Jury Duty Poll, Part II

[Mike 03]

Poll question: Jury Duty Poll, Part II

This one is simpler.

[rucky]

1. Not sure about "eagerly", but I have no problems doing it.

[SPedigrees]

2. Ditto. eom

[proud patriot]

28. bingo

[bunkerbuster1]

30. me four.

[JI7]

32. yes, i would do it, but wouldn't describe it as eagerly

[goddess40]

3. I've never been called

But I'd serve happily.

[Taverner]

4. I got out of jury duty. ADHD.

Really hard to be a juror when you can't concentrate on the case

[imdjh]

7. They asked if you had it? Or you volunteered?

I'm wondering if it's something they asked about or if you volunteered it to get out of doing it.

[imdjh]

5. I've been summoned three times and never picked. It pissed me off.

So I voted other. I wanted to be on the jury. But they got me up and dressed and down to the courthouse, kept me for a couple of hours and let me go. I wanted to be on a murder trial or something. I got ripped.

[Berry Cool]

24. Why did you WANT to be on a murder trial?

Did you have the burning desire to hold someone's fate in your hands that much?

Just curious.

Oh, and there are places you can live where they need jurors so badly that you don't have to worry about staying only a few hours and being let go. They'll keep you for a WEEK, and only if they haven't put you on a jury by then will they let you go. If you're dying to be on a murder trial, I suggest you move to one of those places. (Hint: Cuyahoga County, Ohio is one of them.)

[imdjh]

26. Years and years of Perry Mason

Not so much to hold someone's fate in my hands as much as to hold the prosecution to my standards.

[imdjh]

37. Did I mention what I was wearing?

Can't imagine why they didn't pick me.

[rebecca_herman]

6. Other

Have a medical exemption and I am glad for that. I think I'd make a bad juror.

[parasim]

8. Never served before, but was supposed to tomorrow.

But I just called the number for further instructions and they said I don't need to go in. I'm bummed, actually, because I never was summoned before and I was looking forward to it, kinda... Oh well.

It was funny to see this poll, as I just got off the phone with them.

[rgbecker]

9. Last time I served on a jury here's what happened:

The charge was trespassing against a guy who went to a bar and sat there quietly without ordering a drink or saying anything. The testimony indicated that he didn't try to start a fight or offend anyone, it was apparently just a case of the owner not liking the guy and wanting him out. He was a notorious street person, black and had a history of being a pain in the neck around the small town. The owner did everything right, calling the police, having the police tell the guy he had to leave as he was trespassing etc. and it seemed a open and shut case. We didn't buy it, I told the other jurors that I wasn't going to send a guy to jail for going into a public bar, that opened its door to the public, with a town issued liqueur license, with no published list of "offenders" (Drinking problems). The others agreed and we said not guilty. The judge and lawyers were clearly surprised but that was that. In the end, the jury has the say. Essentially a basic American constitutional right.

[ManiacJoe]

15. Just out of curiosity

What, if any, part of the decision took into account the fact that he was not a customer since he was not buying food or drink?

[tularetom]

10. The "random" jury selection system nailed me about 6 years in a row

While Mrs. tom who was not working outside the home at the time, and would have willingly served, never got called.

Because of my profession, I was excluded from all of the civil cases and all but one of the criminal cases I was called for.

It may be a pure coinlydink, but the jury notices stopped coming after I helped the jury commissioner pull his car out of a ditch.

[csziggy]

11. I got picked, they plead out the case so I only nominally served

But in the poll I voted that I would do everything to get out of doing it again. The local courthouse is NOT set up for people with handicaps and though I am still ambulatory, walking very much makes my knees hurt really, really bad.

Between walking from the handicapped parking (I got a temporary permit) to the one security entrance, the length of the building two or three times, standing and waiting, and the chairs in the jury room, I had to go on Vicodin for days after I served my half day. I doubt I could last one full day, must less a multi-day trial.

So the next time I get a notice, I am getting the doctor to sign the form to exempt me from serving.

[AndyA]

12. I was called for jury duty, but had just had surgery for a kidney stone.

I was under doctor's orders to drink lots of water to flush things out. As a result, I required frequent rest room breaks which I don't think the court would have been able to accommodate. I spoke to the people in charge, explained my situation, and they allowed me to go...reluctantly.

The whole process was a pain in the neck.

[Bucky]

13. It's called "duty" for a reason

Whether it's fun or not, you can't dodge this citizen responsibility if you expect to have a democracy with a fair court system. Without juries, courts are tools of oppression. We fought a war over that issue about 230 years ago. Supposedly, we won.

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. Served, but wouldn't want to be at the mercy of the pool I was in.

One woman wanted to know when we got to ask questions of the defendant and prosecution witnesses, another guy rambled on about how he got kicks blowing up his neighbors cats.

