Jury Duty

[70charginglizard]

Just got served today for the first few days in June....Icky.

Oh well. Small price to pay for the right to vote I guess. 

Never had to do this before. Anyone else here have to? Whats the deal regarding taking the time off work? Spose I don't get paid for the time off huh.

[70charger_boy]

I was picked once but they quickly dismissed me.  I think it's because I'm an angry black dude. 

[Polygon]

I did jury duty once, I've been called twice. First time, I sent the card back, saying I was too busy working for a school ( New Semester),and I didn't have to go.
Second time, I went, it was 1/2 day one day, and 1/2 day the next, They paid $15 a day ( YUP, fifteen).
We let the guy off the hook.

Who knows, they NEED clear thinking people there.

[67_Dodge_Charger]

I am on my third summons for jury duty.  The first they settled before the court date, the second I was #40 or something like that and was not chosen (but I still received a check for $12).  I will be going for the third time May 29, I am hoping they settle before the court date.  My boss is offering me a full pay while I go to court, it never hurts to ask.

Once you are selected for a case, at least in Montana, you will be taken off the list of potential jurors for a few years. 

Robert

[moparguy01]

ive been called 2 times, never had to serve either time. both times they told me to check in on a given date at a given time, and call it done. they never had to actually have the case.

[red72chrgr]

As for being paid, by your company, you'll have to ask them. Pay from the court is not much. I've served on the grand jury and a murder trial. We indicted a sh** load of drug cases and as for the murder trial, she's doing life w/o parole.

[Old Moparz]

Jury duty for a couple of days to a week might be okay, but you better hope you aren't part of something like the recent wackoloon astronaut case.    That'll be dragged out & turned into a year long circus side show like O.J. Simpson.

I was picked once for jury duty. It was an assault & robbery case where the guy dragged a woman over the counter & punched her out, then emptied the register. Right in the courtroom during the selections, they announced our names & the town we lived in, in front of the defendant & whoever else was there. During a recess, I asked the court officer, (Not Rusty from People's Court) why they did that? He didn't answer, but told me to wait & he'd be back.

When he returned he had me follow him back to the courtroom & I was put on the stand next to the judge & told to re-ask my question. I did, & was then asked why I asked? In front of the defendant, his lawyer & everyone else, I had to explain that I was under the impression that a juror was to remain anonymous. The judge said that this is the way it goes & that they didn't give my address, so I was fine.

Then he asked why did it matter? I had to say "Hypothetically, if the defendant is found guilty & decides to get even with the jurors, he knows who & where we are." The judge then reamed me a new one, proceeded to reprimand me as if I was the guilty party for wasting his time, the courts time, & the tax payers money for not bringing this up sooner.

They then asked me if I could be fair & impartial to give the defendant a fair trial. I said yes, so they said go back to the jurors room & don't say one word of what was discussed to another juror. I stayed quiet while they decided to dismiss me from the case. When I went to the main office to sign out so I could get paid my whopping 1-1/2 days pay of $30 or so, the woman chuckled & said "I guess they didn't like you." I told her what had happened, & her reply was that an inmate had recently tracked down several jurors & threatened them by mail from prison.

They did track the mail back to this moron & added time to his sentence. I bet that made him even more pissed. I did decide that I was going to be impartial, but they decided not to take that chance. Nice way to run the court system. (This was in New York, btw) 

[70charginglizard]

Jury duty for a couple of days to a week might be okay, but you better hope you aren't part of something like the recent wackoloon astronaut case.    That'll be dragged out & turned into a year long circus side show like O.J. Simpson.

I was picked once for jury duty. It was an assault & robbery case where the guy dragged a woman over the counter & punched her out, then emptied the register. Right in the courtroom during the selections, they announced our names & the town we lived in, in front of the defendant & whoever else was there. During a recess, I asked the court officer, (Not Rusty from People's Court) why they did that? He didn't answer, but told me to wait & he'd be back.

When he returned he had me follow him back to the courtroom & I was put on the stand next to the judge & told to re-ask my question. I did, & was then asked why I asked? In front of the defendant, his lawyer & everyone else, I had to explain that I was under the impression that a juror was to remain anonymous. The judge said that this is the way it goes & that they didn't give my address, so I was fine.

Then he asked why did it matter? I had to say "Hypothetically, if the defendant is found guilty & decides to get even with the jurors, he knows who & where we are." The judge then reamed me a new one, proceeded to reprimand me as if I was the guilty party for wasting his time, the courts time, & the tax payers money for not bringing this up sooner.

They then asked me if I could be fair & impartial to give the defendant a fair trial. I said yes, so they said go back to the jurors room & don't say one word of what was discussed to another juror. I stayed quiet while they decided to dismiss me from the case. When I went to the main office to sign out so I could get paid my whopping 1-1/2 days pay of $30 or so, the woman chuckled & said "I guess they didn't like you." I told her what had happened, & her reply was that an inmate had recently tracked down several jurors & threatened them by mail from prison.

They did track the mail back to this moron & added time to his sentence. I bet that made him even more pissed. I did decide that I was going to be impartial, but they decided not to take that chance. Nice way to run the court system. (This was in New York, btw) 

Your not installing a lot of confidence in this.

I guess when asked if I can be impartial I'll jus say...Nope. and maybe I'll be excused.

[68chrgrwife]

I never got called when I lived in NJ but within 2 months of moving to Ca I got called ( think about every other year I get called..i just tell them I have three kids and am out of state military, which is 1/2 true--i am a military wife.) 

[Old Moparz]

Your not installing a lot of confidence in this.

I guess when asked if I can be impartial I'll jus say...Nope. and maybe I'll be excused.

Sorry, that wasn't my intention. I just couldn't believe how stupid the whole thing went for me & totally disgusted. There were 40 or more jurors there, some were kept as back up. My wife was on a jury for a rape & kidnapping case years ago when she lived in New Jersey. I had asked her if she remembered whether they said her name & town during the selection process. She told me she wasn't 100% positive, but that she didn't think so. Maybe it's different for each state? 

I actually wasn't trying to get out of it, if that were the case I would have asked the question right away in front of everyone when they were selecting jurors.

[73dodge]

Being part of a jury will be an eye opener in the way justice is handed out and how the court system works. My brother in law just got off a case in which the guy was arrested for possession of drugs with the intent to distribute drugs. Funny thing was that he said that the "suspect" had videotaped himself making the crack and talking about how much money he was going to make selling crack and in the end the prosecution was not allowed to show that videotape to the jury. He was allowed to see parts of it after the trial was over but because of the guys lawyers got the evidence barred from being shown. He said had the jury had been allowed to see the tape the guy would have been found guilty on all charges instead of just 1 of the 3.  He said the whole jury thing was a huge discouragement and did not instill any confidence in the justice system in him. It was quite interesting listening to his whole take on the trial.

[bull]

I've been summoned thrice. Twice my employer claimed hardship and once I served. Well, actually, I sat in a big room with 200 other people for a day and a half and didn't get picked for anything. That was by far the most painfully boring experience of my life.

[Manfred318]

Im not registered to vote, so I dont have to worry about being served.

[Old Moparz]

Im not registered to vote, so I dont have to worry about being served.

If you have a driver's license, a SS number, or have collected unemployment, it won't matter if you're a registered voter in NY. Could be the same for where you are if you're in the USA.

[Manfred318]

I'm not registered to vote, so I don't have to worry about being served.

If you have a driver's license, a SS number, or have collected unemployment, it won't matter if you're a registered voter in NY. Could be the same for where you are if you're in the USA.

Hmmm...I did not know that. I was always under the impression here in N.C. that they just pulled from a list of registered voters, so if you weren't registered you wouldn't get a summons.

[68chrgrwife]

Im not registered to vote, so I dont have to worry about being served.

I'm not registered to vote in Ca. and get asked a lot.  I am registered in NJ (yes, even though I have been in Ca for 7 yrs., I still vote absentee ballot in NJ).  I have a Ca. Driver's licence and that's what they look for....

[Rocky]

I'm not registered to vote, so I don't have to worry about being served.

If you have a driver's license, a SS number, or have collected unemployment, it won't matter if you're a registered voter in NY. Could be the same for where you are if you're in the USA.

Hmmm...I did not know that. I was always under the impression here in N.C. that they just pulled from a list of registered voters, so if you weren't registered you wouldn't get a summons.

That's OK.  Don't vote.  The rest of America is better off that way.   

[6670charger]

I've been notified three different times.  Only had to appear once......................on 9/11.   Needless to say, everything was cancelled.

[Bones68charger]

I have served once, and I really enjoyed doing it. My case was just a drunk driving case the guy was guilty as sin and it did not take us very long to decide our verdict. I got paid $60 and got a free very good lunch. This was when I was in college so it came as a blessing to me, I did not make very much money and I was used to eating generic macaroni and cheese.

[CharlieCharger]

Don't show up, they don't mind  I did this when I was 18 and they issued a warrant..My aunt was head of the warrants division and friends with the judge..and my Uncle was the county property tax assessor and knew the judge too..I served 12 hours in the County Hotel..just for an eye opener..My aunt sold me out and told him when I showed up for court haha..I guess I could have served more than that..I dont know.

[Charger_Fan]

I was summoned for my first time two weeks ago.
I was told to be at the court house at 8:30 am for jury selection...and to bring a book, which I forgot. About 30 of us were ushered into a small windowless room full of chairs, facing a white marker board, above which hung a clock with dying batteries...enough power to flinch the second hand, but not enough to keep time.   Other than a couple short conversations, nobody spoke.
We sat there until shortly after 9:00, when we were herded into the court room. The Judge, 4 lawyers & the stenographer were in the room. The judge thanked us for taking time from our schedules for this. The case was due to run 3 days, but they decided to settle the day prior & we were free to leave. Fine by me, I didn't really want to spend 3 days in court anyway, even though it would have been a cool new experience.
The case didn't sound like anything too exciting anyway, some contracting company vs. an individual. Probably got busted stealing equipment or something. They said I'll get $18.50 in the mail soon for my troubles.



The thing I found funny about all this though, is that this is the first time I've been in a courtroom situation where I wasn't on the defendant's end of the deal.
I haven't been in front of a jury before, but back when I was young & dumb(er), I've had a few occasions in front of a judge.  

[CharlieCharger]

Haven't we all found ourselves in front of the man in the black robe when we were younger? 

[BB1]

Uh... no.

[68chrgrwife]

can I plead the fifth?

[70charginglizard]

Well I might ye be getting out of this anyway.
I told my supervisor that I might have to be gone for 3 days and since he's such a hard ass he may actually write up a letter to tell them that he can't afford for me to be gone that long because we are so busy and he needs me there.
I personally don't think thats the truth. He's just a hard ass but hey. If he can get me outta jury duty I supose thas fine with me.
I don't really care either way.