Have You Ever Received A Jury Duty Summons?

[arwalden]

Were you selected to serve? Tell us about it....

[evlbstrd]

1. I get summoned almost annually.

But I've never been selected. I go again next month.

[VaYallaDawg]

Got the summons many times, but never served.

Got out of it by wearing suit and tie. Works every time!

[matcom]

2. yesterday as a matter of fact

served about 10 years ago. ended up being forman. sucked ass. 14 days at $7/day (Salt Lake City)

NOT looking forward to my January 20th appearance x(

[JVS]

3. I told them I had moved out of state and they quit bugging me

[flowomo]

4. yep, the editor got me out of it...

couldn't spare a reporter from the newspaper staff.

[hfojvt]

5. I was summoned, but they cancelled it

This was about the time a trans-sexual was charged with a misdemeanor for putting "female" on a marriage license. They opted not to give her a jury trial because they said it would be too expensive for such a minor offense, and yet the prosecution was granted about 6 months worth of delays which sounds expensive to me. The prosecution lost anyway, but I would have loved to be part of the jury that acquitted.

[madinmaryland]

6. I got summoned once.

I sat through the premilaries in the morning and about 11:30 my attorney came in and told me my divorce had been finalized. (WOO-HOO). Then I was dismissed about 15 minutes later. I took the rest of the day off!!

[Loonman]

7. 3 times yes

Never served, cases dropped or dismissed before jury was needed.

I went every time, and was not a weasel who made excuses to the judge to try to get out of it.

[tjwash]

8. All the time. I just summoned for Federal Jury Duty.

I have to give up a whole month for that.

[NNadir]

9. I have been summoned twice, and actually called in once and questioned

for seating on the jury. I was not selected as a juror. I must say that I thought the defendent was guilty, just by virtue of his smirk. He was being charged with making terroristic threats. He cursed out the Asian owners of a convenience store in racist terms and apparently threatened their lives. I don't know the outcome of the case, but I am glad I did not serve. I would have been very biased.

[youthere]

10. Yep..

Was called and served on a DUI case. The kid (a minor) he borrowed a friend's motorcycle and wrecked it and (himself too). He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, where the hospital staff took a urine sample before the police arrived because the kid "had to go real bad". The sample was transferred from the hospital container to the "police" container, and that simple transfer ended up causing a hung jury. We had one guy on the jury convinced that the hospital staff colluded with the police to frame the kid by tampering with the sample. The urine tested positive for alcohol (I don't remember how high, but it was well above the legal limit) and pot.
After we were dismissed the judge came and talked to us and told us that most likely nothing further would happen, that the county attorney wouldn't retry him. It really pissed me off because that one guy on the jury even told us that if that kid had hurt someone he would not have had the same objections about the urine sample.He just didn't think that this kid wrecking a motorcycle and getting scratched up was that big of a deal and he shouldn't get punished for it.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. Funny You should ask that....just served on Tuesday....it sucked.

It's like waiting for a plane that never shows up. First, I had to drag myself out of the house fully clad in presentable clothes (not normal for this jammie loving mommy) and full makeup (where the hell did I put my eyeliner last new years?) at 7:30 to make it there by 8. Only to find out it was 8:30. After watching a corny video meant to be funny, we were told to remember our numbers. I was service number 73. Let me tell you...it's like waiting for a plane that never shows up. They call a bunch of numbers randomly when each judge needs a jury. They never called me.Which was good in one respect, because I had already paid money for a state licensing exam the following day, and sucky in another...because the day really drags. On the plus side, I chatted with a really nice older man most of the day about digital animation. The nice thing is, we were part of a study for a new form of Jury Service. One day or one trial. Instead of the old one week or one trial.


I believe it is my civic duty...it would have been interesting to be on a case...but I'm glad I wasn't chosen give the week I am having. And I'm trying to not even think of the money I lost by not being out on the job.

[Gormy Cuss]

12. Three times in two states, never selected.

Starting to feel my number's up.

[AlCzervik]

13. yes and i was selected and thats when i found out that sometimes

that when the defendant just see you the jury walking into the courtroom they decide to plead out. Thats what the prosecutor told us when we were walking down the hall and about to enter the court room and damn if he wasn't right. The defendant did indeed plead out about 10 minutes after we walked into the room.

[tjwmason]

14. Yes - but got out of it

It was during my time at university - I was summoned from my home address and it was in the middle of university exams, they seemed to be satisfied that travelling 500 miles overnight was just grounds to get off.

[Awsi Dooger]

15. I was seated on a big felony case but excluded by the prosecution

Two years ago. I think I detailed it at length here once. It was the morning of the California recall. Two Hispanic guys were charged with gobs of felonies -- assault and theft and domestic abuse and whatever. It happened in Las Vegas but they fled to California so they had dozens of officers and detectives involved from both states. They read out a list of at least 25 names and asked the potential jurors if anyone knew them or had an ingrained opinion.

I was seated on the jury of 12, among maybe 60 in the room. The black judge was excellent. He questioned all the seated jurors at length. I was 7th among 12. One of the questions was did we have trouble with police or people in position of authority. Everyone ahead of me was saying no they loved everyone including school patrol guards.

They said we were under oath so I had to be blunt. This was during a period I had played bonus slot machines as a sidelight for years in Las Vegas. You were guaranteed profit with selective intelligent play. That's not a myth. The machines were goldmines at one point. The bonus was at 10, for example, and an unknowing tourist would get up and walk away with the meter on 9.

Anyway, the casinos don't like anyone to win even if it doesn't impact the bottom line of those machines at all. They started evicting and intimidating locals who even threatened to play those machines. The security guards acted like thugs and also the slot floor men and undercover. Frankly, they were jealous. It wasn't uncommon for them to pay off jackpots to local bonus players and be steaming as they did it. Many people literally quit high paying jobs to play the machines full time. I'm talking late '90s primarily. It got to the point the security guards and floor men would intentionally allow the bonus players to get to the brink of the bonus, then swoop in and bar them from the casino. Often the gamblers were taken to the back room and abused, simply based on which machine they chose to play. I'm not kidding. The charges were trumped up and local police and judges sided with the casinos due to the political nature of the state given the gaming influence. Finally the ACLU got involved and began suing the casinos.

When it was my turn to answer questions I focused on the above points and wouldn't shut up. The audience loved it along with the defendants and the defense team but the prosecutors were squirming. I never said it had any bearing on their case but i was damn sure going to fully answer the judge's question. When I was finished, amazingly many of the previously questioned jurors raised their hands and started amending their previous answers. The guy next to me nudged me and said, "now look what you've started."

When it came time for lawyer questioning, one of the female prosecutors screwed up by asking something she assumed she knew the answer to but did not. "Now, these incidents are all involving casino security, right? Not Metro police." Ha! Did that create an opening. Several involving my friends indeed involved police and I knew the details. The prosecutor cut me off and asked for a sidebar, but the judge allowed my response to continue. After that, a defense lawyer started questioning me with the opener, "you realize you're gone, right?" Sure enough, when it came to unexplained challenges the same prosecutor who asked the stupid question stood up and excluded me alone. I got in an unexpected round of golf.

[pitohui]

23. ha i bet we have some mutual acquaintances

hell, maybe we've even met under different names

ever play at a place modeled on a place w. a lot of water around it

or a place modeled on a place w. some thousands year old structures in the desert?

:-)

and to think all i did was call the judge's office and say i was self-employed and they said, ok, you're excused

[Awsi Dooger]

29. Sounds likely

Both of those and nearby. Not lately, the last six months or so. In fact, I can verify that by the fact I've barely seen a Chinese since June.

On edit: I should clarify that. It wasn't a derogatory slap in general. The Chinese are notorious for hawking and monopolizing the Las Vegas and elsewhere bonus machines to the point they sit behind tourists and never leave. That was the reference, a local knowledge thing.

[tallahasseedem]

16. Both.

In fact, here is the link to the story about the case I served on.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/12182793.htm

Its the first story.

I dont understand why anyone would not want to serve. I was honored to do my civic duty.

