Were you ever on a jury?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I got called for jury service. There were 6 or 7 cases, where we got to the actual selecting jurors, when they "settled" the case. Some of the cases were for money, most were for crimes. I always thought I would be impartial and "just the facts", but it's amazing how emotional you are when you hear a brief summary of the cases. Have you ever been on a jury? How do you think you'd do if you were on a jury?
 

Once, and I'll never forget it. It was a murder trial, but not whether the defendant committed the murder (of his girl friend). He did. It was about deciding the degree of the murder: Manslaughter (accident), Felony murder, or Murder 1 (premeditated).

The jury members were all over the place (vote 4-5-3). It was clear to me he was guilty of *at least* felony murder. He was illegally carrying the weapon at the time (a felony). We spent 5 hours in deliberation and ended agreeing on that, but it was rough going.

Later I met one of the jurors in a department store and he said he knew the man, and that he had killed another woman previously and got away with it. He should have been rejected as a juror. We were not supposed to know that. I didn't.

I think I was fair. He was probably guilty of Murder 1. The evidence just didn't support it conclusively, imo. I don't know what would have happened though if we had not agreed relatively soon, and the judge had refused let us quit.

Btw, it turned out the sentence was the same for the last two levels.
 
I was on a jury for a civil wrongful death case many years ago. Like many people I dreaded the thought of being a juror, but I can say it helped to bolster my confidence in the "system." It was a very positive experience, and I think everyone should get the chance at least once.

It was about a 3-day trial. It involved a senior couple, husband driving on a highway and he stopped when he saw a school bus stopped on the side of the road, a place well off the road where traffic was not legally required to stop. Their car was rear-ended by a large cement truck and the wife was killed, she was not wearing her seatbelt. The husband was OK, and so was the truck driver, both had been wearing seatbelts. The family of the deceased woman sued the trucking company and the school district of the bus.

After some heated debate, we came to an agreement: 80% fault of the truck driver for following too closely, 20% fault of the couple due to stopping when it wasn't lawful and the seatbelt. The school district was not at fault at all.

We were all kind of turned off that they were suing the school district. It made them look as if they were just out for as much money as they could get.
 

In 1980 I served on a criminal trial, burglary and armed robbery. First and last time I actually was picked, but of course, had been called as a prospect many times, usually every 2 or 3 years.
 
I was on an all white jury that put a black dude away for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. I felt pretty bad about it because the public defender he had wasn't very good. But it was obvious that he was guilty. But it was also obvious to me that the cop that stopped him was profiling him. But his attorney never even brought that into the discussion. After it was over we got to ask the judge questions and I found out that due to the three strikes rules he was going up for 15 years, which I thought was very excessive. His previous two convictions were drug possession charges. No violence, no victims. And the gun charge was simple possession too. Looking back on it, I wish I'd just stonewalled it and refused to vote guilty.

That's the end of jury duty for me. I got a notice in the mail a few months ago and I checked the block that allows you to opt out if you are 70 or older.
 
I only served on a Jury in 1969. I was newly married and very worried. I was picked for a case about Statutory Rape, Rape, Incest and corrupting the morals of a minor. It wasn't an easy thing to listen to and even now I remember the name and even address of the defendant ,the judge and the lawyers. I was the youngest one on the jury and there was only one other woman. While we were deliberating one male juror didn't know the meaning of statutory rape. I don't know how I got the nerve to explain it to him, but I did. We all agreed that he was guilty. After we gave our verdict the judge told us that he had been on trial a few years before for committing rape of another daughter, but his wife said the daughter was lying. When we left that courtroom we had to get called to another case. I was so happy I didn't get selected for that one because it was Murder and we would have to be sequestered.
 
I've been called for jury duty but never selected, due to my working in the legal field and knowing so many lawyers.

I did serve on a grand jury for three months here and, despite my legal experience, it was an eye-opener about how people work together to decide whether to indict or not. The standard to indict is fairly low, and most of the cases presented to us pretty obviously met the standard. One was kinda scary, as it involved a gang member who had lots of "supporters" outside. We each got escorted separately out to our cars by sheriffs that day, and I was very glad that the names of grand jurors are secret, as are grand jury proceedings.

We heard some very terrible stuff (I am continually amazed at some people's capacity for cruelty) and some really stupid stuff (don't leave your credit card behind at a place you are robbing, and if you are using a stolen ID be sure you can spell the name of the person you are supposed to be and that the ID is of someone who is at least roughly in your age group).
 
