Yeah i was on a jury before, but the trial ended in a mistrial so we were all excused.
Have you ever been on a trial jury?
- Thread starter QCzar
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I've served on a jury in a civil dispute. We found for the plaintiff, but awarded a much lower amount than was requested.
Also - I just got a notice to report for District Court jury duty on January 7th.
Also - I just got a notice to report for District Court jury duty on January 7th.
That's what happened at mine and because we wouldn't budge, the Judge accepted a 10-2 majority.
In college, I was registered to vote at home, so all of Jury summons got sent there and I got excused since, well, I wasn't anywhere near the area at the time.
However, I was home after college for about two months and happened to get jury duty during that time. It was a domestic violence case with a slight twist, where the woman was charged with beating the man. The selection process was really boring as I wasn't even called up, but some of it was really interesting. The highlights were hearing how the lawyers were going to start framing their case based on the questions they asked the jurors and also watching the people who really wanted to get out of Jury duty. This one guy kept on shooting up his hand for every possible exception that was mentioned.
My favorite one was that he claimed to know the plaintiff on the sole basis that they both lived in the area.
I was a bit sorry that I didn't get picked as I had some free time and it would have been interesting.
However, I was home after college for about two months and happened to get jury duty during that time. It was a domestic violence case with a slight twist, where the woman was charged with beating the man. The selection process was really boring as I wasn't even called up, but some of it was really interesting. The highlights were hearing how the lawyers were going to start framing their case based on the questions they asked the jurors and also watching the people who really wanted to get out of Jury duty. This one guy kept on shooting up his hand for every possible exception that was mentioned.
My favorite one was that he claimed to know the plaintiff on the sole basis that they both lived in the area.
I was a bit sorry that I didn't get picked as I had some free time and it would have been interesting.
Not yet - although as police employees are now eligible to serve on juries, I suspect I will be at some point. I'm kind of looking forward to it, strangely, I think it will be a fascinating experience.
Question relating to American respondents: Can I assume it is more common in the US to get Jury Duty? I don't know anyone here who has had it more than once, and a great many people who've never been summoned.
Question relating to American respondents: Can I assume it is more common in the US to get Jury Duty? I don't know anyone here who has had it more than once, and a great many people who've never been summoned.
Yes, I can recommend it. But it's hard - make no mistake about that.
I have served on a jury only once, but it was big "once" since it was a murder trial. It took two weeks, with a couple of days off (once for a federal holiday, and a half day for legal negotiations), so all in all, including jury selection, it was about 10 days. We weren't sequestered but were ordered to avoid news coverage, so I just didn't watch, read or listen to the news for those two weeks, and I didn't let anybody talk to me about the news, either.
I'll cut right to the chase and tell you that we found him guilty guilty guilty, and it only took us a couple of hours to do so. He was soooOOooOOOooo obviously guilty, and the evidence against him was really strong. Since the prosecution didn't ask for the death penalty (I don't know why) we didn't have to cope with that, and he got 60 years.
It was hard. It was fascinating, but so hard. I am glad I did it once, but I hope if I ever have to serve again, it will be for a less serious charge. I didn't sleep well during the trial, and I slept even worse for several weeks afterwards - some of my fellow jurors confessed to similar difficulties.
And this was the case even though I had then and have now no doubt about the defendent's guilt. But it was hard and it was a very serious responsibility, and I guess I just took it very seriously.
I still think about it from time to time. I don't think so much about the murderer, but I think about his wife (that's who he killed) and I think about their son and I think about his parents and her parents. I think about it every time I pass by the place where he shot her (four times - once in her outstretched hand as she pleaded for her life and three times in the back); I think about it every time I pass the shop that her parents owned at the time. I still remember the autopsy photos we saw.
It was hard. Fascinating, though.
Here's an interesting anecdote: We live in a small town - about 3,000 people at the time of the murder - and it was the victim's hometown, too. The murder occurred in the county seat, which is about 12 miles away and was the murderer's hometown.
The thing about crime in a small town is how interconnected everybody and everything is. Connection #1 was that the murderer's mother was a social worker with the Child Protective Services agency, and at the exact same time her son was on trial for murder and in the exact same courthouse in which his trial was going on, she was also a witness in an entirely different murder trial involving parents charged with killing their son. She spent those two weeks moving between two different courtrooms and two different trials on two different floors. That poor woman.
Connection #2 involves the fact that the trial occurred over Valentine's Day. So a couple of days before Valentine's Day, my husband went in a local flower shop, the same one he always uses, to order some flowers for me. He and the owner got to chatting about this and that, including the fact that I was serving on the jury for that murder trial everybody was talking about...which is when the second fact came out: The flower shop was owned by the victim's parents and the lady my husband was ordering flowers from was, in fact, the victim's mother. "I don't think we'd better talk about this any more," Mr. JustKate said. "I don't think so either," said the victim's mother.
So anyway, it was fascinating, and I do recommend it, with some reservations. Because it's hard.
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And here we have a prime example of why jury trials cost so much and are such a pain. You deliberately ignored the judge's instructions and considered what you felt you should consider. It's not up to you to consider stuff outside the jury instructions.
