Jury Duty Selection

[Rizon]

I went in for Jury Duty yesterday. And again today. And will be there again tomorrow. And possibly Friday and Monday.

The whole process seems ... ignorant and overly convoluted. I can't believe there isn't an easier and more efficient way.

So yesterday started with being in a room full of maybe 100 people. They called out maybe a half of them .... then called out the rest of us. We go up to the courtroom, and the judge asks if anyone has a "legal hardship" that prevents them from serving. Of course, this was 80% of everyone, nearly all of them going on "vacation". So the judge goes one by one. This takes hours as each person gives their SOB story. The judge leaves to make his decision. Nearly all the people who gave a SOB story were postponed, meaning they had to serve when they got back. The looks on their faces was priceless.

So we all had to return today. We file into the same courtroom. Then the judge goes one by one for the first 18 of us (me) and asks questions based off a survey we took the day before. Then the prosecution and defense asks questions. This took only 3 1/2 hours, and got through about 1/3 of the people. So we come back tomorrow with about another 40 people to go.

So what has me confused is that I've been moved to the jury box. I was almost certain I'd be dismissed based on the case and my personal experiences. I can't be on the jury yet, because they've filled all 14 spots and still are going through people. What was also weird was that neither the defense or prosecution asked me any questions, in fact, I was the ONLY one that didn't get asked a question.

[TargetPractice6]

Not really related to your story, but this thread reminded me I was selected for jury duty this summer. I wrote a letter telling them I was enrolled in summer classes and requested that it be postponed. So I just ran to the mailbox, which I hadn't checked in a while, and happily I'm completely excused from it!

[TCY Junkie]

The system is perfect everywhere. I went on Monday at 9 and half the pool didn't show up untill 10:30 because you can sign in on internet and get emailed what time to show up. Some error occured somehow and half got 9 and half got 10:30. A lot of SOB stories too, to get excused. I didn't get selected.

Yes, the whole process is overly convoluted.

[Chief Rum]

I just got my notice for August 1--literally just two weeks over the year grace period from my last jury duty.

I actually don't mind jury duty, but that doesn't mean I want to be called back almost immediately after I can be. What's worst is that my New York trip is late the following week, so if I were to get dragged into a long trial, I could miss that. I will probably ask to have my duty postponed for a month.

[lighthousekeeper]

i've never served jury duty (now in my mid 30s).

...actually now that i think of it, one time a few years back a letter got sent to my mom's house selecting me for jury duty. but i just ignored it (or maybe my mom didn't inform me until it was too late - i can't remember). figured my excuse was that i didn't live at that address anymore.


i think not being registered to vote decreases your chances of being selected.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oddly enough, I've got my first ever jury duty summons laying here on my desk.

Hopefully having a relative in law enforcement, being the victim of a DUI driver, and having a law firm as a client will at least manage to shorten my day Monday. I'm afraid having a very low pool number (52) means I'm nearly certain to be stuck with at least having to appear, but naturally I won't even know that until I call the automated system on Sunday night

And if I can't manage to figure out something to say that will get me struck then I probably deserve my fate. I'm just hoping it'll be a drug case, my advocacy of capital punishment for drug crimes ought to be enough to do it.

[Suburban Rhythm]

I've been summoned, and selected, once.

But what stood out most to me were the other potential jurors. I'll never forget the one older guy-- he was either really fucked up...or really smart.

He shows up in overalls and a flannel shirt. During the questioning, I was up in the front row, so could overhear the lawyers (car accident was the case).

They ask the old guy "Can you remain impartial?" and he says "Nope...I'll be partial to whoever is right."

Surprisingly, he was not selected!

[Breeze]

Had my first jury duty earlier this year. Was seated and made foreman.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Oddly enough, I've got my first ever jury duty summons laying here on my desk.

Hopefully having a relative in law enforcement, being the victim of a DUI driver, and having a law firm as a client will at least manage to shorten my day Monday. I'm afraid having a very low pool number (52) means I'm nearly certain to be stuck with at least having to appear, but naturally I won't even know that until I call the automated system on Sunday night

And if I can't manage to figure out something to say that will get me struck then I probably deserve my fate. I'm just hoping it'll be a drug case, my advocacy of capital punishment for drug crimes ought to be enough to do it.

i'm really surprised to hear that JiMGA wants to get out of jury duty. it doesn't really jive with your fofc personality.

