Have you ever served on Jury duty?

Sassycakes

Sassycakes

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Pennsylvania
I served on a Jury when I was 21yrs old and that was a loooong long time ago, It's funny because I remember it like it was only a minute ago. It was for rape corrupting the morals of a minor and incest. I still remember the defendant's name and even his address. We found him guilty. I was afraid the entire time. I was the youngest person on the jury. There was a very old lady that didn't know what the word incest was and a young man that asked me what rape meant if the girl stayed in the room. After that experience, I am happy that I never had to serve again. Have you ever served on a Jury
 

Yes. A drunk driver hit the car of another man causing damage. We found the drunk driver guilty. Later he got a period of probation as his sentence. Seemed like a lot of ado for what he did, but it was interesting to see the judge fall asleep during testimony.
 

Summoned twice.
Once in Wyoming, DUI charge he refused breathalyzer test at scene. I wasn't impaneled because i had to behonest about how i felt about Drunk Driving.
2nd time here in NM came close to sitting on murder trial, but at last minute the defendant pled out. Former police officer charged with murdering his estranged wife, forget what the deal let hm plead guilty too, but not Murder In the 1st like original charge.
 
Never served, but was called in for selection on three occasions over the years.

While I never had the experience, my husband served as a juror in a land fraud case that went on for months in Arizona.
 
Almost, but no.

First time, the judge let me off when I said that I could not promise to disregard testimony if instructed to do so, and said that, perhaps, people who said they could do so without issue hadn't thought about it deeply enough. He also didn't care for my views on following the law even if I disagreed with it, particularly if I considered it a matter of conscience.

Second time, I was next in line to be interviewed, but the guy before me was accepted as the final alternate. I was almost disappointed - almost - that I wasn't questioned by the attorneys because I was ready to tell them both what I thought of them and the stupid case (civil suit).
 
Yes, one time many years ago. It was a case involving a drunk and/or drugged guy and his girlfriend who overturned a couple of Porta-Potties at a neighborhood festival. Someone got injured. They were found guilty.
 
Yes, one time. It was a drug case. A man was accused of selling drugs but he threw the drugs out the car window before the police were able to stop him. The police saw him pitch the drugs out the window, but the defendant claimed they weren't in his possession at the time of arrest so they couldn't charge him with selling them. We found him guilty after a heated debate in the jury room.
 
You will find juries consist of the old, the unemployed and those unable to dodge this responsibility.

We cannot bemoan the state of our Criminal Justice System as long as we find jury duty a burden, rather than a trust and obligation.
 
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Tish, that is what I'm talking about, we avoid the responsibility.
When employed a jury summons was a kiss of death.
We did not have time to serve of civic responsibility and we got the terms handed down by old tired juries that we deserved.

I know of no person. under retirement age that did not try to escape jury duty
 
jerry old said:
You will find juries consist of the old, the unemployed and those unable to dodge this responsibility.

We cannot bemoan the state of our Criminal Justice System as long as we find jury duty a burden, rather that a trust and obligation.
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It was serious medical problems that got me out of it. Have a problem with that??
 
One upon a time I had jury duty and it was a railroad accident so it was taken care of in the federal courthouse in Denver Co. An employee did not follow the safety procedures and was going from car to car in between the cars releasing brake lines I believe. A device was not used on the cars to insure the cars would not roll off under their own weight. The employee was in between two cars when the cars started moving and bouncing against each other. He was knocked back and forth between two cars and his foot was crushed underneath a railroad car wheel.

The railroad paid him for one and a half year while he was healing and most of his medical bills were paid for. The railroad wanted to end the case with him and pay him something like 50,000$ but he wanted more like 500,000$. This was back around 1983 I believe. We finally agreed that he did not abide by the safety rules of the railroad company and other events of the trial we felt was on the side of the railroad. I do not know how much money he was awarded for if I remember right that was for the judge to decide.
 
Twice, first time in 1980 on an armed robbery/burglary trial. Jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty for the two defendants. What was surprising and pretty cool is that after the verdict the judge invited the jury members to join him in his chambers, along with the prosecutor and defense attorney to discuss the trial. From that we learned we made the right decision, the defendants were in fact guilty, one of the defense attorneys even said as much.

The second time I served was 2 years ago, was empaneled. The defendant was a parolee charged with being in possession of a firearm, a violation of his parole. We were ready to start, then it was announced that an agreement had been reached(plea bargain) and we were dismissed. That's O.K., they gave me gas money which was enough for lunch too. ;)
 
RadishRose said:
This is outrageous!
Driving drunk is a very serious crime.
I wonder if that judge would fall asleep in court if his wife was a victim of a drunk driver?

(bangs gavel..) you snooze, you lose buddy, 90 days for contempt!
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Ha, would love to see judge sentence himself to jail:giggle:
 
Sassycakes said:
I served on a Jury when I was 21yrs old and that was a loooong long time ago, It's funny because I remember it like it was only a minute ago. It was for rape corrupting the morals of a minor and incest. I still remember the defendant's name and even his address. We found him guilty. I was afraid the entire time. I was the youngest person on the jury. There was a very old lady that didn't know what the word incest was and a young man that asked me what rape meant if the girl stayed in the room. After that experience, I am happy that I never had to serve again. Have you ever served on a Jury
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Oh yes, at least three times in local courts and once on a higher level federal court 120 miles away. Two were serious, one was just plain silly and the others were so boring that I don't even remember what they were about. Judges seemed to like appointing me as foreman. Wearing bright red logging suspenders got me dismissed once.

Now that I am 78, I am well beyond ever having to be called again.
 
It's funny because after I wrote this thread I remembered after that trial they were picking a jury for another trial,so they interviewed all.of us that were on the other trial. It was about a man accused of killing his child. I didn't want to get picked so when they asked one guy questions and rejected him. So when it was my turn I answered all the questions the way he did. I was shocked that the guy's lawyer accepted me but luckily the prosecuting attorney rejected me. I was thrilled
 

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