Jury duty

[SunnyJim]

I've only served on one jury and it was a battery case. It lasted a week and was the most boring time of my life. I never had such a hard time staying awake. It was actually painful how boring it was. The lawyer would just keep going on and on about a stupid detail that had zero meaning to the case. In the end, it was all BS and we all voted that he was innocent. She said he attacked her, but he was trying to get her out of his house when he caught her doing drugs in his bathroom. She was a nurse and thought she'd accuse him of battery so nobody would believe him if he mentioned her drug use. Not one of us believed her, and of course, her friends all got it backwards when the testified too, so it was pretty ridiculous that there was even a trial. When it was over, the lawyers asked us for our opinions on how they did. I told the Assistant DA that it was a stupid trial and he had wasted our time on something that never happened. After I told him what I thought, most of the others on the jury told him the same thing.

I served on the grand jury for a year, most cases were good. But we did have 1 make that 2 cases brought before us with the same victim (in the eyes of the law only) and different defendants. Me and a few of the other sane members with kids roughly the same age balked on the 1st and everyone was on board when they found out about the second. If you have enough people with common sense on the GJ screening the cases you won't have to sit through that.

 

[MrWoodChips]

I've only been called once, right after I turned 18 and registered to vote. I was excited to serve, but never got the chance. They sent a short questionaire with the summons and I listed my occupation as Student. I later learned that was an automatic exemption in our county. I've never been called in the 13 years since, though I've been registered to vote in every county I've ever lived in. That's how they get the jury pool, right?

I've only been called twice. Once to the local town hall for a case that was settled before any jury got started.

The second time was lucky for me. It was for a month of grand jury service in Monroe county. 56 cases or so that we heard. Why was this lucky? About two days before it started, I developed a minor bout of tendonitis from too much computer use. So I had a month of rest from the computer at work.

Since then I've never been called. I think they said I'd get a 10 year exemption, but it has been closer to 20 years since I've been called.

John

 

[czechsonofagun]

Somebody told me to show up with a Bible in hand and they will most likely kick you out.
Never had the chance to put it to test

 

[Ronbo]

My employer pays me $600 per day to see patients. Jury duty pays me nothing. My employer pays me nothing if I am not here. If I am not here, my patients do not get the medical care they need. Texas does not care, being a medical provider does not exempt you. If I do not work, I do not pay my bills. Financial hardship is not a reason to be excused. It is no wonder that people do not want to do jury duty.

Ron

 

[Bird]

My employer pays me $600 per day to see patients. Jury duty pays me nothing. My employer pays me nothing if I am not here. If I am not here, my patients do not get the medical care they need. Texas does not care, being a medical provider does not exempt you. If I do not work, I do not pay my bills. Financial hardship is not a reason to be excused. It is no wonder that people do not want to do jury duty.

Ron

You're right that financial hardship is not a stautory exemption, but it's up to the judge. My wife mentioned when she served recently that the judge asked if there's anyone here that just really does not want to serve, and one of those who raised his hand was a doctor who said he had a single doctor practice (himself) and if he were not at work, a number of patients would have to be re-scheduled. But she said the doctor also said he didn't consider himself any better than anyone else or entitled to any special consideration. But the judge did dismiss the doctor.

 

[lapdawg]

Let me approach this from a different perspective.

I would like to ask every thoughtful, diligent, and intelligent person who is given the opportunity to serve on a jury to do so. People's lives and livlihoods depend on it.

I have had the misfortune of being a defendant in a civil trial (malpractice). And an intelligent jury helped save my career.

Let me tell you what plaintiff's attorneys want in a juror. They love people who are on disability, but not necissarily disabled, because people who feel entitled are more like to give big awards. They love people who are unemployed who take from the system rather than contribute to it for the same reasons. The love people who are ignorant and unintelligent because they can convince them to make decisions based on emotional appeals because they can't or won't understand the facts.

On the other hand, they will strike people who are educated, professional, and/or gainfully employed because they are afraid that this group will listen to and understand facts and generally believe that people should earn what they receive. Plaintiffs attorneys are afraid of this group in civil cases while defendents attorneys love them. Interestingly, it's the opposite in criminal trials.

The problem is, that the second group of people are too busy working and providing for their families and jury duty can become a significant hardship for them, so they try to get out of it. The first group, however, loves the $10/day stipend and the free lunch, so they are less likely to try to get out of it.

In the SC county I live in, each side has the opportunity to strike a specified number of potential jurors (3 each as I recall) and the remainder are drawn randomly to make up the jury. So the more intelligent, thoughtful people who show up, the more likely a jury is to consist of this type of juror.

I used to get out of jury duty (it's very easy for a physician to do) but now I always go (even though I'm always struck) because it means that there is a better chance that a thoughtful, intelligent person makes it to a jury.

I'm sorry if any of this sounds bitter, but it is the unfortunate truth.

Cleary, jury duty is a hassle but it is very important work. I am thankful every day for the jurors who served on my case.

 

[lapdawg]

Oh yeah, for those who reccommended "moral objections" to get out of jury duty, it can backfire. In my case there was a nice old guy who objected because and told the judge that he felt that it was against his religious beliefs for a man to judge another man and that only a higher power could do so. And he really believed this.

The judge did not make him sit on the jury but made him stay and watch the entire trial (5 days).

 

[Mike Costello]

I've been in some jury assembly rooms and wondered if justice was really going to be served. The mentality of some of those prospective jurors was scary, to say the least. Most didn't want to be there, so I had the impression snap decisions were going to be the order of the day. Being judged by a "jury of your peers" has taken on a whole new meaning today.

 

[Bird]

The first group, however, loves the $10/day stipend and the free lunch

That, too, varies by state and county. I don't think I ever got more than $6 a day and the only free lunch I ever got was in the middle of the capital murder trial. Way back there when I was gainfully employed, I got my regular salary, but had to turn in the jury duty check to the city.

But when my wife served on a jury last August, she got $126 (but no free lunch). I don't remember exactly, but I think it was $6 to show up the first day, then if picked to serve (as she was), it's $40 a day now, so she was picked to serve on a Monday, then was in the courtroom the next 3 days on the jury.

 

[JB4310]

Yeah the pay stinks I get the notice every year, have yet to serve,
My trick, though lapdawg has got me feeling a little guilty for getting out of it, is to request another date, which is allowed here in CT.
So I look at the calender and pick the last business day before Christmas or New Years, figure they're not going to start a trial on those days.
We have to call in to the Court the night before your day to serve, to see if you are required to come that day. Recorded announcement reads off a list of all those that are excused, I've so far been on the excused list.

Must be alot of tricks, my brother was involved with a small lawsuit and one of the potential jurors came in and immediately looked at my brother and said "Hey dude how ya doing, remember me?" That's all it took, they asked him if he knew my brother and he said, yes. the judge excused him. Brother said he never saw the guy in his life, but no one asked him.

JB.