Ever been on a jury?

[drahthaar]

I spent last week as an alternate juror. Never been a part of anything like that before. Couldn't believe I got picked. The thing is, as an alternate, I had to sit there for 4 days listening to filth, upon filth, upon convoluted lies, stories and more filth. Then, as a reward for being the alternate, got a big, "hey thanks, we'll call ya if we need ya"! ..... Say what?

I couldn't even sit in on the discussion afterward. To get those thoughts out of my head!!!

There are some sick people in this world, let me tell ya.

 

[belly-deep]

Civil or criminal?

 

[BuzzH]

Never on a jury, but did sit through jury selection on a drug case.

My wife just was selected as a juror about 3 weeks ago...not a pleasant case either....

 

[drahthaar]

Civil or criminal?

It was a criminal case. The first conviction of a case where Jessica's Law came into play. Sexual assault of a 9 y.o. girl, by a 20 y.o.

The guy gets a mandatory 25 years.

It just wasn't cool not being able to get all those thoughts out of my head. Wondering what the other jurors were thinking, did they believe this or that, did they catch this or that. It isn't healthy I tell ya!

There was even one real Perry Mason moment, very intense, probably happens to a trial lawyer, maybe once every 5 years. I left the court house shaking.

 

[tarheel]

Went in for Federal jury once, was in the initial pool of jurors who were questioned by the judge. Defendant was a ghetto cruiser who was up on drug charges and had decided to represent himself. That is enough for you get the idea how smart he was. The court had appointed a female lawyer to serve as his advisor, and when they read my questionaire and saw that I was a V-vet, my favorite TV show was "The First 48", and I was a member of the VFW, they assumed I had a low tolerance level for druggies. I was the first one eliminated!

 

[Oak]

Sat through a full day and a half of jury selection this spring and was ultimately chosen. Just as we were about to be lead back into the courtroom after lunch to begin the trial, the judge came in and said he had granted a continuance. It was of the same nature as drahts case, so I'm not too disappointed.

 

[brownbear932008]

This is interesting to me. I was a deputy sheriff for 14 years and have talked to numerous ppl who sat on different cases from B&E's to murder. It takes a toll on men and women to serve as a juror on such cases in my opinion but on the other hand they do actually get to see the sickooosss walking around in every town in this great nation we live in and they leave with a healthy respect for law and order usually if the system worked as it should, esp. on such a case as you where a part of. I think it is a civic duty that everyone should sometime or another be a part of. Most ppl really have no clue what goes on in thier neighborhoods on a daily basis. I give a big thanks to all who have sat on juries and convicted and sent to prison bad ppl in this great nation we live in.

 

[Goldtip]

Never been on a jury myself. My wife recently served on a jury in federal court, was a week long drug trial.

 

[Dinkshooter]

I have once and it was actually pretty interesting. Only took a day and a half. No idea why the D.A. was doing it but they were pressing charges against a 20 something kid who had been fighting and :hump:with his 20 something girlfriend while they were playing house together. There were at least 5 different charges and we found him guilty of a couple. It was interesting to see how it worked without having to go through a lengthy trial or go through one like mentioned above. Pretty cool afterward when the assistant D.A. and the defense attorney came in afterwards and talked to us. Pretty much just seemed like a game/dance.

 

[Oak]

...and they leave with a healthy respect for law and order usually if the system worked as it should, esp. on such a case as you where a part of. I think it is a civic duty that everyone should sometime or another be a part of.

I agree with you completely. If not, I could have made some excuse like the dozens of potential jurors who were dismissed before me. But being self-employed and during my slow season, there really wasn't any reason why I couldn't do it. I was actually looking forward to seeing how the system works. Juror selection was a LONG process...one of the longest the judge said that he had handled. It was disappointing that so many people gave so much time for nothing.

 

[brownbear932008]

Juror selection was a LONG process...one of the longest the judge said that he had handled. It was disappointing that so many people gave so much time for nothing.[/QUOTE]

Yeah this was the part I hated to see everyday in court lots of time wasted setting up juries just to have the defendant show up one day and say I've changed my mind I'm pleading the case....GUILTY

 

[belly-deep]

It was disappointing that so many people gave so much time for nothing.

Yeah, geez, too bad for all those soldiers that die too...

 

[Oak]

Yeah, geez, too bad for all those soldiers that die too...

Point taken....can't argue with that.

 

[idnative1948]

The only jury I was on, was for a guy standing inside his house in front of his picture window spanking his monkey at a lady. Took us ten minutes to find him quilty. His story about what he was doing had us in tears of laughter in the jury room, or we could have had it over with in two minutes. What a waste of my time.

 

[tarheel]

If you ever want to serve when called, don't appear overly intelligent or traveled on the questionaire, say nothing thought provoking or controversial; it shows elevated intelligence!!! Try to be as benign as possible, but if you're an educator or professional, just forget it.

 

[Oak]

Sat through a full day and a half of jury selection this spring and was ultimately chosen.

If you ever want to serve when called, don't appear overly intelligent or traveled on the questionaire, say nothing thought provoking or controversial; it shows elevated intelligence!!!

Well thanks.

 

[tarheel]

Well thanks.

Don't take that wrong Oak, just passing down the summation of much informal research done on fellow juror prospects and friends and family and what they have observed from the selection process.. It's kinda like Dolby, clips off most of the highs. I actually wanted to serve on that federal case. Aside from the experiential aspects of serving, it paid about 85 bucks a day with travel cooked in.

 

[Moosie]

So, I was called 2 times to be a juror and made it BOTH times. In addition, I was chosen head Juror BOTH times.... Unreal

The last selection was a blast. There was one Mexican that started answering questions for the lawyers and they asked him why he seemed so nervous. He replied "Well, I've been to court a dozen times and I've never sat on this side before, I'm usually in the defendant chair". I'm glad I wasn't the only one that started to giggle.

One was a car rear ending another car and the 2nd was the state prosecuting a boyfriend for violence to the girlfriend. She was on his side fighting the state. But there was some bar back alley video that showed part of it.

Both were a lot tougher to decide then I would think.

 

[mdhunter]

22 years ago I was in college and got selected to be the forman of a grand jury. We indicted a guy for rape who was ultimately found not guilty. I still wonder to this day if we got it wrong or what happened.

 

[wgiles]

I was a juror on a civil rights case in federal court around 1998. The case was ultimately dismissed, but I was left with a lot of respect for the judge. As the trial progressed, it became apparent that the plaintiff had committed the crime for which he was claiming his civil rights were violated. The states attorney in the original trial really messed up and dropped the charges after the accused passed a lie detector test.