Anybody here like to serve on a jury?

[ellenrr]

This is the 2nd time I've gotten a jury summons.
{see what I get for voting!}

I have to find out if my company compensates me, if not I believe the juror gets paid $5.00 a day, which would mean doing my civic duty would cost me $75/a day. plus parking..
hmmm...

not such a deal

[Denninmi]

1. I did in 2009

I was paid $25, plus about $3 for mileage, and then forgot to cash the check. And yes, I missed a day of work to do it, so it cost me about $150 bucks.

However, the experience was great. Luckily, I was selected for a pool for a simple marijuana possession case, so the whole trial took about 3-4 hours. Had it been some "big" case I would have just had to bluntly tell the judge that I was not in a financial position to serve for days on end, and I'm sure I would have been excused.

We sprung the guy of the more severe charge - the cops were trying to say that he had intent to distribute simply because the amount of marijuana he had was over the limit for which that charge could apply. But they had absolutely no evidence that he was actually trying to sell it. And, the prosecutor was kind of arrogant and yet unprepared. It took us all of about 10 minutes to come to a consensus. We even debated letting the guy off completely as a form of jury nullification just to tell the prosecution that he shouldn't waste taxpayer time and money but couldn't quite go there.

It was a really interesting experience. Afterward, the judge came in and spoke to us, she was very friendly and personable (and also really YOUNG, like probably 35, I can tell she's going places in her career). I'm very glad I was able to do this.

[Patiod]

26. Don't count on financial hardship getting you off!

I was almost empaneled on a capital murder case the week I was to start a new job. The judge actually said "can't you move home with your parents?" I started to argue, and then realized it would be stupid, because they wouldn't allow me on the jury anyway (religious conviction against capital punishment).

But seriously - I should give up my apartment and move home in order to serve on a jury? Really?

[ellenrr]

29. ok I have a religious conviction against capital punishment

plus I do not believe cops.
Plus I'm an activist who marches against police brutality.
Plus I agitate against the death penalty.

[blueamy66]

2. Nope.

I'd just say that I hate cops and have served time in jail....nuf said.

[MiddleFingerMom]

3. The ONLY time I've ever been called...

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...I ended up serving on a jury for a first-degree murder trial here in Tucson (relatively
infamous -- the guru intructor murder case).
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Fascinating. Draining. Ultimately disappointing in so many ways (we had a not-so-closet
racist/homophobe on the jury... and two contractors who seemed to spend more time
telling us how much money and business they were losing than they did participating in
the deliberations).
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Hung jury (ahem, did I REALLY need to point that out?), but she was re-tried and convicted
of second-degree murder.
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[CBGLuthier]

4. Rape Trial of a Minor

Not much fun really. Two days of graphic testimony and then the asswipe pled out. Got a "summons" the next year and blew it off. Imagine how much trouble it is to do jury duty when you are a single proprietor and employee of a business. I consider that one experience to be it for me. They can toss ME in jail before I will ever serve on a jury again. Really.

[PassingFair]

5. I think it very important that people serve as jurors when asked.

Seriously, if I were unjustly accused of something,
I'd want a hearing in front of impartial peers.

Really.

[Kali]

7. me too

too many bored old people populating juries is not "peers"

[elleng]

6. I did, was one of my best experiences ever.

Under-employed at the time, so $ not an issue.

Check on the $5.00; doesn't sound right.

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. I didn't serve on a jury, but I got a summons and went. I was excited.

But I never was called. It was like waiting at the gate for a plane that never shows up. Although, our parking was paid for by voucher. Are you sure they don't do that by you?

Anyway, I think people make too big of a deal about jury duty. I had no problem with it.

[PassingFair]

11. Good Citizen Award!

[ScreamingMeemie]

13. Hey you!

[Kali]

9. I wouldn't say LIKE, but it is very interesting to me

and I feel it is an important (yes I am naively idealistic) part of our justice system. I have been on two juries, one a minor local drug possession case and the other a kind of famous civil trial - for Charles Keating.

I think the compensation for the drug case was $12/day plus mileage, the Keating trial was in federal court in Tucson and I made some fair money between the per diem and mileage (I was more than 60 miles away and got something like $60/day if I recall - it was 20 years ago)

[david13]

10. It used to go by voter registration. Then they realized that people

were not registering to vote to get out of it, so they went to dmv and other records. So they could harass and intimidate and make the populace feel small, unimportant and menial before the great almighty and all powerful government.
It sucks.
What's worse is I am categorically not allowed to serve, but they call me anyway to harass me.
I hate them.
Death to them, I say.
dc

[ellenrr]

20. why are you categorically not allowed to serve?

