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Jury duty was one of the most powerful/rewarding experiences of my life

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I was recently summoned for the second time in 3 years. I claimed that it would've been a financial hardship because the judge and parties estimated that it would take at least 5-6 weeks and I can't go that long without pay and I'd end up broke. It was a criminal case which was very interesting and I was kind of bummed out I wouldn't be able to serve.

Funny enough my sister got her jury summons the day after I received mine and was supposed to go the week after me. She got out of it because she doesn't live in the city and goes to school full time.
 
I hadn't seen my brother want to punch someone in the face so bad until he got that jury duty letter. It got even worse when the judge held the jury choosing over the course of two days, when it was written into law that the jury choosing had to be made that day. Pretty much threatened with fines if he didn't show up that second day. I hope to never see the day I have to waste my time on something as bullshit as jury duty.

I'd hope to get something meaningful tho
 
I had jury duty for a car accident case once too. It was.... awful. Like a boring TV show at times, but a really really awful boring TV show. There was even a chiropractor brought up to testify who wound up having to retell the story of an affair he'd had with a patient (neither of the people involved in the case) at one point. It had nothing to do with the case. Looking back, I have no idea why it came up at all.

The judge came to us after deliberating and apologized that we'd had to see the worst of the justice system. She literally said "I'm usually excited for citizens to come in and see how the system works, but this was just awful. I'm sorry to have put you through it".
 
I did it as a young man and it was a very rewarding experience. I see it as a pinnacle of modern civilization. When done right, and in its purest form, it's what separates us from savages.

I was a punk kid with bright pink hair in a Sonic Youth T-shirt, but I was smart and thoughtful and I took it seriously.
 
I actually had it last month. Sat around for about two hours then they let us go because they didnÂ’t have any cases that day. So IÂ’m good for another year!
 
I went through Jury Duty last year. It was interesting.

I was on a GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm) case. One guy claiming self-defense with a deadly weapon. Two victims. All three stories were completely inconsistent. The Police had lost medical reports on the victims, so no one could claim if the injuries weren't self-inflicted.

The guy had three charges against him.

1. Charge of holding a deadly weapon.

2x charges of GBH.

The case was essentially decided on whether we could define his actions as self-defense. When I went into the Jury Room on day one it was open and shut. The guy was guilty of all three charges. Then through debate and discussion we found him innocent of two and undecided on one.

The thing that stuck with me the most was past history of the victims and assailant. How much people let that factor into this. For some reason the defense and prosecution had agreed to talk about the individuals history. One of the victims had a history of armed robbery and that changed the mind of so many people in the Jury. I even brought up the fact he had never actually been charged with assault. That was what really decided it. Really changed how I looked myself. How much stuff from my past could be used against me. Scary.
 
Try being the cop on the stand during a jury trial. It feels like the whole panel is just staring into your soul while you testify. Its really unnerving.
 
I did jury duty in the UK a few years ago and found it pretty interesting. Wasn't waiting around *too* much - was on a case by the first day's afternoon, did that case for five days, was not required for the second week - and it was interesting to see the process. The case was an unpleasant one with quite a lot of detail (although, frustratingly, not a lot of direct evidence) so it made discussions fairly in-depth about what we regarded as reasonable doubt.

If I were to be called again, I wouldn't try to dodge it.

Phisheep recommended this book to me, and I'd pass that recommendation on; it's excellent, and gave me one big tip - bring sweets. It's a great icebreaker, and you're going to have to work with these eleven people for a while!

T Dollarz said:
In the end, after three days of obscene amounts of coffee, copious debate, and inherent social bondage, we came to a consensus at about 5pm. We walked back into the courtroom to give our verdict, and as the judge read it, I was looking over at the defense, and the one lawyer when he heard we marked it 50/50 showed the biggest smile of surprise, filled with glee patting his client on the shoulder. That moment almost moved me to tears, honestly. I suppose it wouldn't hit home without knowing the details of the case, but for all of us it was a special time.
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Yeah, I was surprised at how affecting that was. It brought home the importance of delivering the right verdict.
 
I've been called a couple of times but never selected. That was a relief as I'm the sole earner in my house and it effectively could have ruined us financially if it was a long case.

I'm glad OP had a good case but I think he was lucky. A close friend of mine had to spend three months on a case of a father who raped his children. Proceedings were held in camera so he couldn't talk about it with anyone the entire time, not even his wife. It fucked him up, his only consolation was in finding the father guilty on all charges.

A guy I work with is currently going through something similar, he can't discuss specifics but he said a couple of female jurors this week cried out with horror and proceedings had to be temporarily held up so people could compose themselves after some of the sickening images and stuff they had to endure. Even outside of the financial implications, it can take a horrible mental toll on people.
 
Surface of Me said:
Cant jurors be kicked out for such tactics?
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Though I'm far from an expert, from what I understand, they throw the whole jury out and retry the process rather than remove a single juror after a couple of days.

