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Jury Duty

Mike

Mike

Member
Well, I've been eligible for 27 years, and tomorrow I'll show up for my first summons. I hear people say all the time that they try desperately to get excused. I don't know. I'm not planning on trying to get on or get off. I'm just planning on showing up and doing what I'm supposed to do. :shrug

For those in other countries, our names populate the pool to draw from when we vote in elections. We show up, get hung down, rung down and all kinds of mean nasty and horrible things and told to sit on the Group W Bench. (Alice's Restaurant :) ) Then we get dismissed or selected to sit on a jury for one trial. It can last a day or weeks.

Any positive or negative experiences out there? Were you put on the Group W Bench? ;)
 
i have been to voire dire once and wasnt selected. well as a soldier i wont wine about any service my country needs if its reasonable.

yes i do complain about that but well i wont go into it.
 
I got picked for jury duty. I am a hardcore republican, but nothing in the selection of jury duty asked for political alliance. I did however, show up in a suit and tie. I took it seriously, and dressed up for the occasion. I was the only one in a pool of 33 or 40 that did that. I was the only one in a suit, and I wasn't selected. I can't say honestly, but I think my dress and my answers and my gaze said nothing other than, "this is a concervative dude"

I have a feeling the prosecuter liked me and the defendant didn't. Don't know for sure, but if you want to get out of it, put on a grey or black or blue suit. I wasn't trying to get out of Jury duty.... But I think a clean cut, shaven and well dressed man is not what a prosecuter wants.

Just my experiences....
 
Served 3 times.... reached a decision each time. I was up for a murder trial yesterday but they must have pleaded out...

I dont mind the doing my duty part. I dont care for the waste of time.... like waiting while 10 bad guys get their rights read to them one at a time... goodness read them as a group.....that kind of stuff....

Once i told the bailiff if that is the guy he is guilty some drug dealer.... they sent me to another court room to see if i was needed.....
 
Slider, an attorney I work with told me often in a criminal trial, the defense attorney wants simple minds that won't understand all the nuances while the prosecuting attorney wants well educated jurists. He's not a trial attorney, but he IS an attorney, so he's probably lying anyway. I'm joking! (kinda)

Reba, you've sat on three juries?!!

Jason, voire what?
 
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Mike said:
Spider, an attorney I work with told me often in a criminal trial, the defense attorney wants simple minds that won't understand all the nuances while the prosecuting attorney wants well educated jurists. He's not a trial attorney, but he IS an attorney, so he's probably lying anyway. I'm joking! (kinda)

Reba, you've sat on three juries?!!

Jason, voire what?
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its the french word for speak up the process whereyby the lawyers select the jury.
 
Hey I was not related to anyone in the trial.... Small communities are like that.:lol

One was a DUI trial what a joke... the defendants witness was the bar tender :eeeekkk

Mike lets us know how it goes .....
 
Sitting in the jury chamber, waiting for day 2 of this trial to get started. This is pretty wild...
 
I've been called in several times but never selected. My neighbor got taken off the list all together, so he never gets called. Basically, when they interviewed him, he said something to the effect, "Of course he's guilty, why else would he be here?" :lol

I think he had a point ;)
 
Mike said:
Sitting in the jury chamber, waiting for day 2 of this trial to get started. This is pretty wild...
Click to expand...

You will have to tell us every little detail as it proceeds, that way we can feed you outside information and they'll have to throw the case! :biglol
 
AUBURN (CBS13) – There was a lot of confusion and frustration from about 1,200 people who were all summoned to show up for jury duty at the Placer County Courthouse at the same time Tuesday morning, only to find out it was all a mistake.


Town population about 13,330. good ol government :toofunny have fun Mike
 
I will never get picked for a jury. Such a sad thing because I've always wanted to. Maybe I can get picked in the next year or two, but if I don't then my dream of convicting someone of a crime (because they really don't reach that stage unless they are guilty as sin! It's true!) goes out the window. Law enforcement officers are not allowed to sit on juries, one of the questions they ask is "DO you know or are you related to a LEO" and if you say you are one they give you the boot.

Dunno why, I think all LEO juries would be really good. :thumbsup
 
I'm out of court, so I can talk about it. We respectfully argued over the money paid by the defendant for 2 hours! I couldn't believe some of them listened to the same hearing I did!

