Jury Duty

[cgallery]

I'm not and if I ever end up in court I'm innocent or the other party is at fault. I hope the jury is a sharp bunch that cuts thru what ever BS got me there in the first place and sees it my way.

I knew what you meant.

Hope none of us are even in a position where we have to rely on the common sense of a group of jurors to decide our fate.

I know a guy that was honestly railroaded by a judge. The judge provided very narrow instructions to the jury and he was convicted and actually served time.

It took Wisconsin's supreme court to intervene and they actually had an interesting finding, which was that no crime was committed. That, even if the defendant had done what the prosecutor said he had done (and he didn't), it STILL wasn't a crime.

So now this guy is pursuing a civil rights case against the state. More of my tax dollars out the window.

But he WAS incarcerated for about a month, and he did end-up losing his business and his house paying his attorney. So I'd be pretty pissed, too.

[BobSch]

So now this guy is pursuing a civil rights case against the state. More of my tax dollars out the window.

But he WAS incarcerated for about a month, and he did end-up losing his business and his house paying his attorney. So I'd be pretty pissed, too.

And I'll bet the judge is still on the bench.

[LCHIEN]

I was sent on a panel to a court where the defendant was indicted for sexual contact with a minor. we spent an hour and a half in Voir dire and then took a ten minute break which turned into 30 then the judge said there was a technical issue and the trial would not go on today and they dismissed us at 1 PM.

spent an hour waiting for the bus - the first one drove right by because it was full - and got home at 3:30-4PM.

[os1kne]

I mentioned yesterday that I hadn't been called for jury duty in about 7 years (and since I mentioned it, there was probably a summons in my mailbox at home.) Well, I guess I was a day off - got one in the mail today. Next time, I'll keep quiet.

[milanuk]

Twice for me - one time called in and never got the green light to come in, other time went in but the lawyers didn't like my stance on awarding an indeterminate amount of $$$ for 'pain and suffering' on a 'more likely than not' basis.

My wife... gets *at least* one summons a year... which is very difficult for her to attend being a teacher (the school district treats it like any other day off, and makes them pay for their own subs, etc.)

[jcjrsmith]

I will be 49 years old on my next birthday, have lived at the same address for 10 years, and I have never been called for jury duty.

Of course now that I have written that....

[dlminehart]

I've been called a few times, dismissed a couple of times after sitting around for a couple hours. Once I was in the selection process for trying a guy for assaulting someone o the sidewalk. I asked if this was a "third strike" case (for which a felony conviction could have the guy locked up for a minimum of 25 years); lawyer asked to speak privately with the judge; I was dismissed. Another time was an asbestos case. First trial had concluded asbestos was the cause of defendents' health problems and how much they should be compensated; this trial was to apportion blame among the possible corporate culprits. Was expected to take 3-6 months (!). Some of the companies were no longer in business, a couple others would be bankrupted, throwing thousands out of work. I said I didn't feel I could in good conscience go along with the premise of the trial, given the inability to get money from some of the defunct companies, the likely consequences to existing companies and their workers, and the likelihood that the companies hadn't even known in the 1940s that asbestos would result in these problems. Again, I was dismissed from the jury.

An aside: the latter two were in Oakland, CA. Virtually everyone in the jury pool at the courthouse was white, in a city that is only about 30% white. More retirees than I would have expected. Don't know if others weren't being called up or just weren't showing up to the summons. Something to keep in mind when you hear about lopsided racial and age balances on juries.