President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Wait, when are you supposed to make up your mind if not until you hear all the information and testimony?

 

I've gotten the "you have to check in each day" notice and only had to go in once. The one time was because I forgot to send in the "I need a postponement" in time, so I had to show up. I remember people were begging out because they had Thanksgiving plans, including one guy who flat out told the judge he had no interest in serving because it was so close to the holiday. Judge dismissed him rather than having that fight. So I sat there, patiently, as the other people with the made up excuses got finished. Judge started saying everyone who was left had to report the next day for selection. That's when a lightbulb went off in his head to ask who was in school. He had us come up to a mic and he asked me where I was attending and how many units. SJSU and 17. He couldn't dismiss me fast enough.

 

Your mind is supposed to be made up when the trial begins. The defendant is innocent. Throughout the entire trial. At the end of the trial, still assuming innocence, you then decide if the state has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Then, and only then, is a defendant guilty.

 

I take it you were picked each and every time?

 

My head hurts. I can see where that line of logic is going, but if I go in thinking, "I don't know if he's guilty, I need to be convinced. I will decide after I have all the facts," I am accomplishing what he wants.

 

Last month I received my first notice since moving back to California years ago; only I never go to my mailbox so I missed the date. I called them on Monday and before I could say a word, the clerk asked for my juror number. She looked it up and said, "your group was never called so you are excused for at least three years..."

Easy peasy.

I was the victim of a violent crime (ended up tearing my ACL/MCL) so I wouldn't have made it anyway I don't suppose.

 

There's the rub. You are supposed to go in thinking, "He is innocent," not "I don't know if he's guilty."

 

Like I said, my head hurts. But if it gets me out of jury duty ...

 

And what stops someone from thinking, "I have good intuition and I know when someone is guilty. I don't need the facts, your client is guilty." They answer the question the way the defense wants and lands on the jury and mucks up the whole thing. Meanwhile, someone who is nuanced and is sincerely wants to weigh the evidence before making a judgement and is willing to acquit of the evidence isn't convincing is tossed.

And, yes, I'm thinking way too much about this.

 

I’ve been called twice. The first time I got the notice in the mail, I called on the Sunday that the notice said to call and the automated message said I didn’t have to come in on Monday, but I had to call again. Called Monday, and the message said to come in Tuesday.

I go to the courthouse that Tuesday, and the jurors commissioner said the Sunday message had been wrong and that all of us were supposed to show up on the Monday. There was only one trial on Tuesday. I sat in a room for an hour, read a magazine, and the guy cam in, told all of us that the case was settled, and that we didn’t have to serve for six more years.

Second time, I went in, and several groups were asked questions. Some were dismissed, some weren’t. When it came to my group, they asked if we felt if there was any problems with us serving and I said that I worked at the regional paper. The judge made the rest of the group go into another room, told me to stay, said we had a fine newspaper that he enjoyed reading, then called up both attorneys for a conference. I could hear them say my name a couple of times, then the judge announced I was dismissed.

That case was a drug trial. The one thing that stood out to me was that the defendant was African-American, and nearly all of us prospective jurors were white or Hispanic. Felt a little off to me. I later read in the local paper that the defendant changed his plea halfway through the trial to guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison.