First-time jury duty

Last summer I was part of the jury pool for a rape case in town that had received plenty of coverage by my paper — a photographer who took photos of high school seniors was accused of getting several of them drunk and then raping them.

I was hoping they would call my name among the first group, figuring I would get booted quickly because a.) I was around a lot of the newsroom conversation of the trial and b.) I knew one of the accusers. But my name wasn't chosen, so I had to sit there until the jury was selected. One of the first questions asked during voir dire was if you could judge this case fairly, considering that there had been a lot of discussion about it around town. A couple of people raised their hands, said they couldn't, and were immediately dismissed.

Suddenly everyone realized it was their golden ticket to get out, and when the question was asked a couple of more times, people raised their hands, trying to get out. The judge got pissed, and they started doing questions of individual jurors outside of the courtroom about why they couldn't serve. Some were excused, some weren't. This went on until mid-afternoon, and it looked like they were getting ready to select the jury. The final voir dire question from the defense attorney was, "For the last time, is there anyone here who thinks they can't judge this case fairly?" An elderly woman who had sat through the entire day without saying a word raised her hand.

There was a little bit of a reaction in the courtroom. I had been sitting there all day, frustrated because I wanted to leave, so I said, louder than I meant, "You have GOT to be shitting me." Everything just stopped in the courtroom, and the attorneys and the judge glared back at me.

The old woman was told she had to stay through the selection process, but she wasn't chosen.

 

I had jury duty last year, a DUII case. I ended up the foreperson. We found him not guilty. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

One hint: In vior dire, either the prosecutor or defense attorney will ask you if you're the type of guy who going into the trial has to listen to all the facts before deciding if someone is guilty or innocent. Most people say they need all the facts. They get challenged. The correct answer is the defendant has the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

 

Serve. Try to serve.
jury duty is a startling reminder how fucking dumb a lot of people are. You serve and you realize how important it is to have some reasonable citizens sitting in that box - in spite of lawyers' best attempts to seat the dumbest hill jacks they can find.
It really is important.

I've been called three times. dismissed once - becaus of work as a reporter. Plea agreement reached before trial started another time and served on a criminal case.
It is eye-opening.

 

I served on a jury in January 2015. Ended up being called just before lunchtime on the first day. Wound up on the jury in a civil case. It took a week. I echo what others have said ... bring a book, prepare for lots of down time even if you get called, it's not so bad and even kind of interesting. My case was medical malpractice and bullshit. The doctor did nothing wrong and it was pretty clear from almost everything presented. The patient's expert witness wouldn't admit that a wound that grew smaller over time was healing. It was interesting watching him try to definte it any way he could other than healing.

Anyway, I met some interesting and smart people on the jury. We knew our decision pretty much right away, but wanted to talk about it for awhile. One guy was very adamanat in favor of the patient. There were two nurses wwho instantly knew the doctor did nothing wrong. I wanted to find something to favor the patient, but never heard anything that took me in his direction. It was a civil case, so only eight people on the jury and only six needed to decide one way or the other. After 45 minutes or so of deliberation, being 7-1 and no one really interested in changing their minds, we voted that way. That was that.

I've since received another jury summons and a grand jury summons. I tossed them.

 

All criminal defendants are guilty

 

County superior court.

 

I, for some reason, seem to get called for jury duty every year. Seriously, I think I've been to the county courthouse every year for the past eight or 10 years. Yet, I've never been selected for a panel, as I'd like to do. I have often been a prospective juror, called into the jury box for questioning. But then, I get excused/exempted by the attorneys for one side or the other.

I've come to think that Evil is correct in saying that the lawyers try to seat the potentially worst jurors, and kick out the ones who show any signs of independent or critical thinking. Based on my last experience, just about eight months ago, and my collective multiple experiences of being exempted, the ones who get selected are people who seem to show a proclivity for just going along and getting along during the course of the questioning -- not too assertive, malleable, and definitely not combative, etc.

 

All that said, don't go in with preconceptions. Every case is different, and if you're not called for a case, well, it doesn't hurt to have just passed an easy day with a little pay.

I also am among those who doesn't know what everybody complains about regarding jury summonses. They've made jury duty just about as easy as they can on people now. If you go in one day, and don't get chosen for a panel, that's it; you're done. And you can just call in each night to check whether you're in a group that has to go in the next day at all. It used to be that a jury summons meant that you had to actually go in to the courthouse each day of a week, and you'd only find out there if you were going to get called. It was genuinely a week-long commitment, whether you ever got called onto a panel, or not.

I still hope to actually get onto a jury one of these times. And if I don't, well, I'll have had a chance to read a good book -- one of my favorite past-times .

 

A few years ago I got the summons in Duval County, Florida (Jacksonville), which only does jury selection each Monday, so you park at EverBank Field and take a shuttle to the courthouse at your allotted time and wait with hundreds of others to see if your name is called.

Mine was and I was part of a pool of 42, I think, from which two juries would be selected. I was quickly removed from contention for trial No. 1 because the wife of the prosecutor was a fellow teacher at the high school I worked in at the time. I ended up juror No. 1 for the other trial. Whole process was about 6 hours with no down time.

The trial is the next day. A wino was accused of stealing an A/C unit from an unoccupied home. Despite no one witnessing the theft, the other witness statements and evidence made the case obvious. Dude was seen with a dolly walking down the sidewalk. Seen later with a dolly and an A/C unit on it. Tracks matching dimension of dolly were in the yard. His story was he was in the local package store and bought the dolly and A/C from a random on the street. Took half a day for the trial and about 10 minutes to deliberate -- we came to consensus in 30 seconds, but drew it out for the optics. I enjoyed the experience immensely.

The young public defender was clearly disappointed by the verdict and really put together a solid defense, all things considered.

I later found out from the prosecutor on the other case (coworker's husband) that the public defender was smitten and asked if I was single.

So, there's always a chance of that.

 

Where I am, you are on call for local jury duty for a month. The first day in, you are given a chart showing which days you need to call a number at night to see if you had to report the next day. I had maybe 7 or 8 days that I had to call, but only had to report twice. The first time in, I wound up on a jury for a $20,000 suit about a car accident on an icy street. Pretty low-keyed affair, though one of the attorneys was playing to the jury like he was on TV. Unfortunately we had to go to a second day, but it was two days away from work, two days pay from the company and a check from the city that I got to keep.

The second time was at the end of the term. I wasn't picked for that jury, but the judge gathered all of us who weren't picked in a room and asked us about our experiences.

I would concur to bring a book because of the down time. I don't know about other places, but we could not bring cell phones into the building, had to leave them in our cars. We did get a parking permit that if the parking lot was filled, we could park at a meter with no charge. Lunch, both days, was on us, however.

Now my wife was in a federal jury pool for a month and she never was called.

 

In the jury holding room. Several people dressed in t-shirts, shorts, and sandals.

Let the wait begin.

 

Sassy court employee has informed us that we'll either be here for one day or one trial. And that it is not our choice which we get.