jury service

Well, have you gone to voir dire yet? That's the jury selection process. Are you actually on the jury, or are you just going to be questioned for suitability.

 

We dont have jury duty, because we dont have juries and I'm glad we dont.

 

I got called up for it, got out since I was about to move to Ireland :lol:

 

My mom decided to go on vacation during the period she was on call for jury duty (and what do you know happened). A police officer deliver a summons to our house, but she managed to get out of it somehow... lol

 

I did and I actually enjoyed. But I'm weird like that. I made more sitting on a jury than I did at my part-time minimum wage job.

 

I've "gotten the card" six times. I've had to show up for selection four times. I was picked twice...but only sat once. The other time, we were literally walking into the courtroom when the lawyers announced they had struck a plea bargain.

How was the one jury I sat on? Boring as hell. It was two suburbanite neighbors who hated each other, and so decided to fight through the court system over and over. This particular charge was "criminal trespassing" - one was overwatering the lawn, causing water to go into the other's basement, and so she went over to try to turn it off. Seriously - this went to jury trial. A waste of everybody's time. We found "not guilty", but added a thing suggesting both parties move.

Lex

 

Yep! This past December. I went and was picked for a jury. The thing took two and a half weeks. I didn't really have much to say... I was the youngest there by at least ten years and most of them were on juries before, so they were "experts" on the whole thing. I was happy to let them take the lead. I did make friends with one of the other jury members though. She was a professor who taught art at one of the local universities.

I didn't think it was fun though. The whole case was brutal and I didn't like sitting through any of it.

 

I got called once and got to sit on the jury. I was a bit nervous being thrown in a room full of strangers not knowing how anyone would feel. Somehow I ended up leading the jury in the discussion of the case.

I found it to be a very educating experience, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity. It really helped me see things from the perspective of a jurist, which now informs my opinion about high profile cases in the media. You have to separate your personal feelings from things and focus on the facts and evidence. Even if you return a verdict that you feel probably should have went differently if you were following your gut, it's important not to blame yourself. You did your job. It is the prosecutors job to prove guilt hence "innocent until PROVEN guilty".

 

No... but I've been called as a witness in several global financial crime cases (it comes with the job).

 

I've had the letter four times. I had to go once for jury selection. They always let me go because I can't stand up to sit in the jury box.