[Parallax]

I've been called a few times but never selected. I'm not sure why exactly, but I have been told that I can be opinionated and a little stubborn. I would actually like to sit on a jury sometime, but I don't think it will happen.

[Phil1]

What Kung Pow said.

I have been called perhaps 8 or so times for jury pool duty. Most often in this county a day in the 'pool' will put you back into the rotation with about a 2-3 year spacing. It's a bit odd that I have been called up about twice as frequently as the wife has.

One thing about the whole process struck me negatively, on one case regarding a neighborhood peeping Tom suspect was what we all had to endure. This case tied up a court room all day and the head count of civil paid court employees, attorneys and prospective jurors was 34. You can add travel time for the folks so I roughly calculated 8 hours which gives 272 man-hours just in the jury selection process. It went all day. I recall that the judge stated at the beginning that the actual trial could go 3 days or possibly more. This just seemed to me to be over the top in effective costs for this crime. I do have to state that the act does stay on your record here as a sex offender conviction. That is pretty serious as it lumped together with far more vicious crimes.

Overall not a bad experience. Lots of sitting. Bring your music, lap top or reading material.

I was called for a Federal grand Jury one time at the Federal Courthouse in downtown LA. That commute is about 60 miles one way. The materials sent stated that the service would go for a full month. I could not possibly do it.

A friend working for the city did do a federal GJ for a month and he said it was really interesting. For the fed courts every one stands for the jury's grand entrance. That's a bit differant than for state and local courts.

[mickeyobe]

I have served twice.
Once was on a petit coroner's jury.
Second time I was foreman on a regular jury.

In both instances I was very impressed by our justice systems even though they, at times, may be somewhat less than perfect.

I was also impressed by the strong desire of most of the jurors to see that justice was done.

I would gladly serve again if called.

Mickey

[J.Scott]

I've been called three times but was never selected.

I recall one time there was a prospective but reluctant candidate.
When asked by the judge if there was any reason why he shouldn't be a juror he thought for a minute, then replied; "Your Honour, I just don't think I'd make a very good juror."
"Oh, why's that?" asked the Judge.
"Well, to be honest, I'm old and I forget a lot." He said.
The judge leaned forward,"Not good enough! I'm old and I forget things too and they made me a judge! Next!"
The whole court room broke out in laughter.

[ChrisPlatt]

I enjoy watching the line of people attempting to get excused.
One by one, voices trailing off as their story falls apart and their confidence disappears,
the judge bangs the gavel loudly saying "MUST SERVE!"

Typically only the sole proprietor of a business or sole caregiver to a minor child
are excused from jury service in New York. There are very few other exceptions.

Chris

[Ratmagiclady]

Funny thing here is that paid firemen aren't exempt, but volunteers are.

I suspect that's because volunteer fire departments tend to be really small outfits, and they're already giving up a whole lot of time from their paid work to serve the community, which can make adding jury duty an additional hardship on their regular lives.


Me, I've never had a problem with jury duty: the last time I was called up we never even got to selection: Was pretty miserable to sit there cooped up and unable to get out for a ciggy all day, though (How they expect to pull smokers into a smoke-free courthouse and expect justice to be done, I dunno, someone might get hung for speeding. )

These days, they'd have to catch me at a good time for my health: sitting still that long turns into quite an ordeal from my joints, probably even on a good day. It's probably not really workable, but hey.

The last time I was called up, I probably wouldn't have been selected, anyway: turned out it was a high-profile murder case, ...but it's unlikely I would have been selected, anyway: one of the first questions they ask is if you've been a victim of a violent crime.

The defendant plead out, though, so everyone got sent home, anyway. I figure, if it hadn't been me sitting in there waiting, it would have been someone else taking time out of their lives, so I guess they also serve who sit and wait.

[Stringmike]

I should perhaps point out to our international members that the USA is perhaps unique in using juries for most civil trials as well as criminal cases. Lawyers for the parties involved also have wide discretion in excluding anyone who may have a bias. In cases involving emotional issues, this often means excluding jurors who may be more used to critical thinking, such as doctors, teachers and scientists.

