First-time jury duty

I have some preconceived notions going in, but figured I'd throw it out here.

Never been called in, but I am on Tuesday. If it wasn't such a busy time of year for me, I'd actually like to be on a jury, because it intrigues me and my employer pays full salary for jury duty and it's unlimited.

Advice? Suggestions? Observations?

 

Voir dire: say OJ did it!

Then see what happens.

 

I would say bring something to read but most people have their phones now. Enjoy it. People bitch about it for some reason, but it is a great experience. Try not to let any TV law shows affect how you view it, even the best of those are inaccurate. You may not even have to go any further than showing up. I was on a jury as an alternate, you sit through the whole trial and then are left out of the deciding phase. Sort of a let down but someone has to do it. You may be able to take notes depending on where you are or even better ask the witnesses questions.
12 Angry Men was just on the other day, if you have not seen it, a very good movie.

 

A few years ago, I spent two days at the courthouse but wasn't selected, and last year, I was chosen for a jury on a trial that lasted about a week. There's a lot of downtime. Definitely bring a book. I got in some serious reading time on both those occasions. It's usually quiet in the courthouse, so it was nice to have a chance to read when the county was paying me $30 a day!

 

If you get paid by your employer, the check you get from the city or county at the end of the week is some nice found money. Depending how long you're there it can be enough to take the wife out to a decent dinner.

I think your level of enjoyment might depend, too, on what kind of jury you wind up on. There are lots of kinds. One time I went through voir dire for a criminal trial, didn't get picked, and got to go home on day one. Even caught a mistake in our paper in a brief about the trial, which was fun.
Next time around I actually did end up on a jury for an eminent domain case. A highway project was trying to carve into a guy's restaurant parking lot to build an extra lane; he'd already planned to build a new place up the road and was just trying to get some more money from the state. I learned way more about our county's zoning laws than I ever thought I would and was struggling to stay awake in the jury box for parts of it.

So what kind of court is the jury duty for, Snark?

 

Expect a lot of downtime.

I was on a jury several years ago. It was a two day DUI case. In the big picture it was kind of an interesting thing to experience, but in the moment it was crushingly boring. The guy was clearly guilty, but we still got two days of expert testimony.

Just be glad you weren't called for Grand Jury duty. I was an alternate for that a few years ago, leading to the longest day of my life. The legislature decided that anyone on a grand jury needed to know the entire list of state criminal statures. We had to sit in a basement for 8 hours listening to a droning computerized voice read the entire thing, all in legalese.

 

Definitely bring something to read — phone, magazine, whatever. As PC just mentioned, there's LOTS of down time.

Depending on the type of trial, if you're not selected you could be out of there in a few hours. Take the $10-15 and have lunch on the county.

I've never been picked in the three times I was required to report ... but to my surprise, other people I've worked with at newspapers have been selected. It's not an automatic dismissal, especially for a civil trial.

 

For sheer entertainment value, it's tough to beat listening to all the prospective jurors explain to the judge why they couldn't serve. My last time there was an older Asian man who kept yelling "I prejudice against CAUCASIAN!!" And like 80% claim to be the sole caretaker for a dying relative.

 

Something I didn't know until I researched excuses after a notice came in our mailbox last June.

U.S. citizenship is required.

 

Well, yeah. We don't want any dirty Commies on our panels.

I served on a federal jury years ago. Ended up as the foreman. Possibly the dullest week of my life. The case was about vendors selling old parts as new to the DoD. Best part was being escorted as a group to a great steakhouse for a meal on the government's dime. Worst part was my fellow jurors. Several said the guy must be guilty or he wouldn't be in court.