|
Post by *KAS* on Apr 7, 2022 18:06:08 GMT
I figure if I ever wanted the chance at a "jury of my peers" I should be willing to sit as a jury of peers. If the only people that showed up for jury duty were people who didn't work and it wasn't an inconvenience, that's probably not jury make up most of us would want, if it ever came to it.
I went a couple of years ago. I have no idea how many were called. I got sat for questioning. There were around 20 of us. There were maybe 6 people I would have wanted on my own jury, based off of their answers. Sure, some could have been exaggerating to get out of it. It was an old DUI case - and we had several self-described cop haters, one person who was currently waiting on a trial for aggravated assault charges, one person who claimed to be a reformed crack addict (not sure how former it really was based on what I saw) and hated that cops harassed her, etc. It was wild. Very eye-opening. Of course a few that couldn't serve b/c they take care of family members, which I get. They ended up dismissing all of us b/c the judge said they didn't have a large enough pool to pull from.
|
|
The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,983
Jun 25, 2014 21:50:33 GMT
|
Post by The Great Carpezio on Apr 7, 2022 18:57:26 GMT
Civic duty.
I have been called twice, made it to selection twice, and was chosen both times for the jury. Both were just one-day trials.
The first time I was 22 and then I think I was 29/30ish the second time. I am 49 now and haven't been called again in all that time. IDK? Weird.
|
|
|
Post by needmysanity on Apr 7, 2022 19:06:05 GMT
I am one of those shitty people. I don't respond to a jury summons. Never have, never will. Like others have said - can't prove I actually got it.
|
|
|
Post by tentoes on Apr 7, 2022 19:13:33 GMT
Last time I received a notice I notified them that my husband had just died, and I was in no emotional position to attend. I got taken off the list that time. They used to call me every year. Since then, they haven't called me at all--that was 3plus years ago, so I guess I'm done!
|
|
|
Post by sabrinae on Apr 7, 2022 20:07:42 GMT
I think the current way they do things is ridiculous. You get the summons, you drop all of your plans, inform your employer that they can't count on you for gosh knows how long, and then after you do all of that, they get to wait until the night before to say "yeah, we don't need you". Well too late for everything I just rescheduled, so Thanks? And if you ask them to delay, they say you'll be called again in X amount of time, but you never are. It's always ages later and totally random, and probably at a bad time---again. While I get it is a huge pain in the ass, we genuinely don’t know if we’re going to need a jury until right before the scheduled date. I felt horrible, but my last trial settled on the day of trial after the jury had been called in. The defendant took an extra 4 years in prison over our previous offer to him. Defendants do weird unpredictable things often at the last minute. Generally, the court, where I practice, tries to call jurors on Thursday or Friday to let them know they will be needed for trials starting on Tuesday and if it’s a Thursday start will call them on Monday. As attorneys, we’re not particularly happy to do all the work of prepping for a trial and then settling at the last minute either.
|
|
|
Post by dewryce on Apr 7, 2022 22:23:22 GMT
As a former trial attorney I could not feel more strongly that it is a civic duty. It is also a civic privilege—my former clients do not get to serve, often. I would love to serve. I always get cut because they know me . This is how I feel, I would love to be part of a jury. I have only been called twice, the first I was sent home pretty soon after lunch (and yes, parking was a PITA). But the second summons came when I was in the middle of a really deep depression and DH missed it when taking care of the mail; so I didn’t see it until I came out of the depression and took care of all the paperwork piles. However, I am concerned that I might be called when I am either really depressed or manic. When I am at an extreme my thinking isn’t clear and I don’t think I should be making decisions about other people’s lives at that point.
|
|
keithurbanlovinpea
Pearl Clutcher
Flowing with the go...
Posts: 4,302
Jun 29, 2014 3:29:30 GMT
|
Post by keithurbanlovinpea on Apr 8, 2022 1:41:41 GMT
I agree it's a civic duty and I go when called, which is probably at this point 10 or 12 times. I've been on 3 juries including federal.
But good God almighty they have got to fix the selection process. It is so inefficient that I literally go gray waiting for shit to actually get done. It's like the post office and the IRS had a baby.
|
|
|
Post by originalvanillabean on Apr 8, 2022 1:52:46 GMT
Civic Duty 100%
I must be the odd one out. I want to be on a jury!
I went one day and they had the 14 or whatever number they pick. I would have been the next one (likely only as an alternate) (of course only if they selected me) but they had who they needed so the rest of us were excused.
It was a bummer.
|
|
|
Post by chances on Apr 8, 2022 2:32:50 GMT
I think everyone who can serve really SHOULD serve, if only to see in person how easy it could be for our individual rights to be taken away if we DON'T participate. And to serve honestly, and even-handedly. The jury I served on was one person's (a policeman) word against the defendant- and that is just not enough to convict someone, in my opinion. Citizen jurys stand as a guard against people in authority acting in bad faith without repercussion. (I'll get down off my soapbox now, lol) I agree with all of this. There needs to be a much greater variety of people. My friend served on a jury where two jurors just really “felt like he had that guilty look” Jesus H. Christ! If she hadn’t been there, two weirdos and a bunch of apathetic bystanders would have found the person guilty (they didn’t care, just wanted to agree on a verdict and go).
|
|
|
Post by chances on Apr 8, 2022 2:33:26 GMT
I’m always excused. One attorney was so eager to get me out he started calling my last name before it was time to even do that part. It was a case about bank liability and the minute I said what my degree was in he was like “nope!” I’ve heard there are certain professions or degrees that are always excluded. I’m curious if the attorneys think that’s true. I just know I would be petrified to have a jury of my so-called peers.
|
|
|
Post by chaosisapony on Apr 8, 2022 3:15:13 GMT
Most people I know throw the summons away when they get it. Supposedly a warrant gets issued but I don't know anyone that has ever suffered any consequences for not going. Personally, I don't understand why they don't send the summons by certified mail. There is a lot of mail that I don't get, how can anyone prove a jury summons was actually received?
