Jury Duty

First time I was called for jury duty, I had to call on the Sunday night of the scheduled week, and was told by an automated message that there was no need to show up on Monday, but that I had to call on Monday night. Called Monday night, was told by the message to report to court on Tuesday. Did so, was sworn in with the other prospective jurors, was told that we all were supposed to show up on Monday, but they screwed up reading the coding for the message. Was taken to a waiting room that had some magazines on there, read an SI for an hour, and we were all told that the case was settled, to go home, and to not bother calling in the rest of the week since there weren't any other trials scheduled.

Second time, I had worked my newspaper job on the desk the night before, got home at 3 a.m., didn't sleep well since I had to get up early, and reported to the courthouse half-asleep at 9. Found out it was for a drug case. Sat for about four hours trying not to doze off before I and a group was called. We were asked if we had anything that might disqualify us, and I brought up that I worked for the regional newspaper. The judge sent everyone else in our group to another room for some reason, and asked me to stay. Felt kinda weird being the only person in the jury box. The judge told me that he admired the work our paper did, then called up both the prosecutor and defense attorney for a conference. They were talking in low voices, but I could see the judge mention my name a couple of times, and after about five minutes, the judge told me I could leave. I've always wondered what they were discussing.

Found out later in the local competing paper that the trial went a couple of days, then the defendant changed his plea to guilty and ended up getting, I think, six years. One thing that I overheard from a couple other potential jurors outside the courtroom, was that the defendant was African-American and nearly all of the prospective jurors were either white or Hispanic. That also struck me as a little uneasy.

My oldest son just got called for jury duty a couple of weeks ago for this week, but he asked for a permissible one-time delay because he's away from college and his finals are coming up.

 

Outing alert: The Big Ragu is Henry Fonda ...

 

I'm on call for a week in January, second time since we moved to Orange County 17 years ago. The first time, there were about 65 in the jury room. After about 3 hours, they called 50 for the trial. We all filed in to the courtroom across the hall and sat down, only to have the judge thank us for our service and dismiss us. A couple of other times more than 20 years ago, they automatically dismissed me because I worked in the media.

Years ago I was alternate on a jury in a three-way trial. Woman driving her daughter to work is hit by another driver and is killed. Family sues the other driver. Other driver sues the city for an unsafe intersection.
It turned out that the daughter was supposed to be driven by her dad, but she was late and he had to go to work. So mom drove. Daughter felt guilty that her lateness caused her mom to die and they only came to court to try to relieve her of her guilt.
Nobody was convicted. Although I was not part of the deliberations, I was told it was a no-brainer.
Interesting part was talking with the lawyers in the hallway afterward. One of the prosecutors got so turned around in her closing, she sounded like an imbecile. I told her that when she was starting her closing, I knew exactly what she had tried to prove and knew exactly what she was going to say, but she totally messed it up. She shook her head and said, yeah, I kinda messed that up.

 

I have been summoned three times, made it into the courtroom twice, never chosen. My mother had been summoned and sat there for a couple days and said a big book is mandatory and I followed that advice. My first trip was in the pre-Internet days and it was comical watching people trying to get out of it right away claiming they had a meeting or something or had to be somewhere in an hour. "Tell it to the judge, sir." I just sat back and cracked my book. I had nothing but time.

 

Only jury I have been on was many years ago. A woman was contesting a DUI and the trial was scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving. She was guilty as hell but her lawyer did her no favors scheduling it. Like someone mentioned above, I was ready to go 12 Angry Men. The foreperson walked in and said, Guilty? Everybody raised their hands and we were on our way home.

 

Got my card in the mail about a week ago to fill out a juror survey online. I think it's for the whole month of January.
I work from home, but have two out-of-town trips planned, so hoping it doesn't happen.

 

Only time I've been called, I was dismissed before the case even started. I work for the state golf association, but not the state, and I told them as much. They were adamant that I worked for the state and that it was a conflict of interest, so I didn't argue and happily went home.

 

Civil case? No convictions and no prosecutors in civil cases.

 

Well?
Do I gotta wait for the podcast to find out?

 

Been in several jury trials.

No. 1, I truly believe that the vast majority of jurors want to do the right thing and follow the law and instructions from the judge to avoid prejudging the case (of course, thankfully I've never been before a clown like the Rittenhouse judge, just awful).

No. 2, I am grateful not only for my jurors but all jurors who diligently serve. Without them and the knowledge that there is a pool of jurors ready to decide the case, my legal career and business proceeds much differently. My clients' need that risk of a trial to motivate everyone to be reasonable and make a business decision regarding the dispute at hand.

No. 3, we need jurors and that portion of our justice system is the the lynchpin of the best dispute system in the world. No system is fool proof but when you think of the alternative, some appointed govt. official making every decision? A random selection of jurors is best.

So thanks to all that serve and who are willing to fulfill their civic obligations.