Sitting here waiting to be called, how exciting.
Printable View
Sitting here waiting to be called, how exciting.
I know most people dislike jury duty and try to get out of it. The couple of times I've had to go, I always do my best to get picked. I know that if I were on trial for something I didn't do, I'd want the jury filled with the smartest people on the street, not just the ones too dumb to get out of it. My plan also seems to be sort of backwards effective as I've never been selected to serve.
Because you're too smart Tim. They ask a series of questions and if you answer honestly, most of the time they'll let you go for being "biased" (happened to me). They want malleable people in their that they can persuade with their smooth talking. People don't rely on evidence anymore, they rely on with attorney has more charisma. It's really disgusting.
I would like to get picked for one of those 3 week plus trials, nice vacation away from work and screaming kids [Beer] I was only picked once, the guy plea bargained that morning so they sent us home. I did forget to call the night before one time and sure enough I was supposed to go in, I called at noon when I remembered, they resheduled my date and I wasnt picked the next time.
I had to do it last year. Went at 8am, sat sat sat and sat some more till around 4 ish and then they told me to go. Shit I thought I would have been picked or sent home right away. It was funny too, we all had to stand up and say what you went to school for where you worked and a little about yourself ect, and everyone except me went to school to be a lawyer or studied law, only in boulder LOL
Yeah if you have an inkling of common sense and seem smart you are Outa there.
And I am a business owner, so they harped on that and the judge dismissed me again.
The 2nd time was a poacher case, really wanted to hear the details.
i have never gotten a jury summons. never.
in the 7 years we have been married, my wife has gotten 2 summons. never picked.
I've made it to interviews a couple of times and been dropped. The first time as soon as I said engineer for my occupation I was dropped. Something similar happened a couple of years ago. I had wanted to serve on a jury for that experience as a citizen. I think next time I'll just fill out the form giving my views on issues like jury nullification so I won't waste much time there.
After the first dismissal I talked it over with a lawyer neighbor. He said that when a case is strong the side with the facts wants smart people. When a case is weak they want dumb people. The first time it was a drunk driver who injured people and the defense dropped me. The second time it was a prosecution for a guy having sex with an underage girl. The little bit let out was that she wasn't that underage and had been using fake ID to get into a bar. The DA dismissed me there.
Steve
I've been called about 5 times in 20 years. Three times I sat around for a few hours, and then got released (what happened last year). One time, was on a jury but it only lasted about a day and a half. The one time that was interesting was where I wound up being the jury foreman, and it went all the way through trial. I think we were there for about three days. The guy was up for beating his girlfriend, and he had this story that he'd been at Blockbuster renting a movie at the time, but he didn't have the receipt so he couldn't prove it. His lawyer had the whole defense built around the blockbuster thing. And they wouldn't say boo about him having a (lengthy!) prior record until the judge read the verdict. And the part about his suspended sentence being reinstated, along with what he got for his current difficulty, was interesting.
And I've found that when they ask what I do, and I tell them I'm in the military, they drop me like a hot rock unless they're past the point where they can drop because they don't like you. Kind of a shame, I rather enjoy the process not to mention I believe it's our duty when called, to serve. I think TimK has the right idea.
And I always take a book, or two, to keep from getting too bored....
I got called once, got picked once, and got out of it. I actually really wanted to serve on that jury (gang shooting/murder), but because of the length of the trial (2+ weeks), I was able to get out of it
Beware of what you take to read,, gun books, hunting mags, etc LOL...
that'll help get you out of it a lot of times, hehQuote:
Originally Posted by Mtn.man
Wearing short sleeves helps me get excused too, since I have sleeve tattoos on both arms
During the many years I was in LE I was summoned for jury duty several times in JeffCo and Park Co.
Many times I had to go in uniform as I was on duty. It didn't take long to get excused.
