I have had it twice and got picked for the (boring) trial both times. I actually just got notified again since the last trial was a few years ago, but got out of it this time since I no longer live in that county. I am sure I will be getting one for my new county shortly. My H never gets it...no fair.
Post by shostakovich on Mar 9, 2014 12:01:07 GMT -5
I've been summoned once, and it actually worked out well - I was in grad school at the time, and had a crazy amount of reading and studying to do that week. So I got out of work for the day, wound up sitting in the summons room all day waiting to be called, and got a ton of schoolwork done.
At the end of the day, the lady came in and said those of us that were left were dismissed - apparently, we were all going to be called up for a high-profile murder trial in our area that probably would've taken a week or more, but the defendant and the prosecution reached a plea deal at the last minute. Phew.
I loved jury duty. I was on a civil case that met Monday - Thursday from 9 am - 3 pm. The testimony wasn't all that interesting but I loved the whole trial and deliberation process.
Both times I was called I sat in the summons room all day. And we weren't allowed to bring our laptops (in the time before smart phones and e-readers) so I brought a bunch of books each time. Didn't get picked either time.
I served on an almost three week trial that involved a death back in 2001, and it was fascinating, yet heartbreaking. I hope to never serve on a case like that again. Since I served on a jury, I wasn't able to be summoned for I think three years, but once those three years were up, I feel like I've been summoned every year since. All but one have been called off, but the most recent time made me go in and I sat in the courthouse all day.
Then, there are people like my sister who have never been summoned. lol
I sat on a whiplash case. We all felt sorry for the plaintive, we had no doubt she needed the money she was suing for but she had pre-existing conditions. We absolutely poured over all of the evidence to see if there was any way we could find for her and we just coulnd't. The unanimous decision was for the defendant. The medical testimony about did me in, not gruesome but incredibly boring and hard to stay awake during.
H and I were both called for Federal Secret Grand Jury. We called and asked them if they realized they'd call 2 people married to each other. They believe that was the first time that had ever happened. With this kind of jury you call on Sunday night to see if you need to go down. We called and H needed to go about noon the next day but not me. He got a call that morning telling him not to come down. The next day it was all over the news, it was a huge Federal drug and money laundry case that they reached an agreement on.
One way to NEVER get to sit on a jury is to join the NRA. When it comes up that you belong to the NRA you'll get excused every time. I have a friend who belongs, for some reason he gets called for juries a lot. As soon as he mentioned he's an NRA member he's done.
Ugh, I hated jury duty and felt terribly guilty after. The defendant was not guilty beyond reasonable doubt (there was a lot of doubt) but the prosecutor invoked the acting in concert clause so we had no choice but to convict her.
It sucked. The process was interesting to watch but I hated the case.
I sat on a whiplash case. We all felt sorry for the plaintive, we had no doubt she needed the money she was suing for but she had pre-existing conditions. We absolutely poured over all of the evidence to see if there was any way we could find for her and we just coulnd't. The unanimous decision was for the defendant. The medical testimony about did me in, not gruesome but incredibly boring and hard to stay awake during.
H and I were both called for Federal Secret Grand Jury. We called and asked them if they realized they'd call 2 people married to each other. They believe that was the first time that had ever happened. With this kind of jury you call on Sunday night to see if you need to go down. We called and H needed to go about noon the next day but not me. He got a call that morning telling him not to come down. The next day it was all over the news, it was a huge Federal drug and money laundry case that they reached an agreement on.
One way to NEVER get to sit on a jury is to join the NRA. When it comes up that you belong to the NRA you'll get excused every time. I have a friend who belongs, for some reason he gets called for juries a lot. As soon as he mentioned he's an NRA member he's done.
I hope never to sit on a jury again, but not so much that I will ever join the NRA.
One potential juror raised his hand during questioning when asked if anyone had a criminal record. And he listed off a bunch of pot charges - possession, distribution, growing.... He was this old hippie guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Then he said "yeah, I'm just glad to be on this side of the court room"
The county I live in and have been summoned in is also the county that I'll probably be called to for my first time testifying as an expert witness. No real point to that other than I just find it interesting considering that I work in about 1/4 of the state.
I've been called four times and served three times. I must look impartial. I was on one civil case and two criminal cases. It's pretty boring, there's a ton of downtime.
I got called 2x for civil jury duty- once I sat in the waiting room for 2 days before we were dismissed. The second time I sat with the potential jurors but didn't get picked.
This past Fall I got summoned for Grand jury duty. In my county that means you serve for four weeks straight (minimum) Mon-Fri, 9-5. There are very rarely any dismissals. My employer only pays for 2 weeks jury duty so I would've had to use 2 weeks vacation time, leaving me with one week left for the entire year. I was having some difficulty with my bi-polar meds at the time and my Dr said "hell no" to serving on any jury. His excuse note only gets me a temporary reprieve, I will be summoned again after six months but I'm hoping it's just for regular jury duty, not grand. Guess I'll find out soon.
I have jury duty tomorrow! It's not my first time being called, but it's the first time it hasn't been canceled beforehand. I got a book from the library and my iPad. I'm hoping to not be there long.
I have gone twice. Once I was let go after about 6 hours of mostly sitting around; the other time I was put on a three-day criminal trial.
I found the trial experience rewarding and interesting (except that there is a ton of sitting around involved), but I had to go to work after each day of the trial to work a full day, and that S-U-C-K-E-D.
I sat on a whiplash case. We all felt sorry for the plaintive, we had no doubt she needed the money she was suing for but she had pre-existing conditions. We absolutely poured over all of the evidence to see if there was any way we could find for her and we just coulnd't. The unanimous decision was for the defendant. The medical testimony about did me in, not gruesome but incredibly boring and hard to stay awake during.
H and I were both called for Federal Secret Grand Jury. We called and asked them if they realized they'd call 2 people married to each other. They believe that was the first time that had ever happened. With this kind of jury you call on Sunday night to see if you need to go down. We called and H needed to go about noon the next day but not me. He got a call that morning telling him not to come down. The next day it was all over the news, it was a huge Federal drug and money laundry case that they reached an agreement on.
One way to NEVER get to sit on a jury is to join the NRA. When it comes up that you belong to the NRA you'll get excused every time. I have a friend who belongs, for some reason he gets called for juries a lot. As soon as he mentioned he's an NRA member he's done.
That's not true. First of all, it may not come up. Organization membership isn't always part of the questionnaire. Also, it might be relevant in, say, a gun possession case, but if you're brought into void dire for a contract dispute between a commodities trader and his broker, who would care?
I was always told that being a lawyer is a pretty automatic out. Nope -- I've been on a jury.
I've been called twice, but haven't actually sat on a jury yet. The first time I wound up spending the day sitting in the jury room with a really nice woman my age who'd been on a jury for a capital murder trial ~10 years earlier that lasted for months. We wound up both being dismissed from the same worker's comp trial panel, me because I have relatives who work in construction (and apparently the case was construction industry related), and her because the judge felt that she'd more than done her civic duty in serving on the earlier jury.
The second time I drove all the way down to the courthouse, miraculously found good parking, and walked inside only to be told that I wasn't needed and could go home.