Now, to further color the debate, the majority portion of this case involved a car chase, more specifically one in which the police officers in question claimed to have seen (at high speeds, on foot, at night, in the snow, driving at them) to have seen the defendant driving the car they spotted. Now, most would've claimed this feat nearly impossible (as they should have), but the lone juror in defiance failed to disclose early on that she had been involved in a high speed chase (involving her following one of her stolen cars) and we spent days showcasing to her why her belief that she could positively identify the driver of that (her) car was wrong. But she refused to believe based on her own "experience", which should have disqualified her in the first place.

On a side note, one of my favorite lines from my jury duty was from the police officer, who despite being driven at by the car in question, at night, in a snowstorm, said and I quote, "Ma'am, I'm six foot two. I can see over the headlights." In response to the question, "Officer, are you aware light pollution corrupts a person's ability to see correctly in the dark and more specifically, are you aware that in moments of haste make people make snap judgements that they can't be certain of?" The guy threw all his credibility out the window.
 
Glad you enjoyed it, the system needs people that do.

I'm just selfish and hated sitting around for 6 hours with no phone and hoping I could go. Getting $12 a day or whatever and missing work is awful.
 
I just found out that you can be instantly excused if you live outside of the city you are called to. I plan to do this next time I get a letter.
 
RecRoulette said:
Three days for that?
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i served as part of a jury for a case that lasted seven days for a dui because a guy rolled through a stop sign. although that includes everything from selection to reading the verdict.

the defense was all over the place. really reminded me of saul goodman, and made a few poor arguments. the prosecutor was very well-composed and clearly had gone through this game before.

in the end, we decided that based on lack of evidence, and also details from the officer's testimony, that there was reasonable doubt that the defendant had the illegal amount of alcohol in his blood at the time of the stop. we found him not guilty, which i think shocked the prosecutor and the defense (i think the defense attorney thought he had a losing case which is why he was trying to through everything against the wall and seeing what stuck).
 
I've always had lots of questions about this.What if the case is really long? Some cases can stretch more than years, is there a max limit on how long a juror is required to take part in a case? Are employers required to compensate jurors for days they cant come in to work?
 
I did my jury duty back in the late 90s, it was harrowing and horrifying. A young lad of 15 was murdered by a group of youths a bit older than him, they beat him and stabbed him 60 times. What made it far worse for me was my personal involvement in the location and surroundings, it was near my footy teams ground and the 5 youths all supported my team and the young victim our main rivals, when i saw the blood soaked jerseys of my team they had worn that awful night it broke my heart. I asked to be excused and i told them the situation, they said my knowledge of the area and rivalry meant i was ideal. It was the worst two weeks of my life, made worse when three months later i was attacked in the pub near the location by a family member of the guilty ringleader. however swift revenge was taken, not by me as i abhor violence of any sort, and at least i am excused from future jury duty in any form. I still get the odd bad dream over all this but in the end justice was done, and the ringleader will likely never see freedom again.
 
catmincer said:
I have never done it but i really want to.
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Same, I've only been questioned by attorneys once and was dismissed without cause, probably was not considered a great demographic fit for a case against an East LA gang-banger up on weapons possession charge. That was in ten years of living in Los Angeles.

I've been in Maine now for almost eight years and never got one summons, it's sad. I could afford multiple months at trial, really. Once I'm semi-retired in a few years I'm planning on signing up for grand jury.
 
Good for you, OP. This thread is full of bums who cry over their civil duty. I hope they are innocent for something but get prosecuted at a jury trial. Let's see whether they want a jury with their crappy attitude to hear their case.
 
I had a very similar experience to OP. I thought it was very rewarding as well, and I would do it again, but I wouldn't look forward at all to serving on a grand jury.

I should add that my company paid my full salary during the week I was out, for basically working 4-6 hour days.
 
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Nothing quite like getting a case on a baby killed via a drugy parent to make your week.

Na i never want jury duty.
 
The first time I went for jury duty was actually pretty interesting tbh even though I didn't get selected. The case was murder, though the person was pleading for manslaughter. The person being convicted was a stalker, found out the person they were stalking got into a relationship and decided to drive for a 4 hours to beat them to death. The witness list was insane, it took them around an hour to rattle the witnesses names, occupations and how they related to the case. They even flew in people from overseas for it. It ended up taking them 6 weeks to resolve everything.

Even though I pretty much ended up sitting around for 5-6 hours it was still cool to see it all, granted we do get paid for it here. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
 
I'd be one of those 4, and then I'd come make a thread like "Jury duty is boring af"

Glad you enjoyed it OP
 
Really interesting read.