[pitohui]

24. being a slave is not a honor

i can explain this very easily if you actually do want to understand: I dont understand why anyone would not want to serve. I was honored to do my civic duty.

many working people are paid by the hour

many self-employed people are paid ONLY if they are working

to steal a week or a month of my life at $6 a day is slavery, theft, and a severe financial hardship, and it is enough to drive someone who lives paycheck to paycheck off the cliff to bankruptcy

people who are paid a salary whether they show up at work or not are free to be "honored" to serve

if we really cared abt having people from all walks of life, instead of just the bored salaryman and retiree serving, then we would compensate them fairly


but it isn't important enough to our so-called democracy

taking the food from my mouth is not an honor, it is a theft

[tallahasseedem]

27. ....

:nopity:

[pitohui]

28. whatever, i'm glad you're so wealthy

however on a democratic website you might open your mind and heart to the possibility that all income levels are represented

i know it's hard but an intelligent person has this thing called an imagination, try it, and if you really stretch yr imagination, sometimes you even develop this thing called empathy!

on second thought, don't bother, it sucks to care about anyone except yrself

i can understand why you wouldn't care to do so

[tallahasseedem]

30. Oh please....

spare me. You know nothing about me. Calling jury duty slavery is the bigger travesty. You might want to open your heart and mind a little when you compare a civic duty to one of humanities worst crimes.

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. I'm not wealthy, but I still went, because it IS my civic duty. If a day

off work will starve you, I suggest you switch jobs. Ever call off work with a fever? Think of it the same way.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

39. Exactly.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was asked to serve. I had no problem with that, provided the whole process didn't take too long, but we went SIX days before even forming the jury. Fortunately, I was finally excluded by the plaintiff's attorney on that day.

My employer would only pay for 10 days of service, but there were 17 scheduled days of testimony (and possibly several days of deliberations) plus the six days already wasted. What's worse is that the case was between two rich fucks I could care less about.

I'm glad I got out when I did, because I would have been screwed out of the rent if I had to sit on the final jury. The judge was a major prick, too. He didn't even excuse an elderly handicapped man who had to visit the doctor three times a week, but a perfectly healthy actor who had some "potential" acting jobs around the corner WAS excused. :mad:

[DrGonzoLives]

17. Yes

Twice, and I got out of both.

[swimboy]

18. Yes and was seated in the jury for a murder trial my very first time.

Thank God it was not a capital case (no death penalty) but we convicted and sentenced. We had to look at pictures of the victim's wounds and the alibi testimony was contradictory and full of holes. It was a very diverse jury, race and age and economic status. It was horrible and fascinating and valuable.

It is really an important aspect of community. Voting and jury duty are essential civic responsibilities.

[Omphaloskepsis]

19. They have only asked me one time.

A few days before the selection the kid plead guilty and they sent me home when I arrived at the fairgrounds for the interview. I wouldn't have gone if I had known that. But I didn't know it was the Kip trial at the time.

This was for Kip Kinkel - The Thurston High school shooting kid..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kip_Kinkel

I did get a check for 18$ for showing up. I would have never been selected because I was friends with one of the kids he shot.

[Missy Vixen]

20. Yes, and I'm part of the annual club as well

I estimate that I have been summonsed every year at least once for the past 10 years. Someone must like me (or hate me, as the case may be.) I keep meeting people who are upset because they've never been called. Maybe my number can be retired so someone else can get called.

The jury pool rules have changed in King County. As a result, one is expected to serve for only three days if one does not get chosen to be on a jury. In the good ol' days :eyes:, it was two fun-filled weeks.

I was the master at getting bounced out of voir dire. (We have family members that are law enforcement and are friends with those in the legal profession as well.) At the same time, I finally found myself on a jury. It was a case of mistaken identity. We found the defendant not guilty. It was very, very interesting, and I'll cross my fingers for those who'd like to serve on a jury but just haven't been called yet.

Julie

[seaglass]

21. I had jury duty yesterday. Almost got a child rape case.

TV cameras there and everything. Instead almost all of us got dismissed by 1pm because there was a last minute problem with a witness and they decided they couldn't begin to seat a jury yet.