[Alan T]

I have only been summoned for jury duty once about 4 years ago. Showed up, sat in a room watching stupid soap operas until about 2pm, when they came in and said we were all dismissed and didn't have to come back.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I have only been summoned for jury duty once about 4 years ago. Showed up, sat in a room watching stupid soap operas until about 2pm, when they came in and said we were all dismissed and didn't have to come back.

I had jury duty last year. I got called up in the morning, number 46 of 50. They picked their 14 jurors way before getting to me.

In the afternoon I slept on the bench outside the juror room.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

And if I can't manage to figure out something to say that will get me struck then I probably deserve my fate. I'm just hoping it'll be a drug case, my advocacy of capital punishment for drug crimes ought to be enough to do it.

Yeah, but everyone says stuff like that to get out of jury duty. The only difference is that after you walk out of the courtroom, you actually believe it.

I've only been called once and I was actually trying to get on the jury since I didn't have a job at the time and I was curious about the process. Was not chosen, tho.

SI

[gstelmack]

Did Jury Duty many years back, thoroughly enjoyed it (traffic accident lawsuit, took 3 days, was great).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

i'm really surprised to hear that JiMGA wants to get out of jury duty. it doesn't really jive with your fofc personality.

There's certainly been times when I wouldn't have particularly minded but ...
-- Busiest we've been with work in over two years, and the furthest behind I've ever been on anything in my whole life.
-- A number of personal/family issues that seem to all be coming to a head at once (including my father-in-law being rushed to the ER in bad shape in the past hour & a pet that's in a very touch-and-go situation, just came out of emergency surgery a few days ago)

Add those together & while there's never a good time for jury duty, this is about the perfect storm of bad timing for it.

[MacroGuru]

I have never been called.

But there has to be something on my wifes side of the family.

My father in law has been called twice when I dated.

My wife, has been called twice now in the past year. One was to a state, the other was federal, in fact she was selected for federal jury duty in Utah right after we moved to Buffalo. This was after writing a letter telling them we would no longer be in Utah.

They informed her it did not matter, she was to show. When she received the summons, she called again, and this time spoke with someone that said she was excused/postponed as they said she would be set in the list for up here in NY when she registers to vote.

[Kodos]

When I lived in Chicago, I ended up on a jury for a gang-related murder trial. It was sad. After hearing the testimony and being sent to make our deliberations, we ended up with a few people who said they would never vote guilty, even though he was clearly guilty. One lady said he was too cute to be a murderer. A couple others seemed like they wouldn't vote guilty because of his race. Anyhow, we went around and around for a couple days, until they finally changed their mind. In the end, I think they changed their mind not because anyone convinced them, but because they just wanted to go home and watch TV or something. So we got the right verdict, but most likely not for the right reason.

[PackerFanatic]

I was summoned when I was 19, sat in court for 2 days (bout 6 hours each day) doing nothing - before they told us the case was being settled out of court. Most boring $40 of my life.

[DanGarion]

I think it's funny how people complain about the the judicial system but then don't want to perform their civic duty for it.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Kodos

When I lived in Chicago, I ended up on a jury for a gang-related murder trial. It was sad. After hearing the testimony and being sent to make our deliberations, we ended up with a few people who said they would never vote guilty, even though he was clearly guilty. One lady said he was too cute to be a murderer. A couple others seemed like they wouldn't vote guilty because of his race. Anyhow, we went around and around for a couple days, until they finally changed their mind. In the end, I think they changed their mind not because anyone convinced them, but because they just wanted to go home and watch TV or something. So we got the right verdict, but most likely not for the right reason.

Someone needs to go investigate the whole jury thing and what they actually talk about because I have a feeling this kind of thing is rampant.

I've talked to jurors after verdicts and they've often completely missed something, deliberated on evidence that was excluded, went beyond fact-finding and utilzed their own (bad) legal analysis. People are morons.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Hopefully having a relative in law enforcement, being the victim of a DUI driver, and having a law firm as a client will at least manage to shorten my day Monday.

You'd think so wouldn't you? When I did jury duty, it was a DUI case that went to trial and one of the jurors selected was an ex-cop, struck while on duty by a drunk driver causing him to go on disability and he wasn't dismissed.

[Hammer755]

I served on a federal jury last year for a trial that took almost a month. It was a civil suit regarding a police brutality case that resulted a death. I didn't realize it at the time, but I had no shot of getting out of it - I was a potentially perfect juror for both sides.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by dangarion

I think it's funny how people complain about the the judicial system but then don't want to perform their civic duty for it.

I agree. I got called for jury duty once and actually tried to get myself on the jury. I figure that is one jury spot that won't be filled by a complete idiot.

[JediKooter]

Been called for jury duty 3 times and picked once. The one I got picked for was for a guy that murdered his mom. He was a heroin addict and in his "paranoia", thought his mom was going to tell the cops, so he decided to bash her head in with a tire iron. We found him guilty for 1st degree murder and he ended up getting life without parole.

[Coffee Warlord]

Was picked once, for a guy who robbed a very large gun shop and ran em up to the gang bangers in Chicago. (This was when I was still living in Galesburg.)

Best part of the trial. The prosecution's witnesses included several younger kids, several who were already in juvie/prison. We had a teacher from the high school on the jury with us. As we discussed their testimony during deliberations, we got this gem. "I know those kids. They are scum."

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

"I know those kids. They are scum."

Was that an argument for or against the defendant?

(Didn't know if they were saying the kids were scum so you couldn't believe them as witnesses)

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Was that an argument for or against the defendant?

(Didn't know if they were saying the kids were scum so you couldn't believe them as witnesses)

I believe the general consensus was there's no doubt they were most certainly involved with the defendant's shit, and were happily spilling the beans to save their own ass.

[SackAttack]

I got picked to serve a year or two ago. It was kind of weird, because they went through the jury box asking about "trip-and-fall" episodes or hostility towards the legal system, etc.

They asked if anybody had had a "trip-and-fall" on public property, I raised my hand, they asked about the event and about what I did about it, and I told 'em "I made damn sure I watched where I was going after that."

The courtroom laughed, and the counsel for the plaintiff, who was suing 7-11, a franchisee, and the city of Los Angeles for her injuries, didn't excuse me. I was mystified once I found out what the case was about.

The fun part was, the plaintiff's lawyer basically sunk his own case by being overly pompous when his client was on the stand, and it took all of ten minutes for us to declare, unanimously, for the defendants.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Mustang

You'd think so wouldn't you? When I did jury duty, it was a DUI case that went to trial and one of the jurors selected was an ex-cop, struck while on duty by a drunk driver causing him to go on disability and he wasn't dismissed.

Entirely possible they left him alone so that if the defendant lost, they could appeal on the grounds of a tainted jury...but I don't know if the judge would buy that if they could have excused him via peremptory challenge and did not.

[Rizon]

I was tossed 15 minutes into the 3rd day. I'm really surprised I lasted that long, although I wasn't trying to get booted. I had previous life experiences that were the same as the case, so that's why I think the defense had me excused.

There is a cop on the jury so far, as well as people who know police and people in the judicial system. That wasn't enough to can them. The only people that were canned up until me were people who knew any witnesses, and people who couldn't answer questions about if they could be fair based on certain things (all the "I don't knows" were let go).

What was also sad is they asked people, who were previous jurors, if their previous jury had reached a verdict. Only 1 in 7 had. Perry Mason must still be working.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Rizon

I was tossed 15 minutes into the 3rd day. I'm really surprised I lasted that long, although I wasn't trying to get booted. I had previous life experiences that were the same as the case, so that's why I think the defense had me excused.

There is a cop on the jury so far, as well as people who know police and people in the judicial system. That wasn't enough to can them. The only people that were canned up until me were people who knew any witnesses, and people who couldn't answer questions about if they could be fair based on certain things (all the "I don't knows" were let go).

What was also sad is they asked people, who were previous jurors, if their previous jury had reached a verdict. Only 1 in 7 had. Perry Mason must still be working.

dola, actually the guy was a "federal officer" and not a police officer. I'm not entirely sure what that means. I wasn't in a position to hear exactly what he did.

[Pyser]

i had it 15 months ago or so. they took 50 of us into a room to choose 2 alternates for a case that already had its jury picked. needless to say i wasnt even close to picked.

just got summoned again for late july this week. fuckers.

[Surtt]

I received a letter around the first of last year informing me I was in the pool for a grand jury.
I thought it would be interesting, but I never heard any more form them.

[BrianD]

Is it wrong to be a bit sad that I haven't gotten a jury summons in the last 10 years?

[molson]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Entirely possible they left him alone so that if the defendant lost, they could appeal on the grounds of a tainted jury...but I don't know if the judge would buy that if they could have excused him via peremptory challenge and did not.