I have been called twice - once for a civil trial and once for a criminal trial. In the first, I was out almost before they had read my name. In the second, I almost made it, but was dropped in the final cut.

Part of my career involves working as an expert witness in cases involving technical issues, so I have a lot of court experience in the witness stand.

The US system is interesting!

Mike

[ve2vfd]

Funny thing here is that paid firemen aren't exempt, but volunteers are.

Seriously?

Not here, all front line emergency workers are exempt...

I would serve if I had to, but I am not sure I'd make a good jury... I am not impartial and extremely biased against some people... (like street gang bangers, criminal bikers, drunk drivers...)

Pat

[BPT]

I would serve but I hope it wouldnt be for a long trial. I am the sole income for my family and if I was ever in the rare situation where a trial goes for months my family would be screwed. I very highly doubt that I would ever be called for anything but a short affair as those long ones are very rare. And I live in a small area so it is a 1 in a million shot,

I have only ever known 2 people to be called, one was my Dad and he is mostly deaf so he was excused and another friend in Toronto was called but he dodged the bullet of one of those long trials (cant remember which one) but it ran a few months.

[res3567]

My trial lasted two weeks.....but I was lucky....my job compensated me for the time.....my boss was not happy about it however.....but he did comply.

[Jodokast96]

Paid FF's used to get exempted, and I'm sure many still find a way around it.

Rat, what you say makes sense (for once), but not being from this area, you wouldn't know that the current make up of fire departments makes it almost moot. First, most departments are not 100% volunteer anymore. Many have a paid daytime crew. Second, this is a densly poulated area (525,000) in an area of 228 square miles made up of 37 municipalities. That's about 2300 people per square mile. 7 of the towns cover about 175 square miles (about 25 square miles each). That leaves 30 to cover the other 50 square miles.

Each one of those smaller towns has their own department (usually a single station) with a minimum of 3 main apparatus and numerous other support and specialty apparatus. The larger ones have any where from 5-7 stations. Overall, you're looking at two hundred pieces (on the low end) of front line equipment. Even at daytime levels when most members are unable to respond because of work, once you factor in mutual aid between departments (dispatch is handled at the county level), there is more than enough coverage for these guys to serve on a jury, especially since they aren't normally available anyway.

Really, I support first responders fully (3 uncles all lifelong career firefighters), but the amount of money that's being spent on redundant equipment just so each little town can have their own department is staggering. I recall an article from about 10 years ago showing how one county in North Jersey had more pieces of equipment than all 5 boroughs of NYC combined!

[scimitar12]

I think it is a duty all should serve. It is a small price to pay. What I find amazing is how some court districts are more lenient letting people off jury duty for just about any reason.

[Ratmagiclady]

I think it is a duty all should serve. It is a small price to pay. What I find amazing is how some court districts are more lenient letting people off jury duty for just about any reason.

That's probably up to the judge, and, I suppose as any policies go... How hard it is to get people to serve. If people aren't trying to get out of it, they don't have to be as restrictive about what constitutes an excuse.

Oh, as for VFDs, Jodokast: apparatus is relatively cheap compared to hiring full-time firefighters (Especially with non-urban property taxes to protect, and all those people with valuable property and lawyers, even if they complain about paying those taxes...)

But response time is a factor. The more ground they have to cover, even for someone to necessarily get to the apparatus, the longer that gets. If people have the money to buy the stuff, they get it.

[ve2vfd]

In cases involving emotional issues, this often means excluding jurors who may be more used to critical thinking, such as doctors, teachers and scientists.

Thats scary...

You'd think the ideal jury is staffed with educated people who can think critically...

Pat

[Ratmagiclady]

Thats scary...

You'd think the ideal jury is staffed with educated people who can think critically...

Pat

It's supposed to be 'an impartial jury of one's peers.'

Basically, how it works, is they examine the jury pool, both the prosecution and defense and judge go through a little interview process: the attorneys can excuse a certain number of jurors for any reason, and the judge can exclude as many as they want on grounds of likely bias or some such. The idea is that the two sides and the law are coming up with the most unbiased jury they can. One of those 'checks and balances' things. It's different in some ways from English or Napoleonic law, in that way.