Jury Duty

[ChgrSteve67]

Well I have to call the court house to see if I need to report this afternoon or call back later.

I have served a few time and usually have been able to get out of actually serving.
I know its my civic duty and all of that crap but I really have more important things to do at work.
Let the people that don't work or make there living off my tax dollars do it.

Anyways since its been a few years I need a few new reasons I can possibly use to... shale we say.... make myself undesirable to serve.

Here are some I have used or heard in the  past.

"I can spot a guilty person just like that"
"A police officer would never lie"
"If he wasn't guilty he would not have been arested in the first place."
"I have a friend that is a lawyer, cop, FBI, drug user..... (Insert what ever kind of people may be involved in the trial)"
"I have a hard time sitting for long periods of time"
"What was the question? I'm sorry can you say that again. My apologies I have a hard time paying attention"

Keep in mind I do not want to get charged with contempt of court for being a smart ass.

-Steve

[Vainglory, Esq.]

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/08/mistrial-in-massage-parlor-prosecution-after-masseuse-recognizes-defense-lawyer-as-a-client/

[Old Moparz]

Just wear your Star Trek uniform when you go to court & tell them you are more than happy to serve up justice to the Klingon scum they arrested. 

[RallyeMike]

I have always wondered why they can't come up with a way to offer the job of Jury Duty to unemployed persons in exchange for thier unemployment checks. They would be relieved from a week of job searching and be put to work for a week! At the same time it would ease the impact on the work of busy folks who are already working. I guess it just makes too much sense to implement.

[learical1]

True story.
Last time I was called for jury duty, I made it past the first round of eliminations, then I cleared round two.  Third time around, they asked if anybody had family members who worked for a law enforcement agency.  I raised my hand.  "Juror 26 (me), what family member is on what police force?"  asked the defence attorney.
"My brother is an accountant for the City of Phoenix Police Department."
"What does he do?" asked the judge.
"I'm not sure.  I think he pays for the donuts."

I didn't make the next cut.

BTW, the trial was for Grand Theft, Tractor (as in John Deere).

[41husk]

  That may me spit my diet pepsi on the computer

[bull]

True story.
Last time I was called for jury duty, I made it past the first round of eliminations, then I cleared round two.  Third time around, they asked if anybody had family members who worked for a law enforcement agency.  I raised my hand.  "Juror 26 (me), what family member is on what police force?"  asked the defence attorney.
"My brother is an accountant for the City of Phoenix Police Department."
"What does he do?" asked the judge.
"I'm not sure.  I think he pays for the donuts."

I didn't make the next cut.

BTW, the trial was for Grand Theft, Tractor (as in John Deere).

You'd think the word "accountant" would pretty much sum up the job description.

Well I have to call the court house to see if I need to report this afternoon or call back later.

I have served a few time and usually have been able to get out of actually serving.
I know its my civic duty and all of that crap but I really have more important things to do at work.
Let the people that don't work or make there living off my tax dollars do it.

Do you really want the freeloaders deciding who should walk? I think I'd rather have the hard-working regular Joe-types making the call instead of people who are probably buddies with the criminals.

[John_Kunkel]

From my recent experience, simply having served on a jury that reached a verdict gets you tossed during voir dire.
They want inexperienced meat.

[PocketThunder]

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/08/mistrial-in-massage-parlor-prosecution-after-masseuse-recognizes-defense-lawyer-as-a-client/

"Career alternatives for attorneys: massage therapist? That's one way of rubbing out student debt."

       

[Chryco Psycho]

the one time I was called I told them I knew the defendant , we had actually been in school together & did know each other though , no clue what he did .

[A383Wing]

up here you can get out of jury duty if you have been called within 2 years time

[gasoline_24]

I know nobody wants to serve on jury duty, but consider for a time if you would want unemployed people or people with nothing better to do serving on a jury of a case you are involved in.

[ChgrSteve67]

Got lucky and didn't have to go down to the court house and have been excused for the rest of the week.

Went over to the gun range after work and picked up my new Rugar LC9.

It was a good day.

[ITSA426]

I've been called a few times.  I sat on a murder trial most recently.  It's part of our duty and being a good citizen.  It's probably not as inconvenient as doing a tour in Afghanistan.  It's still part of our way of life.

[twodko]

Got lucky and didn't have to go down to the court house and have been excused for the rest of the week.

Went over to the gun range after work and picked up my new Rugar LC9.

It was a good day.

Can't wrong with a Ruger anything IMO. I bought a Colt AR-15 H-Bar new in 1984 and shorty there after a Ruger Mini-14. Both very accurate but I sold the Mini-14 to an FFL dealer and have regretted it ever since. Curious thing though, in this mornings local rag is a Big 5 ad page and they have Mini-14's on "sale" for $699.
I'm so tempted to buy another one but it would really eat into our Maui vaca pocket money. I've got to check out this LC9, never heard of this model.

[ChgrSteve67]

its a new model.
There is a good review online about it but since I'm at work the internet filters wont let me get to it.

I bought a laser for it last weekend that should show up today or tomorrow.

[twodko]

I just took a look at your new LC9. It's appears to be a very nice light weight hand gun. I suspect it would be an excellent close quarters weapon out to 30 yards at least. Not the stopping power of a .45 but a .45 isn't much good beyond 10-15 yards. Did you get black or stainless/nickel? PS don't get into trouble at work....just sayin'.