I think I would have been challenged by the prosecutor anyway because my daughter was recently a victim in a case against a school supervisor (inappropriate IMs not anything physical). I know I could have been fair but I doubt the prosecutor would have taken the risk.

Personally I'm glad I didn't have to sit on that particular trial.

[pitohui]

22. yes

i got out of it -- self-employed

the hub gets out of it -- paid by the hour

they can't destroy your income and force you to serve for all of $6 a day and a sandwich, thank goodness

[Canadian Socialist]

25. Never have

Different ways here. IIRC, you have to be a property owner (paying taxes) to be called. I guess it makes the most sense because if you own residential property, the odds are you are there. If they went by voting registration, you might have moved in the last few months. So, as a non-property owner, I'm never called. However, my sister was, once. It was (IIRC) a case where 2 guys (truck drivers) and the company they worked for were charged with vehicular manslaughter. This was in the mountains and apparently the company and the truck drivers never checked their brakes; the brakes failed going down hill and killed someone. My sister said she learned more about brakes than a person should ever know. They found the drivers and the company guilty of the charge. To be honest, I think they should have not let my sister on the jury as she is an Emergency Nurse and has seen way too many accident victims. She might have been a wee bit prejudiced against people that didn't check their brakes as they were legal bound to do.
edited to add: We don't have a lot of jury trials here. A lot of minor offences are tried by judge. So that may make a huge difference. As well, we don't have capital crimes. Even if you commit murder, the most you will get is life which is 25 years. And you can be paroled after 1/3 of your sentence has been served.

[Orangepeel]

26. yes. a "smash and grab" criminal case

the defendant was convicted of smashing a car window at a traffic light and stealing a purse out of woman's lap. The victim gave the police a description, including clothing, and the defendant was caught about a mile away, wearing identical clothing, and carrying the purse.

I had no reasonable doubt he was guilty, so I voted to convict, but it was still very difficult to do.

[Canadian Socialist]

31. This is OT but odd

Several years ago, I was seeing this fellow who was a Crown Prosecutor. He was trying a murder case. Anyway, we were back at his place and for some reason I wanted to know about that particular case (the woman had been murdered by her SO). Now, I am an aficionado of murder mysteries, so naturally, I was interested. He hauled out of his brief case a photo album with all the pictures. It was gruesome and appalling. There was this young woman, who had basically been beheaded. You know the really appalling part? I flipped through the album without any emotion. I even pointed out a few things that he and his experts had missed. To this day, I don't know what came over me.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

32. Yes, a few weeks ago.

I got picked to be a potential juror, but we went six days without even forming the jury. Fortunately, on the sixth day, I was dismissed.

[swag]

33. Have been summoned twice, have never been selected.

Was once rejected by a defense lawyer in a drunk boating case because I confessed to having been a victim of a crime before.

Had jury duty Monday. Read the NYT in the jury assembly room, did the crossword, read some magazines, was dismissed, took the train to a chicken wings place, ate wings, drank beer, went home, took a nap.

[KitchenWitch]

35. Yes

Was not selected....But got to catch up on my "pleasure reading" while I waited.

[newyawker99]

36. I was summoned many times. I was selected twice.

[Sgent]

37. Yep -- once

for Grand Jury.

Talk about an interesting experience :), and unlike Petit jury's we actually got paid a little ($75/day). You get to learn all of the underworld of your city.

Edited to add: We didn't indict any ham sandwhiches either. We almost didn't return an indictment on the prosecutors "money" case (an attempted suicide murder). One vote different and he would have had manslaughter rather than Murder 1. The case was eventually settled with a manslaughter charge with little jailtime but inpatient psych treatment.

[RebelOne]

38. Was summoned twice in Florida and once here in Georgia.

I was picked for a jury in Florida in criminal court. But I was lucky I didn't have to serve because the defendant plea-bargained.

[NMDemDist2]

40. I've gotten summons a couple times, showed up one day and ended

up playing bridge (card game) all day with rotating players hehehe