+1 on the books or mags, i didnt bring anything, lucky i didnt even make it to the interviews and was gone in about a hour
If in Denver, PM me and I can come visit, we can talk guns until I need to get to work on something!
http://www.founditemclothing.com/t-s...guns-shirt.jpg
$21.95 + S&H
Just sayin'
[ROFL1]
i got picked for jury duty once and had to ask them to remove me from the list due to the fact i was still on active duty-they kindly obliged
but needless to say i still got letters from them stating i came up on the list again-each time i just sent them a copy of my orders and dd214
i finaly went down and talked to somebody at JAG who straightened the whole mess out-and havent been picked since-and that was the late 80s
i guess they only have a small number of elligible people in our county
Got called last year, went down to the courthouse at the appointed time and filled out the juror questionnaire. The questionnaire was about child sexual predators. This is just f@#$ing great, I thought and I put down that I had absolutely no tolerance for child predators and that I had two small daughters. Pulled no punches.
So, we wait in the TV room, and wait...and finally get called. Head up to the courtroom only to be seated in the back of the spectator area-they had already seated a 13 person jury panel and had 12 additional spare jurors seated in the peanut gallery. Our group of 25 was just in case. And I was juror #14 of those 25....so I was good to go.
DA and defense attorneys are interviewing and dismissing potential jurors right and left, and before I know it, I'm seated in the juror's box....defense attorney has a lot of pointed questions for me based on my answers in the written questionnaire. Finally becomes obvious to me that the jurors who are getting dismissed are WOMEN, mainly young women.
So, we finally get our jury panel-10 men, 3 women over 45 years old. One of us is the alternate, but we won't find out until after all the testimony is heard.
So, next day-trial....guy about my age is the defendant-he's charged with chatting up a 13 year old girl on the internet and then setting up a meeting for sex. Evidence is 25 plus pages of graphic chat where he brings around this 13 year old to the idea of getting nailed by an older guy. Photos are exchanged, she sends 'G' rated photos and his are x-rated. He is in Colorado springs, she is in Highlands Ranch. Multiple chat sessions over a week period where he plies this girl and is really excited about taking her young 'cherry''. Multiple references to her age and her body and how it is developing. He makes a date with her-she will skip school and he will pick her up at a park behind her junior high school.
Law enforcement is involved at this point, and when he arrives at the pickup point, the girl is there, runs away and the man is arrested.
He had on him a digital camera, receipt from CO springs walmart for a box of condoms. He also had a room key for a local highlands ranch hotel, for 1/2 a day stay.
His defense was that 'the cops pointed guns at me' and 'I thought it was just a game and that she was of legal age'
The jury panel was given instructions on the charges and how to weigh the evidence. We were retired to the jury room and spent a few minutes choosing a foreman. Then it was time to go home.
I didn't sleep much that night-I was pretty damn sure that he was guilty, but was worried about the possibility that somehow this was all a misunderstanding and that the guy was just playing a game.
By morning, I had come to my senses and was back on the 'guilty' track. We began deliberating and it was 11 to 1 in favor of guilty. The lone standout was a 19 year old male Hasidic Jew. His contention was that his religion specified that only God could judge a man guilty, unless there were three or more witnesses. He didn't consider the police witnesses.
After having the three women brow-beat him for a good 20-30 minutes, I finally got thru to him: "check out this transcript of his chat sessions over a week plus, did he dispute anything? no. Did he claim it was his neighbor/wife/kid who chatted with this girl? no. Did he say at any time that is was a game? no" The twelve of us in this room are all witnesses to his chat-he never denied writing any of these words, and he has had over a year to prepare his defense. Therefore, we are all witnesses to the crimes he committed and was prepared to commit.
After that, we took another tally and it was 12-0 in favor of a guilty verdict. Returned the verdict after less than five hours of deliberations.
All in all it was a good experience-seeing the justice system in action, and the accused had a fair trial and a jury of his peers (middle aged guys and gals) who carefully considered the evidence without prejudice.
That's all i know....have a good one
Robert