jury duty

[patrick0685]

Sitting here waiting to be called, how exciting.

[Tim K]

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.

[BigBear]

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.

[trlcavscout]

I would like to get picked for one of those 3 week plus trials, nice vacation away from work and screaming kids 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.

[Daniel_187]

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

[Mtn.man]

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.

[HBARleatherneck]

i have never gotten a jury summons. never.

in the 7 years we have been married, my wife has gotten 2 summons. never picked.

[CrufflerSteve]

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

[Troublco]

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....

[ghettodub]

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