Grand Jury Duty?

[vivalarev]

Has anyone here ever been summoned for Grand jury duty? Im in Philly and just got my summons. Apparently, there are no postponements here for it, and it looks like you have to serve for 6 months.

Has anyone ever served? What was it like?

[JimmyJazz]

1. WOW. That sounds interesting. I've only served on petit juries, so

I have no idea.

[vivalarev]

2. It does sound interesting but....

I cant find much info about it, and what I have read says that its for 6 months, and thats its either 9 to 5 everyday, or 1 hour a night per week. Id like to figure out which one is correct.

[AngryAmish]

3. The way it works in Illinois

You do have a 6 month term (I think). However, you do not meet everyday most of the time. I think. Not really my field.

[CottonBear]

4. I served in GA. Our terms are 3 months. It was very interesting.

We usually served on Wednesday mornings from 8 - 12. On one or two days, we served all day. One day we had off. We also had to tour the county jail, interview all of the staff and the Sheriff's Department staff (chief jailer) and deputies in order to prepare a report on the condition and status of the jail and its operation.

Of course the Grand Jury is all about the DA's prosecution so that's the only side that you get to hear. The DA and his assistants make their case and bring in witnesses like undercover cops and narcs (you'll recognize these folks around town later!), detectives, uniformed police and deputies, fraud investigators and the occasional GBI or ATF type officials.

You must decide to indict or not on each charge brought before you. We did not rubber stamp the indictments. We had very impassioned discussions. Our group was very diverse and very serious about being fair since we had a lot of power to affect the indicted persons lives in a huge way.

You'll learn a lot. :)

edit: You can't talk about any of the cases (except with your fellow jurors) while you are serving. I love to discuss the news but I just had to keep my big mouth shut! It was a good exercise and experience for me.

[Debi]

5. That would be cool....

Very interesting to hear Grand Jury testimony...