Ask a guy who had jury duty today anyhing.

[Beowulf]

Only got a summons once and then my batch was never called, so I didn't even have to go downtown. Too bad though, I'd actually like to serve on a jury (though my belief in jury nullification and strong limits on governmental powers will probably get me tossed).

 

[funeralweb]

I was called up to serve by Jefferson County, Indiana Superior Court a couple of years ago, SIX years after I had moved over 100 miles away from there.

 

[brianheeter]

This is something that we should all be prepared and proud to do. Our society will work better if we all participate. One way to participate is to serve on a jury when called upon. You don't have to like it but it is our duty to do the job to the best of our abilities.

I have served on one civil jury and was even elected foreman. It was a great experience to see how the court system works, or doesn't, depending on your point of view. I was called up for a criminal trial but was dismissed from serving. One side or the other didn't like it when my views on self-defense and how the government belongs to the people came out.

brian

 

[Mark 1911]

I had jury duty on a civil case in Hammond a few years back. A woman with a history of back and neck problems was trying to take advantage of another woman who had rear ended her vehicle in a car accident, and was trying to use that situation to get a huge some of money for pre-existing health problems totally unrelated to the car accident. It was clear to me that she was lying in court to get money and that really did not sit well with me.

She lied about the details of the car accident. She said that she was stopped at a traffic light when she was rear ended. But there was a police officer who testified that he was parked in a lot at the intersection, the lead car was racing for the yellow but when she saw the squad car, slammed on the brakes, and the car behind her then hit her. Her story directly conflicted with the police officer's testimony. In addition, photographs of the trailing vehicle showed damage to the top of the hood only, while the lead vehicle showed only minor damage to the bottom of the rear bumper, indicating that the lead car was in a nose dive with the rear end high up in the air when hit from behind. Yet she lied to the court and said she was standing still when she was hit. The icing on the cake was when her own doctor testified that all the injuries she sustained were ongoing problems for years.

In the end we awarded her the cost of a trip to the emergency room to get checked out by a doctor. I think the sum total we agreed on was less than $1000. She was trying to rake the system for several hundred thousand. There should be penalties against people lie in court to win big money. She was basically trying to steal a huge amount of money, but didn't get away with it.

 

[BrianD]

I had jury duty about 10 years ago in SC. It was a death penalty case for a teenager who killed a cop! I was sequestered for 8 days. No contact with family, no news, constantly surrounded by Marshall's. We found the kid guilty, but one juror wouldn't vote for death, so he got life without parole.
It was an experience I will never forget, but one that I would not repeat. Life was tough for several months after that. Once the media found out who we were, they all wanted interviews.

 

[dsol]

Some of us will sit on a jury because it is our civic duty as Americans, not out of spite from something someone did in the past.

Maybe so... but the fact that I was almost railroaded by the guilty before proven innocent system in place now has just reaffirmed my belief that someone who is skeptical of the process and the people in charge should be on the jury now. I would be fine with sending someone to jail but if there was a reasonable doubt or it looked like the prosecutor did not bother with the actual guilt of the person, I would be fine with being a thorn in theire side as well. There needs to be some stronger penalties for over charging a person just to try and force a plea deal or withholding evidence or information just so they can make a case. My father was a cop many years ago and things are so different now it is hard if not impossible to trust the system. At least for me that is.

 

[Hookeye]

I have been summoned 3 times. Never tried to weasel out of it.
Have been questioned only once, and answered all correctly (not very tricky, they just used non normal conversational language).
The two ladies to my left had to ask several times for clarification, and screwed it up.
They were selected, I was not.

Scary.

I would prefer smart people be on the jury, esp if I was drug into court for something.

 

[actaeon277]

Some of us will sit on a jury because it is our civic duty as Americans, not out of spite from something someone did in the past.

Maybe so... but the fact that I was almost railroaded by the guilty before proven innocent system in place now has just reaffirmed my belief that someone who is skeptical of the process and the people in charge should be on the jury now. I would be fine with sending someone to jail but if there was a reasonable doubt or it looked like the prosecutor did not bother with the actual guilt of the person, I would be fine with being a thorn in theire side as well. There needs to be some stronger penalties for over charging a person just to try and force a plea deal or withholding evidence or information just so they can make a case. My father was a cop many years ago and things are so different now it is hard if not impossible to trust the system. At least for me that is.