This was a civil trial where one guy was suing the owner of a dog that bit him while he was working at his house for lost wages and pain & suffering. This guy had no supporting testimony. Nothing from his boss who was on the job with him. He had nothing from a doctor saying he had restrictions on his work. He drifted from job to job every 3 months and got paid under the table, but he wanted 18 months of lost wages, because he hasn't made as much as he did on that one job. He wasn't even fully employed for it! He was only brought on for this one job.

We had 8 jurists. Two of us wanted to award zero, zilch, nada. Three wanted to award him THE WHOLE $60,000 he was suing for!! And 3 were in the middle. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!! They only needed 5 of us to agree to an amount. While I held my ground, 5 jurists agreed to $20,000. And I as the jury foreman had to read that verdict. Fortunately, the judge asked us each if we agreed to it, and I was able to tell the room I didn't.

Nice, huh? :gah
 
Wow... $20,000 for a dog bite...

Here doggie... here doggie doggie...


I'd love to be on a jury... I've been put on the call list a number of times, even got as far as inside a court room once... but have never been able to serve.

But then again, two nephews and a cousin are LEOs... probably will never be able to serve. :sad
 
Oh, he definitely got bit. That was not a question. But, the only things we could consider were:

  • Loss of wages
  • Pain and suffering (emotional and otherwise)
This wasn't a criminal trial where we would punish the owner of the dog. We just had to decide how much he lost in income after the bite and if he was traumatized by it. All he had in his defense was his own word and a few pictures a friend took of his leg after it happened. After the bite, he kept working for the rest of the day, going up and down a ladder to work on the roof of the house. He didn't ask for medical attention or to be taken home. Everyone just kept on working. The owner saw the dog bite him and then put him away.

IMHO, neither the defendant nor the plaintiff were exceedingly honorable, but it was clear to me that the defendant was trying to get a hand-out. The jurists arguing for the full $60,000 were young (early 20's), and I don't believe they have the life experience to see how some people do anything possible not to put in an honest day's work; how some people abuse the system and feel justified in suing someone or taking money from the government. They said we couldn't say that he wouldn't have continued working for this guy. But, he went from job to job. My argument with that was that we had no way of saying he would, considering his track record, and we want someone to pay out all that money on the chance that he might? If he were such a valuable employee, wouldn't someone expect that his boss would say something in his defense? No doctor's notes, statements, restrictions, prescriptions... No indication from his boss that he couldn't work or that he would even use him after this one gig. :shrug
 
I might be kind of a weird duck but I hope I get the opportunity to serve some time. I think it would reinforce part of what it is that makes being an American citizen extra special. Alas, I've never been called. :sad
 
WIP said:
I might be kind of a weird duck but I hope I get the opportunity to serve some time. I think it would reinforce part of what it is that makes being an American citizen extra special. Alas, I've never been called. :sad
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It was a great experience to learn what goes on behind those chamber doors. Most people wanted to get on, but a few clearly didn't. Remember this was about a dog bite. They asked if they (or anyone in their families) have ever been bitten by a dog.

This one woman said she didn't like them. The attorney asked if she's ever owned a dog, and she went off... I don't only not like dogs, I hate them, I really really hate dogs. I never owned one, I don't own one, and I'll never own one. I hate them, and I'll never stop hating them.... "Jurist #4, thank you for your time. We'd like to excuse you now. :lol
 
Wow Mike... well, a true snapshot of our society huh?.... Talk about a sense of entitlement. Brats... I'll bet both them younger ones will vote for Obama again too.

I'll probably offend somebody here, but whatever.... sounds like the guy is a scumbag. He gets bit, doesn't seek any help and works the rest of the day. If he had doctor bills I'd say pay his doctor bills and lost wages. At the very most, throw the guy two weeks wages based on last years W2 and call it a day... only so you don't have to argue about it.

20 grand huh? That's pathetic. I wonder if the home owner has that kind of cash, or if it will go against his home owners. I'd certainly want to look into the law on this one...
 
We do jury duty over here too. I reckon it'd be cool to get picked. Since I'm at uni I can get out of it though.
 
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