Other than that it was interesting.

[XOKCowboy]

19. Oh it was interesting all right.

Thank Buddha for voie dire. Some of the people in my pool were interesting to say the least. Since I'm a born people watcher I had a heyday. I couldn't help but thinking that if I ever did have a jury trial I wanted a lawyer who was damn good at screening jurors.

As for the question, it's my duty as a citizen in a free society. I'll go again willingly if I'm summoned.

[TheCowsCameHome]

20. Another time one of the poolers was a narrarator on a tourist train

and didn't shut up for two solid hours in a dinky waiting room while we waited to be called for the day's cases. Oy, my head still hurts.

[ManiacJoe]

16. Yes, willing to serve again. Maybe not "eagerly".

[Mike 03]

17. Thank you for your thoughtful, honest and insightful responses.

They mean a lot to me.

[tabbycat31]

18. i've served and would serve again

however I probably am disqualified from serving again. I'm a paralegal student (finishing in December) and I'm sure working in the legal field disqualifies jurors.

[Berry Cool]

25. Depends on your work.

I know of someone with a law degree (not currently practicing) who still had to spend nearly an entire week in the pool. Of course, they never sat him on a jury, but they made him bide his time in the pool for most of the week anyway.

[tabbycat31]

27. we'll see

I've still got 5 more courses to go, and i'm willing to take a job wherever the market lands me. I would not mind serving, as I view it as an important civic duty.

I would love to be called now (would not even mention all my courses) because I'm unemployed and need the $$$.

[jberryhill]

36. Oh hell no

I'm a practicing attorney and was selected for a jury last year.

It was excruciating, because (a) I wanted to raise objections which the plaintiff failed to make, and (b) there came a point at which I realized the judge must have goofed on summary judgment, because a required element of the cause of action was specifically denied by the plaintiff's expert witness.

It was annoying, but being a lawyer doesn't get you off.

[Thothmes]

21. 32 years at the same address and I have never been called

My wife on the otherhand has been called four times. She is blind and bed ridden. Each time have to run around in circles to get a medical exemption.

[Chisox08]

22. I was called twice

Both times I was never called into a court room. The first time I had to sit in the jury waiting room from 8am till about 5pm. The second time they let us go at noon. Needless to say I was bored out of my mind.

[Iggo]

23. Other.

I would LOVE to serve on a jury, but I'm a convicted felon and they won't let me (even though they call me to jury duty twice a year...lol.)

[MilesColtrane]

29. I get called regularly, but I've never made it past voir dire

I tend to hold a police officer to the same standards as I would any other human stranger when it comes to believing what they say.

[Retrograde]

38. I've never even gotten that far

I sat in the jury room for most of a day once. Another time I and someone who worked for me were both on the call list , and we had a fun five minutes speculating on what would happen if we both got called in at the same time, but the week passed without either of us having to go in.

Mr. Retrograde's been on a couple of juries, but not recently.

[bigwillq]

31. Called many times but never served (nt)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

33. I was thrilled ...........

The Commonwealth where I live automatically exempted attorneys from the jury pool.

Then they changed the law, and I got called. After a lifetime as a litigator, I was dying to see what actually went on during a jury deliberation.

But, as soon as I was asked what I did, I knew I'd be kicked.

I even knew the judge - we were old drinking buddies back when we were both starting out.

I got chosen. I couldn't believe it.

Then, my fellow jurors elected me foreperson, while I warned them that they were making a big mistake.

It was pretty shocking. Ten of the jurors didn't "like" the defendant - it was a simple assault case - and voted to convict. Two of us thought he hadn't met the legal standard.

So we started talking. And talking. And talking.

I had to keep bringing them back to Jury Instructions, that their personal experiences weren't at issue here, just what the judge had told them they could consider.

One woman didn't like tattoos. The defendant had lots of them. She said he was gulty.

We broke for lunch.

We went back and continued voting and talking. The votes started changing.

At one point, we went back into court and I advised the judge that we were hopelessly deadlocked. He advised us to go back and come out with a verdict.

I considered reminding him of the time he'd peed on a newly-dead Federal judge's grave - we all hated the guy, and it was late at night, and we were all drunk - but decided just to go back and deliberate some more.

Around 4:30, we were 8-4 in favor of acquittal. I told the holdouts that I was free to come back the next day, since I worked on my own schedule.

We got a unanimous verdict - not guilty.

Justice was served.

They hated me.

I told them, but no one listened..............................

[shanti]

34. rather not

i was on a murder trial a few years ago. the trial was three weeks long - it's not something i relish doing again.

[Rowdyboy]

35. Called 5 times, chosen once....felony drug possession....

I found the experience inspiring.