The actual challenge/excuse for cause standard is very, very high and simply being a DUI victim in the past doesn't come close to meeting it (unless he stated that because of that experience, he could never in any circumstances find a DUI defendant not guilty, or something like that).

It's surprising that defense attorney kept him on but you never know what's going on in their mind. Sometimes they just stress out and mess up, especially if it's a inexperienced public defender.

The cop thing can go both ways. Sometimes cops can be harder on their own if the issue is sloppy police work, etc.

[Barkeep49]

When I got called I wanted to get on a jury similar to what BrianD said. However, I got dismissed for both of the trials I made it into jury selection for. I'm pretty convinced that it was because I am the moderator for something called Peer Jury, which is an alternative to the Juvenile Justice system.

[Swaggs]

I sat on a jury for an armed robbery case during Spring Break of my freshman year in college. The odd thing was that I knew one of the witnesses fairly well from high school and told the judge during the selection process, but he disregarded it and I was selected.

The difference in quality between the two lawyers was ridiculous. The defense attorney could barely get his words out, while the prosecutor was really, really smooth.

[Chubby]

When I moved to PA from NY, I got a NY jury duty letter about a week after I moved.
When I moved back to NY from PA about 8 months later, I got a PA jury duty letter about 2 weeks after I moved.

Needless to say I got out of going to both but I wouldn't mind having to serve jury duty.

[Young Drachma]

Served in Wyoming for the first time ever anywhere last summer. Two day trial, molestation case. No winners in that one, even the family of the molested were screwed up. Just a lame situation. I spoke up and was the foreman. Good experience, mostly because I handled it -- even for a scum bag -- with the utmost responsibility knowing you could decide someone's fate. All of us were the same way and I really thought that was cool, because I know it's not always like that.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I sat on a jury for an armed robbery case during Spring Break of my freshman year in college. The odd thing was that I knew one of the witnesses fairly well from high school and told the judge during the selection process, but he disregarded it and I was selected.

The difference in quality between the two lawyers was ridiculous. The defense attorney could barely get his words out, while the prosecutor was really, really smooth.

Saw this in my case too. The defense attorney was REALLY new and green and it showed. The prosecutor wasn't very good, but the defense attorney was so bad that it wasn't even a contest.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by molson

Someone needs to go investigate the whole jury thing and what they actually talk about because I have a feeling this kind of thing is rampant.

I've talked to jurors after verdicts and they've often completely missed something, deliberated on evidence that was excluded, went beyond fact-finding and utilzed their own (bad) legal analysis. People are morons.

There's a 60 minutes on this from about 10-15 (I think?) years ago where they had cameras in jury rooms for two trials in Arizona. The people knew they were being taped, so they obviously didn't completely blow it off. But the "analysis" they used was horrendous.

In one trial, an armed robbery case, the only issue was whether the defendant had a gun. Everyone agreed that he robbed the place. The key was the "armed" part. Anyways, multiple times during the trial, the people trying to convince the "not guiltys" would start their argument with "Ok so we know that he had a gun..." (and no they weren't being psychological, they simply did not seem to understand that was the ONLY question of fact the jury was to deliberate).

As I said this was WITH them knowing there were cameras in there... I can only imagine how bad it gets normally.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Hammer755

I served on a federal jury last year for a trial that took almost a month. It was a civil suit regarding a police brutality case that resulted a death. I didn't realize it at the time, but I had no shot of getting out of it - I was a potentially perfect juror for both sides.

Were you an ex-police officer who had once been beaten by your co-workers?

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just to update ...
-- Sunday night juror's hotline excused us for Monday, told to call back Monday after 6pm
-- Monday night juror's hotline excused us for Tuesday morning, told to call back after 11am Tuesday
-- Just called it again & got stuck (as a summons number 1-100) with 845am Wednesday

How in the hell do people with "normal" jobs & work schedules deal with that sort of crap? I mean, there's quite a few jobs where someone took off Monday & lost work, then had to wing it on Tuesday, and then have to take off again tomorrow. Seems like a pretty f'ed up way to treat people to me.

[finketr]

I got a summons in ohio once that I didn't attend because I was moving to another state.

I've been summoned three times in Peoria in the 10 years i've lived here. The first summoning resulted in nothing beyond sitting in the jury room for a few hours.

The second time I came within 3 people to sit on a jury/alternate.

The third time I was the alternate juror for a domestic battery case. I still don't know how i would've voted in that case. I understand it was a hung jury at something like 9-3 or something.

i've never tried to duck out of the process.

