My Experience as a Juror

[Mike 03]

Poll question: My Experience as a Juror

[Sigh Sister]

1. I neither loved or despised it

I just accepted it as something I had to do. I was picked to sit on the jury, but the guy ending up accepting the prosecution's deal. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to the experience.

[Catbird]

2. Jury duty but no juries

I have been called several times for jury duty but never ended up on a jury.

[hfojvt]

9. I have been called twice in the last 3 years

which seems like a lot since I went about 25 years without getting called once. Both times they have cancelled the trial, so I never even had to goto the selection process.

[Stevenmarc]

3. Liked the experience and discovered 2 lawyers that I wouldn't use if my life depended on it

[vadawg]

6. roflmao, truest statement ever, my experience of lawyers makes me think fleeing the counntry

would be the best idea.

[Johonny]

4. My experience on jury duty hasn't made want to do it more

[geckosfeet]

5. Called for jury duty once when I turned 18. Never placed on a jury. Never called again!!!!

[Contrary1]

7. I was disappointed in my fellow jurors, but not the outcome of the trial.

I was the lone holdout for a conviction on the lesser charge of manslaughter. Hence, the nickname. :evilgrin:
I did not believe that the prosecution had proven a case of premeditation.

Told the judge we were deadlocked, but he sent us back to deliberate some more. One by one, they came over to my side. Even the judge told us after the trial that we had reached the correct verdict.

[madmom]

8. I sat on a jury twice. I think everyone should do it. I learned a lot about how

our judicial system works.

[MADem]

10. OTHER: For starters, I had to get up way too early to suit me.

It was difficult to find parking. I had to pay for parking. That annoyed me.

I was smart enough to bring my breakfast--coffee and an egg muffin. I get cranky if I don't have breakfast.

The jackals waiting with me, who did not plan ahead, eyed my meal like it was a freshly killed gazelle and they were a pride of starved lions. I could sense that they were annoyed that they didn't bring food, and if they could have clubbed me with a chair and stolen my muffin, I'll bet a few of them would have so done.

We watched a video about "How to be a juror." It was simplistic and cartoony, something suited to seventh grade civics, if they had such a thing nowadays.

Then, everyone sat around and waited. And waited. And waited. I had brought a paper and a book. I read the paper, and handed out the sections, which were grabbed like life rafts in a swirling and dangerous sea.

I then tried to find a comfortable position in an ass-unfriendly chair and read my book. I made good work of that.

After a few hours, the judge came in. She said "Thank you all for coming. The two parties have agreed to settle their case, so you won't be needed."

We left. I had to pay for parking.

That was that.

I have served on dozens and dozens and dozens of courts-martials. Those are a quite different thing, though. If you're called, you're on the line, in most situations. No sitting around--you get right to it.

[Orangepeel]

11. I didn't like it. It was hard to convict somebody, even though there was no reasonable doubt

"Despise" is too strong a word to describe my feelings about it, but it wasn't pleasant. I saw it as my duty, so I did it willingly and would do it again. But I didn't like convicting someone of a crime, even though it clear he was guilty.

[Berry Cool]

20. You ditto my experience.

Oh, that and we had a juror who when we'd get in the room and either be sitting around or deliberating, somehow the conversation would always turn to himself. And you could tell he was a conservative nutjob who just thought that the kid (it was a kid) wouldn't even be on trial if corporal punishment hadn't been outlawed by the Libruls.

[Mz Pip]

12. It was interesting

Served on two juries and the last one was a really unpleasant experience. No way would I ever want those jurors making any determination on my fate. It was a civil lawsuit with a lawsuit happy plaintiff who seemed to make a career of taking people to court. THe jury awarded him a $750,000 settlement in damages the defendent didn't even cause. The guy was one slick character with an equally slick lawyer.

The other one was a wrongful death suit that was interesting. Woman pulled a gun on a cop during a routine police stop. She was pretty drunk. The officer shot her and her family sued the state. The case had gone through all the investigative channels and there really wasn't any dispute as to what happened. The family just wanted money. They didn't get any.

[ronnykmarshall]

13. I loved it!

It's very interesting and fun.

[SeattleGirl]

14. Other: I was called but didn't serve.

I'd do it again, though.

[benddem]

15. Never been called to serve

I even called the courthouse once to find out if I could volunteer. Found out that is not a good thing to do. They took me off the lists.
My mother was called twice. I have 3 brothers and none of them have served either.

[zbdent]

16. Other ... got notice three times, Mrs. ZBDent once ...

Mrs. ZBDent's only time ... happened shortly after we got married ... she was notified of jury duty ... but she had changed counties when she moved in with her new husband ... lived on a border town, so to speak. She was interested in doing it, but ended up not qualifying due to not being a resident in the county she was called for. She has never been pulled again ...

zbdent's first time: was notified; mentioned it to boss, who said I was needed that specific week due to tight schedule. Was given a bye.

zbdent's second time: was notified, week was going to be when I was on vacation in a trip which couldn't be refunded. Court allowed me to reschedule. Reported for selection, was interviewed, they dismissed me as potential. Amusing thing was that I talked to my next-door-neighbor more that day than I had in the 10+ years I'd been his neighbor ... it just happened that he had been picked for the week that I rescheduled into. Judge noted that we were neighbors.

zbdent's third time: was notified, kept checking to see if my group was called. Nope. Continued going to work as normal.

Not trying to avoid it ...

[Joe the Liberal]

17. I didn't like it.....

Pretty boring, I didn't even get picked to be on the jury, but I got questioned by the lawyers but never made it on the actual jury.

[Catshrink]

18. It was okay...

The defense attorney was an ass. The defendent was accused of drunk driving -- he had a .15 blood alcohol level. He'd hit another car backing out of a parking spot and took off for home. He claimed he was afraid of the kids in the car he hit -- they wore their hats backwards he thought they were part of a gang. The kids got his license number and the cops went to the guys house. He claimed that he wasn't drunk when he hit the kids but knocked a few back once he got home.

The attorney kept harping on the kids' appearance and that somehow justified the guy fleeing the scene of the accident. The thing dragged on all freaking day and we finally got the case at 4:30pm. When the jurors got in the room, one of the other women went to the bathroom and when she was gone, we elected her foreman. She rolled her eyes and said okay then, let's do a quick poll to see where we are. One of the guys said, "He's toast." Spontaneous laughter and unanimous agreement. The forewoman asked if we wanted to discuss anything and we said no, let's vote. We voted him guilty as all hell.

Then one of the other women spoke up -- she was a well coifed woman in her mid-50's, the wife of a surgeon, mother of 5 kids, and a devout, conservative Mormon woman. She told us how offensive she thought the defense attorney was in referring to the appearance of the kids -- "my son dresses like that and he's an honor student." I never expected her to say anything like that.

And damn it. I got another juror summons for July, right when I'm supposed to be defending my masters thesis. I was able to postpone it.

[tabbycat31]

19. I'd gladly serve again

in fact I'd LOVE for them to call me now as I'm out of work and could use the $$