This is why there needs to be a jury. So people can try to keep the system honest.
Lets look at the alternative.
A representative of the government sitting in judgement with NO ONE ELSE to try to keep the system honest.
Look at what was available before our system.

That's why I agree with Jetta and others.
People need to be willing to work in the system.
You can't complain about the system if you just sit on the sidelines and let it happen.

 

[aeroe]

Yuck. I just got my summons notice... well the questionnaire portion online. I wasn't selected the last time for some domestic dispute back in 2009. I figured the next step is being summoned in person, like the last time? I assume I passed my questionnaire.

As for the last experience, I started a new job that same week and was immediately plucked for jury duty. I also didn't like that prosecuting attorney one bit. He literally wanted us to nod in unison if we understand his statements during jury selection. I probably just glared at him the wrong way. No surprise I was sent home.

 

[SERparacord]

I just tell them I hope I get a chance to fry someone.

 

[ghuns]

I have served once. They filled the jury box and asked a few basic questions. A couple of people knew each other and were booted. A couple were victims of a violent crime, also booted. They called me and 3 others into the box. Asked if we could be impartial jurors, we all nodded, and they said great, lets get to it. The trial started almost immediately.

Guy had knocked on the door of a little old lady, whacked her over the head, stole her purse, and her car. Little old lady identified him, he was found passed out in her car the next day, with a small amount of crack. Defense asked little old lady, you sure it was him? She said yes, it was him. And off to the jury room we went. We were all puzzled as to why there was even a trail. We debated whether to take a vote immediately, decided to do it. All said guilty. Then we debated whether to call the bailiff or take some time like we were in deep thought. Decided to call bailiff. Judge asked for verdict, guilty. He then asked the bailiff to return us to the jury room.

We sat for three hours before they called us back in and said, congratulations, now you get to decide if this guy is a 3 time loser and should be sent up for life. All his lawyer could put up as a defence was, maybe, just maybe, this isn't the same John C. Ahole that has been convicted of 2 previous felonies and he took several hours to do it. We went back to the jury room and took several seconds to deliberate and found him to be a habitual offender.

It was a good experience. My employer at the time payed me the difference between my juror pay and what I would make in a normal day. They fed us twice. I had a warm fuzzy feeling from seeing a very bad man getting sent away for the rest of his life. I came away from the experience wondering why people try to avoid it.

 

[CathyInBlue]

I've been called for jury duty sometime next month.

…

What?

 

[mom45]

I was called up to serve by Jefferson County, Indiana Superior Court a couple of years ago, SIX years after I had moved over 100 miles away from there.

If you are registered to vote there and didn't cancel out your registration with the clerk's office, that is probably why you were summoned.

 

[Alamo]

I registered to vote in Brown County as soon as I turned 18 in fall 1977, graduated from BCHS in May 1978, and boom! called for jury duty. Civil case from Columbus. Car accident on a bridge on I-65 just south of Columbus. Pretty sure everyone on the jury knew the exact spot like I did. Railroad runs under the bridge, crew welding the tracks had started a grass fire but put it out. And left. Hours later another grass fire under the bridge, lots of smoke, people drove into it and stopped, lady got rear-ended and now was scared of everything, especially cloudy days and fog. Sued the railroad.

All the lawyers (one plaintiff's, two corporate defense) were from out of county, and were a bit surprised when one of them asked if any one in the jury pool knew anyone else in the pool, and pretty much everyone raised their hands. The judge (who I and my family knew also, as well as a good percentage of the pool) laughed at the lawyers and told them if they want a jury of strangers we'd be calling new juror candidates for days. The lawyers conferred and decided they could live with it. Picked jury of 12, I knew at least half of them, and two of them were close neighbors. The judge had me come visit him in chambers after the trial, he was always trying to get me to go to law school. I told him it was a pain the the ass to have to go thru the trial as a juror without being able to take notes. He agreed that we should be able to, but the law is the law.