[DaddyTorgo]

I got summoned and put on a 2-day trail for a worker's comp type case this spring. was actually pretty cool, and all-in-all a good experience.

ex-waitress was suing the landlord of the property the resturaunt was on because she had taken workman's comp and couldn't sue the resturaunt, even though the injury occured on the resturaunt's property. we went into the jury room and the first time we were 4-3, but right before lunch we voted again and we were 5-2, after lunch we made it unanimous that she wasn't getting any $$.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Just to update ...
-- Sunday night juror's hotline excused us for Monday, told to call back Monday after 6pm
-- Monday night juror's hotline excused us for Tuesday morning, told to call back after 11am Tuesday
-- Just called it again & got stuck (as a summons number 1-100) with 845am Wednesday

How in the hell do people with "normal" jobs & work schedules deal with that sort of crap? I mean, there's quite a few jobs where someone took off Monday & lost work, then had to wing it on Tuesday, and then have to take off again tomorrow. Seems like a pretty f'ed up way to treat people to me.

I thought the same thing two years ago when I did it on my spring break.

[Kodos]

Welp, I have jury duty tomorrow. Hopefully I can avoid getting on a jury this time around.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Welp, I have jury duty tomorrow. Hopefully I can avoid getting on a jury this time around.

I'm going to throw this out there - based on much personal experience.....jurors are generally spectacularly retarded, and I support anyone with an IQ above dead serving on one, ever....so take that as a complement.....I encourage you to try to get on that jury.

[Kodos]

I consider myself to be slightly smarter than spectacularly retarded. But only slightly.

FWIW, the last time I was up for it, I got selected for a murder trial in Chicago. I suspect if I make it to being questioned, I will end up on the jury. I unfortunately appear to be a normal-looking sane sort of guy.

Here's a post from 2004 where I described my previous experience on a jury:

Originally Posted by Kodos

A few years back, I was on a murder trial jury in Cook County. Gang- and drug-related. Anyhow, the guy was clearly guilty. His own statement placed him at the scene knowing that the guy was gonna get wacked. His main defense was that the gun was never found and that we couldn't be sure he pulled the trigger (there were 2 other guys involved in the incident, all with conflicting stories of who actually pulled the trigger). Anyhow, when he gave his story to the police, he apparently didn't know that being at the scene with advanced knowledge of whats going to happen gets you convicted even if you didn't pull the trigger.

We started our deliberations and took a quick vote to see where we stood. Most thought guilty, but there were 2 or 3 who were saying not guilty. One of them (all of the dissenters were women) said he couldn't be guilty because he "looked too nice". At least one said they would never vote guilty, which meant things were looking bad, because there was no way I was going to be swayed to say he was not guilty. I'm pretty sure some others felt the same. So it looked like we were going to be stalemated and stuck in deliberations for a long time.

Anyhow, things drag on for another day, with us getting nowhere. Finally, after a lot of haggling, we convinced one or two of them. What I think convinced the last person to vote guilty was the fact that she wanted to go home, so she just went ahead and changed her vote without really seeming to be convinced. Needless to say, the whole experience did not leave me feeling too confident in our system.

After the trial, the judge told us the guy had previously been convicted of arson and some other nasty things, and that we got the right verdict. It just bothered me that the doubters seemed to have changed their mind because the deliberations were too inconvenient for them.

Edit 5 years later: I ended up not getting selected for this trial. It was a civil case of some sort.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Kodos

When I lived in Chicago, I ended up on a jury for a gang-related murder trial. It was sad. After hearing the testimony and being sent to make our deliberations, we ended up with a few people who said they would never vote guilty, even though he was clearly guilty. One lady said he was too cute to be a murderer. A couple others seemed like they wouldn't vote guilty because of his race. Anyhow, we went around and around for a couple days, until they finally changed their mind. In the end, I think they changed their mind not because anyone convinced them, but because they just wanted to go home and watch TV or something. So we got the right verdict, but most likely not for the right reason.

Hartford Man Charged with Gang-Related Murder

So I was in the running to be on this jury yesterday, but I'm pretty sure my experience being on a jury in Chicago that convicted a man of a drug-related murder got me ruled out by the defense lawyers. They interviewed 82 potential jurors to get 16 slots filled. I was slightly disappointed not to get picked, but my wife and father were both relieved when they found out what the case was about.

[Thomkal]

I thought aliens couldn't be on juries?