Jury Duty

[volk68]

This was the second time in 5 years that I have been called and selected to perform jury duty.  The first time was a two day felony stalking case (the first to be prosecuted and convicted in the state of Colorado), and this one was a four day sexual assault/2nd degree kidnapping case.  At first I was pretty irritated with being selected, and even more so during the belabored proceedings (the defendant represented himself), but now that it is over, I am glad I served.  It is really difficult to sit in judgement over another person, and was something I took very seriously, but after hearing all the testimony and DNA evidence, I am glad I had a chance to get this guy off the street.  He is going to be sentenced in December, and is looking at 18-45 years.

[Old Moparz]

Good to know you feel you made a wise decision, that's cool. I have some questions for you though.

What state are you in?
Did they use your name in front of the defendant?

The reason I ask, is because I was picked for a jury pool about 10 years ago, & lucky enough to to be selected here in NY. The guy was up for robbing a store & punching the crap out of the cashier, who happened to be a woman half his size. When they interviewed all the potential jurors, they called us by our full names & said what town we were from. During a recess, I asked the clerk why our names were used & was told to come back to the court room. They put me up in front of the judge, the lawyers, the defendant & everyone else except the other jurors & asked me why I had a problem with my name being used.

I couldn't believe it was like being on trial & said, "Hypothetically, what if the defendant is found guilty, whether he is or not, & decided to track the jurors down & get even? Our names were read aloud & where we lived, so there is nothing stopping him from looking people up after he gets out." I was then told, in front of the defendant, that "Your address wasn't given & that everything would be fine." I was then asked if I could be fair & impartial in making a decision, & also asked if I spoke to other jurors about it. I said "I can still make up my mind based on the case, but had wondered why my name was used when I had thought it shouldn't be."

Their answer was "The defendant has the right to know who the jurors are."     I was then asked why I was so concerned. My answer was that I was worried more for my wife than anything else. I was then sent back to the jury room & told not to say a word to anyone about this. After the lawyers & judge discussed & decided I was not a good choice for a juror, I was brought back in & reprimanded by the judge that I had wasted their time, wasted the taxpayer money, & that I should have said something sooner when I was interviewed before I was picked. I said "It didn't come to mind during the interview, & didn't give it any thought until just after I was chosen." The judge looked even more pissed & excused me from the court.

BTW, the defendant "was" guilty, they had witnesses along with the fact he had a criminal record for being a scum bag. I don't know what became of this case though, friggen morons run the court system in my opinion.

[69_500]

I have been selected for jury duty only once. We went throgh the whole process of selecting jurors and such, got down to 8 of us. We had a recess and the next day when they started the case first thing out of the lawyers mouth was that they had reached a settlement out of court. Pissed me off, to waste 2 days of my time to go in there and have nothing to do.
If they had reached a settlement the day before why did they bring us back the second day to just announce that?

[volk68]

Yes, the call us by our full names and ask where we live...in front of the defendant.  It is uncomfortable, and several female jurors expressed concern about this during our deliberation process.  Unfortunately, this appears to be part of the defendant's Constitutional rights.  I will cross my fingers and hope he never comes calling, but if he does, I'm sure my .44 would leave a lasting impression.

[69_500]

Seems to me that it might be part of the defendants constitutional rights, but then again what about the jurors rights to remain annonomous.

[Vainglory, Esq.]

It's clearly not in the Constitution.

If this "right" does exist, I want to know the case that it came from.  Seems utterly stupid to me.

[69_500]

Is it meerly an extension to the right to a jury of your peers? In the case of peers being people like you, hence maybe you should know their names. I don't know just a stab in the dark.

[volk68]

It's clearly not in the Constitution.

If this "right" does exist, I want to know the case that it came from.  Seems utterly stupid to me.

Obviously not in the Constitution itself.  I think it stems from the "jury of your peers".  I don't disagree that it is stupid, but it is the current proceedure.

[Vainglory, Esq.]

I would assume that that's where it could come from (conceivably...).  But I want to read the actual case.  Any lawyers know which?

[Old Moparz]

I do recall them saying it had something to do with the defendant possibly knowing a juror personally, & the term "jury of his peers" did come up. I wasn't trying to get out of it, it just happen to work that way. If I get called again in the future for a violent case, I won't waste anyone's time like the last time. I'll say it nice & loud during the interview so the rest of the jurors I'm not supposed to discuss this with can hear it. This was in NY, but when my wife was on jury duty when we lived in NJ, she served during a rape case & didn't recall her name being mentioned at all. That was almost 20 years ago, so maybe it's changed or she just forgot. In any event, I think it's BS a name is used.

To prove my point, when I had to go to the clerk's office to sign out after being rejected, the woman there asked, "So, they didn't like you & you got booted?" I told her what happened, & she said, "Oh, there was a case very recently where a guy went to jail. He called, sent letters & threatened a few jurors that put him in away. He got in trouble for that too, so they added time to his sentence." She agreed with me for being concerned & also said it's a bad idea. I'd like to hear from a lawyer as to why this happens, it makes no sense, even if the argument about the defendants right & jury of peers comes up.

[69_500]

Ah now see that is where I thougth that you would have the answer. Aren't you studying law in school?

[Vainglory, Esq.]

I didn't even think of the fact that you can't know the defendant.  Funny - I shouldn't have missed that.

But it's okay, because law school will be next year at the earliest.  I'm still an amateur.

[69_500]

Off topic here but Vain, are you going to have your Charger completed in time for the Vegas show next year? Or are you even going to the MOpars at the Strip?

[Vainglory, Esq.]

I am hoping to have it done by that time, but I doubt it'll be at the show.  I'll be going as usual though, and I might be very tempted to bring it out if I can star in another movie....

But you'll have to talk to my agent, Mojo.  He's watched Entourage, so he knows what he's doing.

[Silver R/T]

ya I woudlnt be cool either with using my name in court, dont know who's behind the convict

[Charger71]

I don't think names should be used.   Jurors should be refered to by a number in this situation...

Charger71

[TruckDriver]

I'm supposed to do 5 days of jury duty in the month of January. I for one am NOT looking forward to it. I don't think I my blatter will let me sit and wait for pee breaks as I have a enlarged prostate. When I have to go, I gotta go NOW! That, and having adult ADD, I know for a fact, my concentration will wonder like it always does. Thats why I need to go over stuff a few times when I learn something. This is going to suck for me

[Highbanked Hauler]

 That is what I am going to do when and if I get pulled again is tell them that I have adult ADD which I do and can't remember squat under pressure.I have been caned from the last two jobs cause I can't remember things.