Couple days of testimony, couple free lunches, then at the end of the second trial day, supper and we started deliberations after that, IIRC. Went until 2 a.m.

First "vote" of the jury convicted one of the corporate attorneys of being a bald-face liar. (The guy looked like a Grisham novel character). In his closing argument he re-stated the testimony of a psychologist (or psychiatrist? can't remember) to be exactly the opposite of what the doc had said.

I felt a bit insecure going into the jury room because I was basically a kid among a lot of adults I knew, but I have a streak of stubbornness or righteousness or something that requires me to state my opinion when I think it is substantially correct. Could have knocked me over with a feather when one of the other jurors, a neighbor I had known for years, probably in her upper 40s then, changed her vote based on my argument.

Wasn't enough tho, we ended up hung on all three formal issues we were to decide (unanimous about that lawyer tho ). Stood on the county courthouse back stairs in the rain for about 15 minutes talking to the non-convicted corporate lawyer about the case after we were released at 2 a.m.

18 years in the military away from Indiana kept me off any more juries, until I was assigned to Texas, switched my state of residence to there, registered to vote in Bexar County, and boom! called several times for jury duty. Showed up but not needed several times, then got put on a six-member civil case about another car accident, this time two individuals that connected in the middle of an intersection.

We were not told that the defendant was being represented by insurance company lawyers (again, a pair), but we figured that out as well -- they were very smooth, very polite, very very well dressed. The plaintiff's lawyer looked like he shopped at Goodwill. If all his cases were like this one, no wonder. It was pathetic. (Another Grisham character). When the judge came in for the first time, he had the bailiff pass out pencils and note pads that had little American flags and bunting printed on them with "JUDGE DELAWHATSIT" in big letters on them. Basically campaign material. Not impressive. As far as we could tell he paid very little attention to the trial, he just did paperwork and signed documents brought to him by his staff. The lawyers ran everything, occasionally interrupting the judge to get a ruling on something.

We go to the jury room, which looks like a storage room, and my fellow jurors all point at me and say "you're the foreman. " Once again we voted on the lawyers first. We all decided that we would not hire the plaintiff's lawyer to be a parking cone, never mind for a civil case. (I told him that when he tracked me down later and called me to find out what happened in the jury room).

The bailiff walks in and drops a file in front of me saying "this is evidence." WTF? I look through the file, which is a copy (one, for six people) of the plaintiff's medical record. Nothing about it was mentioned in the trial, there wasn't even a medical person testifying about the plaintiff's alleged injuries (carpal tunnel syndrome among them), but we get a medical record, which turns out to be an ER visit after the crash (no real injuries noted) and some later records on his carpal tunnel and back problem. That's it, no explanation how this all fits in.

The other jurors were really pissed about being on the jury, they were losing money by not working and jury pay was $6/day. I was still in service so I was good. My fellow jurors were even more pissed about the crummy little trial that took about four hours of testimony and stretched it over two days plus the jury selection day. So the guy who has a one-man business says "the plaintiff's case is a joke a but I need to get out of here. Let's award him the $600 for his ER visit and call it a day." All in favor, aye. BAILIFF! We have a verdict.

The insurance lawyers both smile for the first time when they find out how badly they lost the case, and after seeing the plaintiff's lawyer absorbing his victory, I considered asking the bailiff to recommend to the judge that he put the guy on suicide watch. Except the judge quickly thanked us and scurried off to his golf game or something.

I was in the pool for a court-martial panel once, for a rape trial, but got booted by the defense when they found out I knew a woman who had been raped and hurt other ways.

In summary, the two civil cases did not burnish the majesty of the law in my eyes...

 

[Burnsy]

Anything? How do you like your pancakes?

Four pages of responses and one person read the title.... Blueberry, copious amount of syrup.

 

[Bunnykid68]

Four pages of responses and one person read the title.... Blueberry, copious amount of syrup.

You left it wide open and all everyone else could think about is courts and juries Now I am hungry again thinkin bout pancakes