After Jury Duty How Do You Feel About Our Justice System?

fmdog44

fmdog44

Well-known Member
Location
Houston, Texas
Did serving on a jury change you opinion about our court system in any way? I have gone for jury duty but never called to actually served as a juror. The last case was for an elderly Chinese woman that did not speak English and the charge was giving a hand job to a person in a massage parlor. I thought it was a ridiculous charge and waste of money for this to go to a courtroom trial.

The other case was a murder charge and from the initial address by the judge it was all laughs and acting a little foolish by both sides and the judge. I was taken back by how silly the principal were behaving. I addressed the court saying that I will not vote on the death penalty ever regardless of the consequences and so I was not chosen to serve on the jury. The jurors selected I thought should not serve as they appeared to be less intelligent than many of the others. Neither the prosecution or the defense wants analytical thinkers to serve on the juries. All in all I think the system does not take the cases seriously stretching from the insignificant charge of hand sex to first degree murder.
 

Having worked most of my life in the legal system, much of it in the area of criminal law, I can assure you that charges are taken extremely seriously by both sides. There is, of course, some "gallows humor" behind the scenes, but for it ever to make it into a courtroom and especially in front of jurors or potential jurors is extremely unusual and would not be tolerated by judges here, where the concept of contempt of court is very much alive and well and judges come down like a ton of bricks on frivolous behavior.

I would be very interested in hearing what the nature of the behavior was that you found offensive.

There are many reasons why a person might or might not be picked to serve on the actual jury, and most of those reasons would not be known by other potential jurors.
 
Not that I'm complaining but I've never been called for jury duty......just curious, how do they decide on who gets called ?
 

I was called as a witness and was appalled at how chummy the lawyers and the judges were with each other.

And then when I was called to testify on how much income a person was getting I asked the judge 'gross or net'.

He was kind of cheesed off at me. But then the guy was being sued for divorce.

Poor guy. He didn't show up in court. So the judge awarded him 2/3 of his salary to support his ex wife who put on a display in the courtroom capable of winning an Academy Award. She was out in the hall laughing and joking with her lawyer and then crying on the stand.

The guy showed up at the office next day and I told him what happened. He said I can't afford that I have girfriend now who is pregnant.

So he asked me for advice. I told him to take the next train out of town.
 
I was only on one jury. Small town. The judge slept through half the trial. :rolleyes: That was embarrassing, but no one bothered to wake him up. One of the jurors knew the defendant, I found out later. That was supposed to be a deal breaker to serve. The attorneys did a good job, the jury put in a lot of time arguing. Few were happy with the final verdict, it was a compromise, but appropriate, imo. I guess the system worked ok, with a little luck. ;)
 
I served as a juror on a criminal trial, very interesting. After announcing our verdict, the judge invited the jurors into his chamers to mingle and discuss the trail with the prosecution and defense attorneys.

It was nice to get "validation" that our verdict was just.
 
Butterfly said:
Having worked most of my life in the legal system, much of it in the area of criminal law, I can assure you that charges are taken extremely seriously by both sides. There is, of course, some "gallows humor" behind the scenes, but for it ever to make it into a courtroom and especially in front of jurors or potential jurors is extremely unusual and would not be tolerated by judges here, where the concept of contempt of court is very much alive and well and judges come down like a ton of bricks on frivolous behavior.

I would be very interested in hearing what the nature of the behavior was that you found offensive.

There are many reasons why a person might or might not be picked to serve on the actual jury, and most of those reasons would not be known by other potential jurors.
Click to expand...

You can respond with canned answers but I was there to witness what I saw and heard. The judge on the murder trial simply could not stop mocking the idea for citizens having to serve and could not get enough of his own jokes. In order to please the judge the prosecution laughed at everything and decided to join in on the fun with their own little slants on humor. The defense was not as enthused with the judge's antics but was not something I would admire if I was on trial for my life. As far as jury selection from this experience the sillier you answered questions and dressed the morel likely you were to be selected. That was grotesquely obvious as it transpired.

On the silly sex trial the judge pointed out to the folks in the first two rows they will be the only ones selected. Really judge!? Also, what's the penalty for a HJ now days? $10?
 
IKE said:
Not that I'm complaining but I've never been called for jury duty......just curious, how do they decide on who gets called ?
Click to expand...

As far as I know it is random but that is a guess. As soon as you turn 70 1/2 you will never be called again. I have had to go four times and never selected to serve as a juror. There are ways to help you avoid serving like your appearance, etc. Both sides prefer weak candidates that appear middle of the roader therefore more easily swayed. There are dress codes enforced like you can't wear a t-shirt with a picture of Al Capone on it
 
I've been a juror on three trials, and I never experienced anything but professionalism
in the court room.

But I can tell you what did bother me, and that was being in the jury room with other
jurors who only wanted to hurry up and leave. One women actually said that it was obvious
that the defendant was guilty and she needs to go home and cook dinner. Didn't stop to
consider that our verdict would impact someone else's life and we should at least
take the time to discuss and share our thoughts.
 
Olivia said:
I've been a juror on three trials, and I never experienced anything but professionalism
in the court room.

But I can tell you what did bother me, and that was being in the jury room with other
jurors who only wanted to hurry up and leave. One women actually said that it was obvious
that the defendant was guilty and she needs to go home and cook dinner. Didn't stop to
consider that our verdict would impact someone else's life and we should at least
take the time to discuss and share our thoughts.
Click to expand...

In their defense my days in court cost me a whole lot of money only to get a check for $6 a week later and some folks just don't give a hoot for anything other than their family needs. That's just the way it is right or wrong.
 
I was on jury duty and was selected to serve on two civil cases. We had lunch paid for by the court and a small amount of money for serving. I was paid at my job, too, for the whole time. I enjoyed it and liked the deliberations. I was one of the younger jury members and I was proud that I was selected. It was also something to brag about with my co-workers. The whole experience with lawyers and the judges showed how well the system works.
 
I have served but I'd do ANYTHING to get out of it. Too much hanky panky going on. You just sit and fume all day

waiting to be called. I know that there are a lot of people who would enjoy serving! Sure beats watching TV all day.

One I served on, the verdict was won by the plaintif to the tune of $6.50 ! What a waste of time !

Good thing it wasn't a murder case.

Oh, BTW Where I live there is NO age limit for jury duty. You could be 125 years old and you'd better BE THERE!

Or you might have to spend one night in the slammer.
 

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