment of the facts deserve the best jury possible.

stay safe.

I went once when i was 19is. It was the most wasteful process that wasted 4 days of my time that I did not get paid for.
If you need people call them in don't call them in to sit around for days and do nothing.
So it left an extreme bad taste in my mouth.

Yes that made me have no use for the current system. Maybe its different where you guys are but thats how it was for me.

The system is broke.

Let people volunteer for it.

[HankB]

I've been called for jury duty around 6 or 7 times over the last 30 years, but only served twice - both times locally in my suburb when someone was fighting a traffic ticket. (I've also been tossed a couple of times because one side or the other didn't like my answers during voir dire.)

Even for such a minor offense, we jurors took it pretty seriously - which is what I hope happens if I ever have to appear in front of a jury. And that's the point - as much as a nuisance as it is, trial by jury is a foundation of our criminal justice system; to benefit from that, we ought to be willing to support it by serving as jurors once in a while.

Sure, the way its administered some places is pretty bad and I can see how it can be costly for a small businessman; fortunately my employer pays me for jury duty so it's not a financial hardship, so maybe that colors my opinion somewhat; jury duty shouldn't be a financial punishment for anyone.

[Levant]

I went once when i was 19is. It was the most wasteful process that wasted 4 days of my time that I did not get paid for.
If you need people call them in don't call them in to sit around for days and do nothing.
So it left an extreme bad taste in my mouth.

Yes that made me have no use for the current system. Maybe its different where you guys are but thats how it was for me.

The system is broke.

Let people volunteer for it.

You got paid for it.  Every day you're not in a prison camp, you're paid for the jury system.  Every time you speak out against government and are not arrested, you are paid by the jury system.  Poor you sat for 4 days and didn't get paid?  That's just about the most offensive thing I have heard from someone on a liberty-oriented Internet forum.

[Neemi]

The last time I got a jury summons was for a state I didn't even live in anymore - and my family who got the summons couldn't be bothered to tell me until I got a second or third notice. 

[Scout26]

I related my jury experience on here at that time.

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=17405.0

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=17698.0

I too see jury duty as just that "Duty".  Yes, the process can be maddening, but the purpose is to somewhat randomize the pool of candidates then screen out those with obvious bias/knowledge/prejudices about the case/defendant.   I know if I'm ever on trial, I want a bunch of smart people on there, not the audience from Maury Povich and Jerry Springer.

Was it pain, yes 2+ weeks on a murder trial having to look at the horrible autopsy pictures.  (Which brought back some really back memories of an incident in Baumholder. But also help bring some closure to that as well.)

In the end I know we reached the correct verdict and justice was done.

[Levant]

jury duty shouldn't be a financial punishment for anyone.

Financial punishment?  yes, the cost of liberty is mighty high for some folks.

[Phyphor]

This is where I put them.
They are usually nice enough to send me another post card saying they will reschedule it for me.
That gets the same treatment also.

Here in Cali, you get a nice letter threatening an arrest warrant and a $2,000 fine if you do this more than a couple of times.

[MrsSmith]

Was summoned once and selected once. I believe it's a duty as well and didn't make any special effort to get out of it, even though it meant a week off work without pay - and as a single mom, that was hard. It was a pretty gruesome case. Guy was released from jail where he'd served 8 months for car-jacking. On his way home from jail, carjacked someone else (and beat the hell out of her in the process) then went and cruised his hood. At about that time, a 16 y.o. girl was walking home from her job waiting tables at Waffle House, around 6pm, but it was full dark out. He grabbed her, raped her, killed her, put her body in the trunk of the jacked car, and spent the next two days showing her body to his buddies - none of whom reported it. News of the missing person investigation reached him a few days later so he took her body to an abandoned building in the projects and stashed her in a closet. Then he and a buddy used a pipe and bleach to try to remove evidence of the rape. He left her in the building for a week or so, then put her back in the trunk of his car and moved her. I can't remember to where, but that's where they found her body.

The testimony was gruesome, the guy sat there and stared at us jurors all day every day, no one testified on his behalf, and after four days of the trial it took us almost a full day to convict (there was an elderly black man who said he was tired of seeing young black men go to jail every time a white person was killed - we eventually convinced him). When we were released, the DA was waiting to speak to us and thanked everyone individually. When he got to me, he said, "I'm sorry you had to sit through all of that, I know it was difficult to see and hear, but I had to have you on this jury. You're the spitting image of the victim and I wanted to rattle him."

It was a difficult week seeing the photos, hearing the MEs testimony, the cops who found her, his buddies describing what he did, him staring at us all week, but it needed to be done. And if I hadn't, and 10 others that were selected hadn't, there could have been more like the old guy and he might have gotten off. We each have a responsibility.

[erictank]

Selected once so far, and the case I was up for - don't even know what it was - got settled the morning I was supposed to call in and verify whether I was to report in.

If I ever get selected for an actual criminal case, I'm pretty well convinced they'll send me home at voir dire.

[MillCreek]

I am astonished that I have been voting for 35 years now, and got called for jury duty exactly once.  The first case was a personal injury case, and as soon as the plaintiff counsel heard 'former lawyer' and 'malpractice defense', during voir dire, he put me off the jury.  During the same session, I did get on a residential burglary case, but the judge declared a mistrial after two days upon hearing one of the jurors (not me) discussing the case at lunch at a local restaurant.

I have, however, spoken to hundreds of jurors after one of my malpractice cases went to trial, and the vast majority of them took jury duty very seriously and tried hard to come to an appropriate decision after careful consideration of the evidence and the jury instructions.  I have no qualms with the jury system, with the codicil that I have no experience with the criminal side of things.

[French G.]

Only called once for me, it was a no brainer to go, $30 a day, 2 mile commute vice 40, and the gubmint was still paying me to not be at work. Wore my uniform which was lulz, first I ruined the day of the E-8 court predator, put there to ensure sailors aren't sneaking to court dates without command chaperones. Then I got to see middle age professionals defer to me because they were scared to decided anything. So we'll let the 23 year old in an ice cream man suit be in charge.  Ah, appeal to authority.

[Scout26]

I went once when i was 19is. It was the most wasteful process that wasted 4 days of my time that I did not get paid for.
If you need people call them in don't call them in to sit around for days and do nothing.
So it left an extreme bad taste in my mouth.

Yes that made me have no use for the current system. Maybe its different where you guys are but thats how it was for me.

The system is broke.

Let people volunteer for it.

Good thing we haven't needed the militia in quite some time. 

[Scout26]

RKL, you can ask to borrow Mike Irwin's Portable Lethal Injection Device and bring that with you for Voir dire.  Always a big hit with the lawyers and judges. 

[Firethorn]

first I ruined the day of the E-8 court predator, put there to ensure sailors aren't sneaking to court dates without command chaperones.

How'd you ruin his day?  He thought you were there to answer to charges and did something stupid?

I want to be called; haven't yet.