[Patiod]

27. I think it's GREAT that they don't go by voter registration anymore

And I'd prefer a jury - one of the few things standing between us and the "great almighty and all-powerful government"

[Rob H.]

12. Dunno about "like" but

I've had jury duty three times. The first was municipal, the second was federal, and the third was on a grand jury. They were all interesting, but the most depressing one was serving on a grand jury because most of the cases presented to us were child abuse cases. The one moment of levity, if you can call it that, was that we also indicted someone for horse thievery (I was living in Idaho at the time). The guy who stole the horse tried to sell it at a livestock auction in the same county, about 10 miles away from where he'd stolen it.

It was interesting and in retrospect I'm glad I got called. My employers gave me paid time off every time and I got to keep the money ($15 a day?) I was paid for serving.

[Nikia]

14. I got summoned, but they cancelled it the day before

In my county, I can't be summoned for another 4 years.
I had been excited about it. I thought that serving on a jury would interesting.
As a policy, my employer pays for that day of work minus jury pay. My previous employer had that policy too. I don't know whether this policy is common or not. These businesses are family owned corporations.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. it was an interesting experience ... I was on a jury for a federal case once

the only time I have ever gotten a summons. All the protocol and procedure part of it can get pretty boring.

[madmom]

16. Yes I found it really fascinating. I have been called 3 times, twice by grand jury once by

local,(it was dismissed before trial). The other two were..interstate transportation of a handgun This was back in the '70's and the other was about the drug ( I can't remember the name) women were given in the 50's and 60's when they were pregnant and it was later found out to cause birth defects, the daughter was suing, she won.


Thalidomide...that's it!

[kentauros]

17. The few times I've had to use the county courthouses in Houston

I take the train. Parking is $3 all day, and the train is $2 all day. Of course it helps that the beginning of the line is only a five-minute drive from here, but even if it wasn't, I'd still find a way of taking the train. It's perfect for all the downtown chores

So, you might see what kind of mass transit is available to you and use that. It's always cheaper, and you only have to take into consideration the amount of time spent on buses and/or rail.

[Graybeard]

18. It's better now with the "call-in" system.

At one time jurors sat in a big room all week waiting for their names to be pulled from the drum. Now, here in NY, we call a phone number each night to hear if we are part of a smaller group that has to report the next day. Most of the time if you are not selected that day you are dismissed.

[barb162]

19. I have received several summons, never once served on a jury.

[ellenrr]

21. last time I got a summons I didn't go and nothing happened.

to be locked up in a room with 11 stupid people is my idea of hell.

yes there are some smart people on juries, as many of you were on juries, but the majority of americans are dumb as a door knob, so chances are better to have dummies.

seriously, how many americans do you know who give a s__t about anything beyond lindsay lohan and the superbowl.

[Betty88]

22. I like it

But I'm lucky I have always worked for places that pay. I was on one for 3 weeks, nothing very interesting but it was like a mini vacation. The judge started late in the morning and most days we had a 2 hour lunch or were done by 4.

Everyone thinks I'm crazy, they all say try to get out of it. I don't understand this here in NY we only get so many times you can put it off, I'm saving those for the time I really need it.

[MiddleFingerMom]

23. I DO feel an obligation and, no offense to anyone...

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...but those who feel that only incompetent or ignorant people can't "get out of" jury duty
karmically DESERVE a jury full of incompetent or ignorant people should THEY ever find
themselves in that situation.
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Our jury wasn't comprised of the incompetent -- though some were VERY unhappy to be
there. I was only one of twelve... but my contribution was key -- no one else was familiar
enough with guns to have a CLUE as to the meaning of the exceptional presentation given
us by the prosecutor about the murder weapon (a large handgun). She broke it down bit
by little bit and absolutely disproved the "vagueness" of what the defense was trying
to claim was "vague evidence". When I realized this, I wrote a note to the judge, who
allowed us to come out and hear the prosecutor once again give a RE-presentation of
that part of the trial.
.
It changed several people's minds once they understood that -- One person's perspective
that would NOT have been offered if I had been focused on "getting out of" that "unpleasant
task".
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We still ended up with a hung jury... and I put total blame on the old man who was a
homophobe/racist for that -- the victim was Mexican and the accused was White and claimed
anal rape as her justification -- because of that this guy submitted several strange
notes to the judge about the victim's orientation and relationship with his male housemate
-- I found that out later -- and he kept referring to the yoga instructor murder victim as
a "gayro"... his pre-Teabaggeresque distortion of "guru").
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I was EVER mindful of the responsibility placed on us -- on the one hand, we had a person who
was allegedly murdered... on the other, we had a person who could possibly spend the rest of
her life in prison.
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THAT is not only our duty... it's our OBLIGATION as human beings.
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What REALLY pissed me off later is that several of the jury members kept referring to the fact
that she had had the handgun and a license to carry it concealed for 5 years and had "never"
pulled it or threatened anyone with it.
.
During the trial, we were kept sequestered for quite a while during unscheduled unheard (by
the jury) arguments went on -- something IMPORTANT that the judge had to decide whether
or not could be presented to us.
.
Turns out -- there was a 911 fucking TAPE discovered DURING the trial of her husband calling
the police on her about a year or two prior because she was threatening him with that very
same handgun. You could HEAR her on the tape doing so in the background. The husband (the
man who had helped her hide after the murder), of course, had never mentioned this fact.
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The judge ruled it would have been "prejudicial".
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FUCKING RIGHT IT WOULD HAVE!!!!!!
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I don't understand that ruling to this day.
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[Paladin]