Here, if you don't answer the summons, you're in contempt of court and it means one night in the slammer.

I've been on several juries and hated it.

Next summons I get. I'm gonna choose the better option..........spend the night in the slammer.

A new experience.......I can tell my grandkids.
 
Something I'd always dreaded, I was called for Jury Service some years back, I was recovering from cancer and chemotherapy at the time so a doctors letter gave me exemption

Hopefully I won't get called again, I'd hate to sit in judgement of another person
 
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yes. it was a rape case. there was no evidence. she had bathed and washed her clothing. and nothing at the scene because of the passing of to much time. lots i could say about what i think of the other jurors though
 
I've had several jury summons but only got picked once. I've been through a couple of voir dire's, but due to the fact that I have an unusual last name and that my late husband was frequently in court testifying for the state, I was usually dropped like a stone right away. He knew most of the judges and quite a few of the lawyers and they recognized the name.

The one I DID get picked for, we were seated, then dismissed for lunch, then re-seated, then dismissed for a lawyer/judge conference and then dismissed completely because it turned out the defendant was wanted for a more serious criminal charge. This one was a civil case and it would have been slam-dunk as he was guilty as hell.
 
They settled the case just before we were to begin. A 40 Y.O. Black woman, Sue Smith, ( the name really was a common name) was picked up for prostitution. She skipped bail. These two idiot bail bondsmen went to NYC and found a "Sue Smith". They pounced on her, threw her in hand cuffs and dragged her back to PA. Trouble was that she was a 14 Y.O. Black girl. Her family sued the idiots. It was obvious that she was not 40. And about engaging in prostitution, I don't know to put this, but even to a blind guy,....The girl had problems. We all agreed that if it were us, we would have given her the limit.
 
Yes, 5 times, 4 were civil cases. One was settled before going to trial. On that one, it was a sleety January day and the jurors waited from 9 am to 4 pm when the commissioner came in and said the case was settled so there was no need of the jury. When I went out to the parking lot, my car was covered in 1/4 inch of ice which I had to chop off. The drive home was nightmarish over twisty-turny back country roads. The last case (2002), I was dismissed at the end when they drew two names and I was chosen as an alternate.
 
I've had a few jury summons but never was picked and was so happy. I received one just when the hubby had bypass surgery and they accepted that excuse. The next time I was having knee problems and I am hearing impaired, even with hearing aids, I don't hear well. I wrote a letter and enclosed it with my summons asking for my name to be removed from the list. I did receive a letter back telling me I won't be called again. That made my day. Besides my hearing problem and achy knees I get just plain antsy sitting around all day.
 
Why do so many people hate jury duty? I loved it - I could sleep later, I only had to drive half as far as I did to work and usually got a free lunch. No maximum age limit here in NY, but it's been 15 years since I was last summoned.
 
Here there is no age limit...Aaaand; If you have no car, you may have to crawl.

The thing is; There are a lot of people who would love to take part, so why not make it voluntary ?

Instead of "Ya BETTER do it, OR ELSE !!!
 
I was on a jury once. I thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe because it wasn't a gory murder case or anything like that. Some punk stole his girlfriend's grandmother's car, and had the nerve to say that he thought they all
realized that he was just borrowing it! It took us about 20 minutes to find him guilty.

I found the whole experience pretty awesome. After the trial was over, the prosecutor and the defense attorney came over to the jury to ask what factors made us vote the way we did. I kept thinking, "This is not a movie,
it's real, and this is how the system works!"

Don't think I would have enjoyed it so much if I had to keep going back day after day.
 
I once had myself excused from Jury Duty while we were being questioned by the Judge prior to the trial.

When we were asked individually if we had any reason for not wanting to serve, I told the Judge that the Defendant would not get a fair trial with me on the jury.

When he asked why, I told him, and he dismissed me and thanked me for reporting for Jury Duty.

HDH
 
Falcon said:
Here there is no age limit...Aaaand; If you have no car, you may have to crawl.

The thing is; There are a lot of people who would love to take part, so why not make it voluntary ?

Instead of "Ya BETTER do it, OR ELSE !!!
Click to expand...

When I first reported for grand jury duty, the judge, who happens to be seriously disabled, told us that if he could make it we all could, and that if we were breathing we would not be excused.
 
Yes one time. It was a jury trial for a 75 year old woman that had stolen a carton of cigarettes from Wal Mart.

We found her guilty in less than 15 minutes.
 

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