Jury Duty

[Cool Dood]

I'm not on an actual jury, but I just got the questionnaire they use to qualify people for the jury rolls and sent it in.

I never understood why people hate jury duty so much, and always try to get out of it. I can understand it if there's an urgent personal or financial reason that would be seriously interfered with by having to serve on a jury, but otherwise it seems like an interesting and worthwhile civic role. Also, since the vast majority of laws in all the world's jurisdictions are patently stupid and wrong, it seems like a more realistic way of helping out justice a bit through jury nullification than, say, voting, where a single vote doesn't mean much and usually the viable candidates are all jackasses anyway.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Interesting/worthwhile

Here's the wrapup of my last jury duty.

- ~100 to 200 people reported for a jury pool. We waited maybe 2 hours until called to the court.

The case was about some poor slep having drug paraphanalia, not drugs mind you, just drug paraphanalia.

It took another ~2 hours to select a jury. I was not selected.

My take on it was... Is it really worth while to waste 200 people's time to try someone for drug paraphanalia ? Perhaps he was guilty but who cares. Is that an effective use of all of our time.

Now why couldn't I get on the adult film copyright violation case or something worthwhile !

 

[Cool Dood]

I think it would be an interesting glimpse into the idiocy and immorality of the law, and worthwhile since it would be a good opportunity to wipe out a very stupid police/prosecutor/legislator setup of a citizen possessing an innoccuous item.

Of course, it's far from the most interesting or worthwhile situation to serve on a jury, as are most cases, but it still strikes me as a positive thing, not a negative thing. And there's always the chance that one will be a juror for a more meaningful case.

Is it really worth while to waste 200 people's time to try someone for drug paraphanalia ?

No, definitely not. One more reason to legalize drugs.

 

[Nords]

My take on it was... Is it really worth while to waste 200 people's time to try someone for drug paraphanalia ? Perhaps he was guilty but who cares. Is that an effective use of all of our time.

It's always a waste of time... until we're the ones in handcuffs.

 

[maddythebeagle]

Interesting article in our local paper...judge was explaining how it has been more difficult to get folks and said that he had the authority to have people just plucked off of the street for duty...

 

[HFWR]

It's always a waste of time... until we're the ones in handcuffs.

Not sure if I want to be tried by a jury of my peers...

 

[Gone4Good]

Also, since the vast majority of laws in all the world's jurisdictions are patently stupid and wrong, it seems like a more realistic way of helping out justice a bit through jury nullification than, say, voting.

I think it would be an interesting glimpse into the idiocy and immorality of the law, and worthwhile since it would be a good opportunity to wipe out a very stupid police/prosecutor/legislator setup of a citizen possessing an innoccuous item.

Good luck getting on the jury. My guess is that any prosecutor worth the name is going to bump you immediately.

 

[Cool Dood]

Good luck getting on the jury. My guess is that any prosecutor worth the name is going to bump you immediately.

Well, obviously I won't mention it. I believe all laws are good and are meant to be obeyed.

 

[Gone4Good]

Well, obviously I won't mention it. I believe all laws are good and are meant to be obeyed.

Most folks lie to get out of jury duty.

 

[Outtahere]

I had the same experience as MasterBlaster, it was a hurry up and wait type of deal and in the end they didn't pick anyone from my section.

My sister on the other hand was picked for Federal Grand Jury duty. THAT was a nightmare, once a week for 18 months and then it was extended for another 3 months so they could finish what they had been working on. She has a small business and if she's not there she doesn't make money, didn't matter to them, she had to go or end up in jail herself. She says she still has nightmares over some of the stuff she saw and heard.

 

[Cool Dood]

Most folks lie to get out of jury duty.

LOL, good one!! I'm still laughing at it!

I had the same experience as MasterBlaster, it was a hurry up and wait type of deal and in the end they didn't pick anyone from my section.

My sister on the other hand was picked for Federal Grand Jury duty. THAT was a nightmare, once a week for 18 months and then it was extended for another 3 months so they could finish what they had been working on. She has a small business and if she's not there she doesn't make money, didn't matter to them, she had to go or end up in jail herself. She says she still has nightmares over some of the stuff she saw and heard.

Yeah, I can imagine that there are certainly nightmare situations involving jury duties. I certainly don't intend to dispute that. Just the hassle alone of what she went through sounds like a very major pain-in-the-ass.

 

[brewer12345]

Heh, years ago, a family friend who was a self-employed tradesman got a jury duty summons. m Unable to afford the time away from his business, he checked off the box indicating that he couldn't serve because he was a felon. He was never called again.