24. Like It? No. Dodge It? Never........ (n/t)

[DinahMoeHum]

25. I've been summoned a few times, but never actually served on one.

The most interesting one was the very first time I was summoned, back in 1981 at federal district court (NY-Southern District). At that time, it was located in lower Manhattan, alongside Chinatown and Little Italy (the one saving grace about it - I had some fantastic 2-hour lunches there).

The very first day, I'm in the jury pool being called, and they couldn't pronounce my name. I patiently corrected them several times and even spelled out my last name; even then, they still had trouble. Finally satisfied, I sat down, but not without mumbling "assholes" within earshot of some of the legal brass-asses there. One of them gave me a dirty look.

When I heard the case they were selecting jurors for, I thought, OMFG. The case involved a handful of so-called "Croatian nationalists" accused of terrorist bombings throughout the NYC area, including one time in a locker at JFK airport. The one word running through my brain was S-E-Q-U-E-S-T-E-R: any juror sitting on this case would be staying at a hotel or other safe spot for weeks on end with little, if any contact with family or workplace.

Fortunately, as I racked my brain to conjure up a cock-and-bull story for not wishing to serve on this jury (I was ready to claim sympathy and solidarity for their activities as someone who was vehemently "anti-Communist") I was excused.

I found out later that the trial lasted 3 months, with convictions and long prison sentences.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The other couple of times I was summoned, it was in a more local area, and I had the option of spending only the first day at the courthouse and being "on call" the rest of the week (I could be back at work, but I had to call at noon to find out if they wanted me there for the afternoon sessions). Mostly uneventful stuff.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Haven't heard from them in quite awhile, but one never knows...

[Patiod]

28. Missed a very juicy case - incest, murder, drugs and money

One time, I was literally the very last person called at the very end of the day. Everyone else sent home

It was for a murder case where a 17-yo was sleeping with his aunt, and the aunt convinced the boy and his brother to ax-murder her rich husband (their blood uncle). The aunt was released when there was a persecutory screw up, the brother pleaded and served, and now, ten years later, they finally got around to trying the guy, and wanted to fry him.

The judge didn't care that I was starting a new job the following week - too bad.

As it turned out, the next question was "Do you have any problem with the death penalty?" and before I could finish saying "I'm a Quaker", the prosecutor was on his feet, and before HE could finish challenging me, judge said "Patiod, you are dismissed."

I imagine the "I'm a Quaker" thing works better here in SE Penna, where there are enough of us that prosecutors understand the implications of seating one on a capital case jury.

As it turned out, the jury did what I thought was the right thing - find the guy guilty, but sentence him to life rather than the death penalty.

[ellenrr]

30. I believe in jury nullification.

I can see the point of 'doing one's civic duty' but in this case someone else will have to do their civic duty.

Mostly my civic duty consists of protesting, demonstrating, vigiling, writing letters to editors, organziing, talking to people trying to break thru the wall of stupidity, etc.

the whole (in)justice system is so fucked from top to bottom that serving on a jury is not really doing a civic duty.
A better civic duty would be standing outside of Pathmark for example with the picketers, explaining to the throngs rushing past, why there is a reason to honor a picket line.

just sayin'.....

[Skittles]

31. I wouldn't say I LIKE it

as a night shift worker it sucks indeed to do a hard switch to days - hard to stay awake. But I do understand the IMPORTANCE of jury duty, and I take it seriously