I don't mind going necessarily but I do think the selection process needs an overhaul. The last time I was called there were 400 of us called and I wound up in a court room an hour away. We were spread over every court room in the county and sat and waited for hours for a judge to come in. Due to covid we were allowed to sign a form and leave if the trial would cause us any type of hardship (it was a several week long murder trial). While I appreciate how easily I was excused it was very frustrating to miss a day of work, drive all that way, waste several hours, just to leave. Oh, and my county doesn't offer any jury pay unless you go more than 1 day. It wasn't that long ago in my life when putting that amount of fuel in my car and missing out on the pay from my job (even if you get jury pay it's $15 per day only) would have been catastrophic in my life.
|
|
|
Post by fkawitchypea on Apr 8, 2022 12:31:42 GMT
Definitely civic duty. I get people who cannot afford to miss that much work or parents of small children. I have been called a few times but no one wanted me....LOL. I would welcome the break from work and as a former paralegal think the process is fascinating. But I do get paid by my employer for jury duty.
|
|
tracylynn
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,899
Jun 26, 2014 22:49:09 GMT
|
Post by tracylynn on Apr 9, 2022 16:46:59 GMT
UPDATESo, I was wrong, 74 people showed up out of the 450 called. Also, I was shocked to be called in because I had looked at the Judicial calendar previously and saw that 3 of the 4 Judges were on vacation this week (Spring Break). And I knew the 4th judge was just starting a 6 week trial because my co-worker had been called the previous week and was currently going through jury selection for that trial. Before I update, let me be clear, I was dismissed Thursday evening! When the Judge came in the first alarming thing he said was when he was talking about Covid safety and due to the length of this trial we need to be extra cautious, but don't worry, you will not be sequestered!!!!!!!!!! The trial was set to be 6 weeks long. Wait? What? Another 6 week trial, that didn't make any sense. Three judges are out, and there's another 6 week trial going on right now. In our County, 2 of these types of trials at the same time would be really out of the ordinary. I assumed pretty quickly that they swore my group in to make sure that they had enough jurors in pool to seat for the trial that was already seating jurors from the previous week. I found out later, that was exactly what they were doing. When he read the name of the Defendant and the charges, I was both mortified and relieved. Mortified because it had to do with prolonged child abuse and murder of a 3 year old little girl, and relieved because I follow the local news daily for years and knew all about the case. I figured that right there would eventually get me excused. Because frankly, if even 20% of what the local news reported was accurate, there was no way I could give that woman (yes! woman!) the benefit of the doubt. And I'm not sure my heart could take a 6 week trial about hearing the brutality that this poor little girl endured in her short little life. So, (this was Tuesday) we were handed out a 25 page questionnaire to fill out and turn in. We had to call in Wednesday night but didn't have to report Thursday. This was when it was confirmed I had to be right about the double jury pools. Because the other group had been at the courthouse on Wednesday and had to report again on Thursday. I had to called on Thursday night. But before I called that night, I knew I was done. Word spread pretty fast at work when we found out my co-worker had been seated on the jury. That was around 3:30 and you don't call in until 5:00. Because she knew I was in the other pool she told her manager that they had filled all spots out of her pool (12 + 4 alternates). And sure enough, our pool never had to go back in, we were excused that night. I was honestly thankful. I was not sleeping well at night thinking about having to sit on a jury like this. I've become somewhat disenchanted with the process. The Courts complete disregard of potential jurors outside life is ridiculous. I had talked to my co-worker on Monday (before I knew I was going to be in the same process). We didn't talk about the case at all, but she made some interesting comments about jury selection process and reasons that weren't good enough for the Judge. Examples: A man and his wife had planned a year ago a vacation that was 100% paid for and non refundable. It was thousands of dollars and apparently the Defense attorney asked "And that's a lot of money for you?". Apparently there was audible gasp in the courtroom. How out of tune with middle to lower class America do you have to be to ask a question like that? Another man, who was elderly, and his wife were the sole caretakers of the wifes brother who was unable to care for himself at all. He told the Judge that his wife can't do it alone because the brother is too big for her to handle and they have no one else to help. The Judge wouldn't dismiss because of that (he was later dismissed apparently, but not because of that). I just don't understand the lack of compassion for certain situations. Anyway, that was my experience. For myself, I wouldn't mind being on a jury at all. I think the process could be fascinating. But being on this trial, and for 6 weeks wasn't not what I had in mind. We'll see what happens next time. That's the first time in the 12 years that I've lived in this County that I've been called. So fingers crossed it doesn't happen any time soon.
|
|
|
Post by sabrinae on Apr 9, 2022 17:01:12 GMT
Just because the ask a question like that’s a lot of money -/ doesn’t mean they don’t know the answer or are out of touch. It means they are making a record in vase something about the jury selection is appealed. Attorneys have to ensure they are making a detailed record on everything in case of appeal. And given what the trial is about the attorneys are probably expecting an appeal and so will be double careful about making a thorough record.
|
|