 

[eridanus]

I'm always bumped by mail.

"Are you a member of any groups or organizations?

* Card carrying member of the ACLU"

 

[Patrick]

About 12 years ago I got a jury duty summons. Went in with the rest of the cattle, assuming that I would not be picked because my brother was a Lieutenant in the local PD. We go in front of the judge in groups of 20 and she's asking a few questions about how people feel about the type of case (a murder). Lots of people were trying to give her excuses to get out of serving, but she wouldn't let them out! So I wound up going on the stand to be questioned by the attorneys. The DA asks me if I know anyone on the PD and I say yes. He asks me if it's Lieutenant (my last name) and I say yes, he's my brother. He turns to the judge and says "This candidate is acceptable to the prosecution." Now the defense attorney comes up and asks me if I own any guns. I say, yes, several. I figure I'm outta there for sure now. He asks me if I would use one of my handguns to defend myself and my property if I were attacked by an intruder. I say yes, of course. Then he asks me if I would give any more weight to testimony from a police officer just because he's a cop. I say no. To my complete amazement, he turns to the judge and says "This candidate is acceptable."

I wound up seated on the jury. It was a double murder trial that lasted for 5 days. I'm glad my employer let me keep my pay even though I wasn't at work because the jury allowance was only $15/day - barely enough to cover lunch.

BTW, the trial was conducted very well by the judge and the jury considered all of the evidence carefully (unlike the OJ trial, which was going on at the same time). We wound up convicting the accused on two counts of 1st degree murder.

 

[Leonidas]

I just went two days ago. 236 people for two potential trials, one of which was cancelled as they were getting us organized. They pulled 50 people as veniremen (potential jurors) and dismissed the rest of us. Total time there was about 1 1/2 hours - not too bad. Comparing it with past experiences I think that locally they have made great strides in making the whole thing less of an ordeal.

I used to never look forward to being called for jury duty because I knew I would never be called. Defense lawyers never want a cop on their jury in criminal cases. Usually when they realize I'm there they call for some move to get me off or ask for a "reshuffle" to move me further down the list so I'll be less likely to get picked. Then I had a case in Federal Court in which the jury we picked included a police officer's wife and another member who was an officer's brother. They were far down the list and I guess the defense never thought that we would get that far through the pool so they didn't strike them. Now I look forward to it, maybe just to see the defense attorney's reaction if I ever make it on a jury.

There are always a percentage of the population that doesn't want to serve. Maybe because it is inconvenient, or because it is just a pain to be captive of a system they don't understand. I guess they don't take the time to think that there are real people just like them who are the victims and defendants in those cases who are dependant on the jurors and the verdict they deliver. If they ever find themselves in either role maybe the importance of jury duty will be made clear to them, as they look at a panel made up of the people who couldn't find some clever excuse to keep from serving.

Also, since the vast majority of laws in all the world's jurisdictions are patently stupid and wrong, it seems like a more realistic way of helping out justice a bit through jury nullification than, say, voting, where a single vote doesn't mean much and usually the viable candidates are all jackasses anyway.

That's an interesting concept. I hope you never have to reconsider that after someone has cleaned out your house, stolen your car, murdered a loved one, or had your retirement plans ruined because some crooked CEO was defrauding his stockholders.

 

[Patrick]

There are always a percentage of the population that doesn't want to serve. Maybe because it is inconvenient, or because it is just a pain to be captive of a system they don't understand. I guess they don't take the time to think that there are real people just like them who are the victims and defendants in those cases who are dependant on the jurors and the verdict they deliver. If they ever find themselves in either role maybe the importance of jury duty will be made clear to them, as they look at a panel made up of the people who couldn't find some clever excuse to keep from serving.

In the trial I was a juror on, the victim's families were there every single minute of every day. I'll never forget them crying as they thanked us while we walked out after rendering the verdict.

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm

Got my jury summons right after one year in MO. The deal here is: you call in or check the internet the Sunday evening before the monday of the date on the questionaire you sent in. Didn't even have to report in to a jury pool this time. A lot more efficient than New Orleans where you had to drive in and sit around - didn't get picked back then either.

heh heh heh heh heh heh heh

 

[Cool Dood]

That's an interesting concept. I hope you never have to reconsider that after someone has cleaned out your house, stolen your car, murdered a loved one, or had your retirement plans ruined because some crooked CEO was defrauding his stockholders.

That's just silly. I said the vast majority of laws, in order not to include the laws against actions that actually harm victims. You just named most of them in one sentence, and how many laws would you say apply to you in your jurisdiction -- a hundred thousand? a million? ten million? A tiny, tiny number of laws are good, and the rest tend to be more harmful than the activity they're supposed to prevent.

 

[Outtahere]

I've been called probably 10 times, of those 10 I had to actually report to the court house twice. Here they give you a number to call the night before to find out if you need to show up or not. That still doesn't eliminate the times you do have to go only to be let go in a couple hours.

 

[astromeria]

I've served on one jury so far--an incident of road rage. It was creepy to think that these two jerks had been speeding aorund on roads that I drive on. The trial was very interesting--especially the group dynamics in the jury room. It was like 12 Angry Men--jurors who just wanted out asap, people who just wanted convict any defendent, 3 people who vied for Dear Leader of the jury--and the women had harsher attitudes than the men!Now that I have served, I;d be happy to do so again. But it would be awful to serve at a long trial (on the other hand, $15 a day is a lot more than I'm making outside of retirement savings accts )

 

[razztazz]

Interesting this should come up now. I am scheduled for Federal jury duty in Nov. At least in this district we have that -call in the night before to see if you're needed the next day-- system

I'm kind of looking forward to it since it's something unusual to do that might even be fun and/or educational. But not like a job where I'm stuck with it.

I forgot about the "group dynamics" thing! The very thing that drove me into early retirement!

 

[Leonidas]

That's just silly. I said the vast majority of laws, in order not to include the laws against actions that actually harm victims. You just named most of them in one sentence, and how many laws would you say apply to you in your jurisdiction -- a hundred thousand? a million? ten million? A tiny, tiny number of laws are good, and the rest tend to be more harmful than the activity they're supposed to prevent.

I'm not the defender of every law ever written. There are some dumb laws, and some that cause harm. But to say that the overwhelming majority is dumb and harmful is plain wrong. While I thought you might be engaging in some hyperbole in your original post, you claim otherwise. I’ve got to call you on that statement.

But, we’re talking about jury duty experiences here, so let’s confine the discussion to that arena. And I think I’m correct in assuming that we’re not talking about contract law. That leaves criminal law.

From our past postings I think it safe to assume that we don’t necessarily agree on all aspects of drug laws. And even though I don’t agree, within the four corners of this particular discussion I am going to say “let’s decriminalize all narcotics, drugs and marijuana” – just to keep from travelling over ground covered elsewhere.

So what does that leave? Here are the laws that –once you exclude the civil stuff – will result in trials in which you might be called upon to the decider of fact. (I included Texas because I don’t know where you live and I am familiar with the laws)

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I.html

and

http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/petoc.html

Since only a ”… tiny, tiny number of laws are good… it should be a simple matter for you to pick out a few of the bad ones. Have at it.

Just to save you some time and trouble I’ll cover a couple of probable areas here and now.

Prostitution – I would be in favor of legalizing prostitution on one simple condition – if it could be made safe for all participants. If you think that is already the case then come visit me and I’ll take you to the grave of some prostitutes who were murdered by their pimps, or to the local safe-houses where women who were rescued after being forced into the sex-industry might tell you how “victimless” it all really is.

Gambling – I’m all in favor of it, with yet another minor provision. Finding a way to keep gambling addicts from spending other peoples’ money. Few things sucked more about my last job than fielding calls from people who complained about their spouse gambling away all of the family’s money and now the kids are going without food and they're being evicted from their home.

Private consensual sexual activity between competently consenting adults (other than prostitution). Go for it dude (or should that be Dood)?

If you exclude the things I’ve already taken off the table, that leaves about 95+% of criminal law still on the books. I’m interested in knowing what laws you find so objectionable that you would bring you to violate your oath as a juror and engage in nullification.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

That's just silly. I said the vast majority of laws, in order not to include the laws against actions that actually harm victims. You just named most of them in one sentence, and how many laws would you say apply to you in your jurisdiction -- a hundred thousand? a million? ten million? A tiny, tiny number of laws are good, and the rest tend to be more harmful than the activity they're supposed to prevent.

Cool Dood is a bit hyperbolic here, but I agree with his basic premise
and you all will too when you are charged with some nutty
infraction. If you live long enough it will happen. Guaranteed.

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

My dad was called once. Got off for health reasons. He took one look
at the "pool" of potential jurors and decided if he was ever charged he would ask for a bench trial.

JG

 

[Patrick]

My dad was called once. Got off for health reasons. He took one look
at the "pool" of potential jurors and decided if he was ever charged he would ask for a bench trial.

JG

I don't think you can judge everyone by their appearance. Every person in the jury with me on the murder trial was intelligent and very diligent in their duties.