European here, we don't have jury trials in my country, and tbh having court cases be decided by people without any legal training feels pretty alien to me. Don't know if I'd have the trust in a jury to make the right decision. But I totally get what you're saying about it as an experience
 
I was called to Jury Duty years ago and it was a shambles. I think i was there two days before being called and they didn't choose me. Then the next day i was chosen but the surname of the defendant was the same as a friend of mine and is very unusual so they didn't choose me. The third day nothing happened at all.

When I finally sat on the jury it became quickly apparent that the case was obviously one of a score of tiny charges the police were piling on the defendant to make him sweat. Their expert witness contradicted the Police statements, the officer they sent as their witness had been put on the case that morning, every hour we had a 15 minute break as they discussed points of law or aspects of the case relating to other charges that we weren't to know about which disrupted the process massively. When they passed the evidence around it was a tiny baggie with literally a grain of hash the size of one of those "millions" candy sweets we get in the UK and then 4 days later the case was dropped and we were back in circulation waiting. Nothing turned up so i think they let us all go a day or so later.

I'm happy to do my civic duty but damn it was like a Mr Bean sketch. One of the cases i wasn't chosen for was quite harrowing and went on for 6 weeks apparently. I'm honestly glad i wasn't on that one though. I'm not sure everyone in the Jury was paying proper attention either. Scary stuff for such a position of responsibility.
 
Surface of Me said:
Cant jurors be kicked out for such tactics?
Click to expand...

No. That's the whole point. There must be a consensus to convict or exonerate, otherwise there is reasonable doubt. You get a hung jury which is a mistrial and a new jury is called to run through it again. I think after a number of hung juries double jeopardy kicks in, not sure about that though.


One way to make jury trials better would be to pass a law that forces employers to pay time and a half for their employees on jury duty. That way people aren't just rushing to a verdict so they can get back to work.


I doubt that I'd ever make it onto a jury because I am an atheist communist who distrusts cops, doesn't believe in our justice system, and will never convict anyone for drug offenses or the death penalty. Luckily I am salaried so I wouldn't lose out on pay if I was chosen.
 
My first case was about 2 months ago. It was a murder case but presumably it was going to take a whole month because there were a lot of witnesses involved and cops. My job wouldn't pay me jury duty and I can't live off $40 a day for a whole month, so I had to find a way to drop out.

I really wanted to do it, though. It was a really interesting case and I knew I was going to get selected.
 
I've never been appointed to a jury before, but have been called for jury duty twice.

Most recently, I was called for federal jury duty during the Boston Marathon bombing trial (I'm a MA native). It was an intense experience. Having watched the marathon on TV, seen the explosions, watched the manhunt - to be in the same room, twenty feet away from the now-convicted perpetrator was something else entirely.

Although I did not end up on the jury, that experience alone and the gravity of the situation which those jurors had to deal with makes me respect the process.
 
T Dollarz said:
We walked back into the courtroom to give our verdict, and as the judge read it, I was looking over at the defense, and the one lawyer when he heard we marked it 50/50 showed the biggest smile of surprise, filled with glee patting his client on the shoulder. That moment almost moved me to tears, honestly. I suppose it wouldn't hit home without knowing the details of the case, but for all of us it was a special time.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a scene from Pheonix Wright.
 
Had to show up for jury duty twice, both times I got out after hours of sitting. I have a friend and a her dad who both love being called for it. I'll let them have all the glory, no problem going home here.
 
I did jury duty once ages ago on a case that involved speeding and drug possession (pot and amphetamines). They pretty much had him dead to rights on the speeding, and I wouldn't have leaned towards voting guilty on the pot possession, but he basically confessed straight away to the cop that yeah, it was his.

They screwed up on the amphetamine charge, though, and couldn't get beyond reasonable doubt--I don't remember how after so long, but the point is that they couldn't prove it was actually the defendant's, so most of us were prepared to vote not guilty on that one charge.

We had two holdouts, though. They were both older people who wanted to vote guilty on the charge. Their legal reasoning? "I don't like drugs." The rest of us spent probably an hour and a half trying to get them to realize that no, you can't convict somebody on those grounds. It was frustrating.
 
I've received notice of possibly having to serve a few different times, but I call the night before and they've never needed me to come in. I would like to try it at least once.

My mom was selected for a federal grand jury and had to go every other Wednesday for 18 months. That sounds less appealing.
 
Bboy AJ said:
Good for you, OP. This thread is full of bums who cry over their civil duty. I hope they are innocent for something but get prosecuted at a jury trial. Let's see whether they want a jury with their crappy attitude to hear their case.
Click to expand...

People who complain about racist/sexist juries but then do anything they can to get out of duty amaze me.

I got called twice, the first time we had a tropical storm coming so they cancelled court, the second time it was a couple who lived together for 3 years and were splitting up. The woman in the case was claiming they were "married", so she wanted compensation. The man wasn't having it so they were in court. They settled in the courtroom before selection was done.
 
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