[The70RT]

Why would unemployed people be singled out? Unemployment rate is around 10% so approx 10% of people serving jury duty are serving anyway. Not all people collecting unemployment are collecting just to collect.....have you ever collected unemployment? - (RallyeMike) not a fun way to pay your mortgage and car payment. Get laid off and see if you feel the same.....it's not free money anyway. The only way to get unemployment is to have worked. My wife is about to graduate and have a bachelor's degree in legal studies and was laid off from a job making over 45K 16 months ago. She still cant find a decent job to cover more then unemployment does. It's our duty to serve and easy to get out of so not a big deal at all. The last time I did it I got off from work (good thing) and got paid from the courts and my job. Lets put the scumbags away and help the good people get what they deserve as well. A couple of things I remember well when being interviewed was an ole lady that was asked would she be a good candidate and she says " I wouldn't trust a cop in this town if you paid me"  Another was " if that SOB raped my daughter he wouldn't be here getting a trial"  Both were excused.

[RallyeMike]

Why would unemployed people be singled out? Unemployment rate is around 10% so approx 10% of people serving jury duty are serving anyway. Not all people collecting unemployment are collecting just to collect.....have you ever collected unemployment? - (RallyeMike) not a fun way to pay your mortgage and car payment. Get laid off and see if you feel the same.....it's not free money anyway.

Why single them out? Because they are available !  10% of America  - a pretty good pool of people to draw from.

To be clear, I'm not down on the unemployed. I don't characterize them all as slackers, stupid, or cheater like others have implied here. Yes, some are gaming the system, but the majority are just between jobs, downsized, otherwise a victim of the economy, or off during the winter construction season, or other legitimate reasons. This is ready pool of short-term temporary workers for the justice system.

Let's face it, if you are an Asphalt Raker in Chicago in November, you are are unemployment for another 4 months. Wouldn't we be better off to increase the call rate for this person to jury duty rather than pull the employed guy off the Chrysler assembly line? The answer is unequivocally yes, but there are way too many hurdles to ever make this a reality.



And to the topic of this thread: Never served. Don't plan to. There are more than enough house-wives/husbands, unemployed, students, retired people, and willing folks to do the job. Maybe I'll throw in when I'm retired. 

[ChgrSteve67]

Its not a light weight pistol, it has a good feel and weight to it. I got the all black version.
I also got a Crimson Trace LG-412 LASER for it that I installed today. Awesome fit.

I definitely would not take it to work or even have it around work. I picked it up after work and took it straight home. Some of the guys I shoot with I work with and when we decide to go play we go home and get our tools and then go to the range. No need to scare the kiddies. Actually it would be a federal crime and a felony if I had a firearm of any kind on company property.

I love hijacking my own thread.

I have done my time in the military, I have done volunteer work, every year I collect toys for "Toys for Tots", I help my company with fund raisers, I donate to the American Cancer Society, Ronald McDonald house and the Salvation Army. I also donate blood every 6 weeks even with my Diabetes.

I don't think finding a way to get out of Jury Duty this time around makes me a bad person.

[twodko]

Steve, I didn't mean to suggest " don't get into trouble at work" by bringing your new toy there. I meant buy surfing sites the company doesn't approve of. When I have the time to go to the range its always the same....weapon in it's case on the back seat unloaded and ammo in the trunk.

[mauve66]

your job paid you to go to jury duty?? wow

[Bob T]

I've turned it down once, as my employee was a 1st year trainee and required supervision but would do it if asked, the only problem would be getting tied up in some 4 week long- running trial and as a contractor it would mean getting hit in the pocket pretty hard. But in saying that, I do believe in the jury system.
The Justice dept here pays minimum adult wage about $12.50, I think for jurors to attend and parking or bus money and you can get fined if you dont turn up.

Got lucky and didn't have to go down to the court house and have been excused for the rest of the week.

Went over to the gun range after work and picked up my new Rugar LC9.

It was a good day.

Good Hi-jack.
I was at a guys rural property yesterday with some friends , car guys mostly , for an afternoons worth of Clay bird shooting with 12 guage pumps  and then a few beers and bbq afterwards. I only got the double once but it was a top day out, most enjoyable.
There's no indoor ranges here with hire anything type weapons and I quite envy you guys being able to do so. Some of the guys and girls there have been to the ranges during trips to the States and it sounded like a blast, its on my bucket list

[Fred]

I'm happy to say that in all my years I have never been called up for jury duty. 

[kab69440]

I have only been called once. It was a drug case and I simply stated (and this is my honest opinion) that all drugs should be legalized, taxed and let the stoners, junkies and tweakers buzz themselves to death, wherein the problem will simply solve itself. The world's most dangerous drug (alcohol) is readily available nearly everywhere. Legally. What's the problem with any other drug? I don't get it.

[Tilar]

I've been called many times, The last time was for a case where a guy was caught with a pound of pot. Now thats a lot of pot but I told them that I didn't see anything wrong with it as long as it was for personal use. The attorney said "But the law says he cant have that much and thats how you are to determine if he is guilty or not" to which I said "Thats a stupid law".   I can't imagine why they told me to go home 

[Kern Dog]

In my county, the courts MAIL notifications to citizens through regular mail. Theres NO way that the courts can prove that you got the letter, so I have heard of people that simply IGNORE the letter and carry on with their lives.

[A383Wing]

In my county, the courts MAIL notifications to citizens through regular mail. Theres NO way that the courts can prove that you got the letter, so I have heard of people that simply IGNORE the letter and carry on with their lives.

yup...they mail them up here also....and that's what I was thinking as well..how the hell do they know you even got it through the Post Office mail system?

When I went to mine, the first one I ever did, the court worker who talked to us in the morning said that for those people who didn't show up to duty would have a warrant out for them for ignoring a court order to arrive for selection.....I thought, "yea, right.....I bet there were more that didn't show up than did"......

[stripedelete]

About three years ago the guy who ran the "got junk" type business next to me was hauled away by a S.W.A.T. team for making terrosit threats on government offices.  While he's probably in Guantonimo by now, they keep mailing jury duty notices.   How does THAT system work?