Objection your honor, lack of foundation.
Read what I wrote again, counselor, and you'll find that I was the one following the jury instructions and that the others had been swayed by an emotional appeal outside of the parameters we were told to consider.
A jury is NOT bound by a judges instructions and may if they decide disregard a law and nullify it. However, if you tell them upfront that you even know about jury nullification you are likely to get excused.
Well that clarifies it then. Sorry I read this last night and didn't get around to posting until this AM.
It would seem that way. I get a summons for jury duty every two years, regular as clockwork. Pretty much any offense (including a lot of traffic violations) or civil action is eligible for a jury trial.
Got called for jury duty only once. Luckily I was home on leave went to the courthouse to report to the court clerk.
"Why can't you serve?"
"Well, the US Navy says I have to deploy for a six month cruise in two weeks."
"Ahhhhh. OK, that's a good enough reason."
However, I would not shirk the opportunity to serve.
"Why can't you serve?"
"Well, the US Navy says I have to deploy for a six month cruise in two weeks."
"Ahhhhh. OK, that's a good enough reason."
However, I would not shirk the opportunity to serve.
My former job used to pay up to 30 days of Jury Duty.
Ah, that'll be the difference, we only roll out the jury for indictments to the Crown Court and civil actions over... the amount escapes me, but it's fairly high!
ON the downside, we automatically serve 10 days as standard, and more for a long trial, so I guess it's rarer but worse!
Interestingly it's also illegal to profit from jury duty here, that is to say you aren't allowed to 'earn' more than you otherwise would have done (unless you're unemployed). So if your work pays you while you're out doing jury, you must pay your jury member compensation from the court to them. It's basically a safeguard to stop jurors dragging their feet for extra money.
I've been called to jury service, but never selected for a trial. I would like to actually be picked some day. That would be cool.
Yeah, it's about the same for me.
The jury does not have to follow the judges instructions, but they are not required to to tell you this, and they try to suppress this knowledge actually.
I was in a Federal jury pool once, it is a lot different from state and local jury selection. What they did was bring in a whole bunch of people for the pool that would be available for the next 3 months, and during those 3 months you might get a called in any time to be a possible juror.
You could get exclude out of the pool right upfront, but they where very strict, one lady didn't come in and they called her and told her if she couldn't get a ride they would have federal marshals come down and give her one. The only person that got excluded from the initial pool was a 80+ year old guy.
I got called i think 4 times, and got selected 3 times, and sat on 3 trials. One a fairly minor drug case on Indian land, another was a hostile work place involving wall mart and a rape victim. Another involving fairly major drug trafficking by a 'kingpin'.
It was a good and enlightening experience.
I served on a jury for a burglary case a year ago.
A miserable, week long experience that ended in a hung jury (11-1 because one juror was batshit crazy racist and a conspiracy theorist who thought the 'dirty persians' were in cullusion with the government and the Mob to convict this guy) and the very guilty defendant being let free because the courts did not consider the case worth retrying.
I lost a week of my life and a week's worth of income to that debacle, and it killed my faith in LA's justice system.
A miserable, week long experience that ended in a hung jury (11-1 because one juror was batshit crazy racist and a conspiracy theorist who thought the 'dirty persians' were in cullusion with the government and the Mob to convict this guy) and the very guilty defendant being let free because the courts did not consider the case worth retrying.
I lost a week of my life and a week's worth of income to that debacle, and it killed my faith in LA's justice system.
I get about every 3 years. I work for the Federal Government, and we get our full pay for ending up on jury service. They always like it when I show up!
This last time, just a couple of months ago, they excused us at 10 am. They only had one case, they got who they needed (which wasn't me), so I was done.
Three years previously, I was near the top of a list for a murder trial (not a capital punishment trial, though). It was the third time the case had gone to trial, but the DA and the defendent settled before selection was made.
Six years ago, I was on a jury trial. It was a civil trial. In the end, we ruled for the plantiff, and awarded a couple of million dollars. Because it was a civil trial, we didn't have to have a 12-0 decision, and most times, it was 10-2 or 9-3 (which was enough). We found some info out, afterward, that would have made it 12-0 for all complaints, but we were satisfied with the result.
I enjoyed it (helps that I get paid!), and I'm always waiting for my next summons.
This last time, just a couple of months ago, they excused us at 10 am. They only had one case, they got who they needed (which wasn't me), so I was done.
Three years previously, I was near the top of a list for a murder trial (not a capital punishment trial, though). It was the third time the case had gone to trial, but the DA and the defendent settled before selection was made.
Six years ago, I was on a jury trial. It was a civil trial. In the end, we ruled for the plantiff, and awarded a couple of million dollars. Because it was a civil trial, we didn't have to have a 12-0 decision, and most times, it was 10-2 or 9-3 (which was enough). We found some info out, afterward, that would have made it 12-0 for all complaints, but we were satisfied with the result.
I enjoyed it (helps that I get paid!), and I'm always waiting for my next summons.
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