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Got a summons yesterday. Never had to do it before, but it sounds like a lot of sitting around doing nothing for a week. Which sounds awful.

 

Anybody ever do it? What was your experience?

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I got summoned a few weeks after turning 18. I just told them I had to go to my high school classes yet. I've moved around far too often to get a summons since. I wonder if there are jury duty requests chasing me around the country. I wouldn't mind doing it, in the summer at least.

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First time I got jury duty I didn't realize you had to call before hand to see if your number was called. Went and they told me I could go home. I got a summons last September and had to go. Sat in the big room all day long. Never got called with any group. That was more frustrating then sitting there all day. .

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From what I've gathered, my county has everyone summoned go sit in a room all day for an entire week, and there's little chance of being called.

 

But on the plus side, I likely won't have to show up until later in the day, and I'll have the entire week off of work with pay

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Guest El Chalupacabra

I've received a few jury summons in the past, but I threw them in the garbage, and it's been over a decade since my last one. I have absolutely no desire to do jury duty, either. I think it would be a complete waste of my time to bother to show up, because no defense lawyer would ever agree to pick me, anyway:

1. college education

2. full time job that would be disruptive if I were out for more than a couple days

3. unmarried Caucasian male (statistically speaking, not typically desirable for juries)

4. former military

5. I have family members who were in law enforcement

6. I've had a truck stolen, my identity stolen, and have been a victim of violent crime

7. I doubt I could be sufficiently impartial. Though I consider myself a left-leaning centrist politically, when it comes to criminals and crime, I am pretty conservative. I sincerely believe in most cases someone charged with a crime usually IS guilty, and it is more about the degree of their culpability. Throw the book at them, especially if the crime is violent assault or sexually based!

 

If any defense attorney agreed to having me on the jury, and later lost and even if their client was Charles Manson, that attorney would deserve to be sued for malpractice.

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Got a summons yesterday. Never had to do it before, but it sounds like a lot of sitting around doing nothing for a week. Which sounds awful.

 

Anybody ever do it? What was your experience?

Ya, it's basically just a lot of sitting around. Bring a book, kindle, ipad, etc. Based on your posting history here though, I think you might actually enjoy it, if you get picked and it's an interesting case. The problem is, there's no way to know how far you'll make it (at least, in NY), so you end up feeling like you wasted a day if you don't get picked.

 

I've only done it once, and didn't make it past the first cut. As soon as they found out I was an attorney, I was dismissed pretty quickly. The last thing you want is another attorney on the jury, who is going to end up taking over the jury and explaining things to people and influencing them. Especially if your case is a little weak and you're hoping to rely on theatrics and people's biases.

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I've received a few jury summons in the past, but I threw them in the garbage, and it's been over a decade since my last one. I have absolutely no desire to do jury duty, either. I think it would be a complete waste of my time to bother to show up, because no defense lawyer would ever agree to pick me, anyway:

1. college education

2. full time job that would be disruptive if I were out for more than a couple days

3. unmarried Caucasian male (statistically speaking, not typically desirable for juries)

4. former military

5. I have family members who were in law enforcement

6. I've had a truck stolen, my identity stolen, and have been a victim of violent crime

7. I doubt I could be sufficiently impartial. Though I consider myself a left-leaning centrist politically, when it comes to criminals and crime, I am pretty conservative. I sincerely believe in most cases someone charged with a crime usually IS guilty, and it is more about the degree of their culpability. Throw the book at them, especially if the crime is violent assault or sexually based!

 

If any defense attorney agreed to having me on the jury, and later lost and even if their client was Charles Manson, that attorney would deserve to be sued for malpractice.

I could envision a scenario where a defense attorney would love to have you: a case where a police officer was being prosecuted for wrongful use of force, or something like that (e.g., Ferguson).

 

But yeah, otherwise, you're basically the first peremptory challenge that a defense attorney will use. On the flip side, in most cases you're basically the DA's perfect juror.

 

I think you'd also have a good chance of making it on a non-criminal case jury. So something like a lawsuit against a manufacturer for defective products, or a contract dispute, or real property dispute or something like that. A college-educated centrist with no strong political lean is basically the perfect person for these cases.

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Only time I served on a jury was when I lived in Atlanta in the early ninties. It was a jury trial for an old black man who's wife made him sign a receipt for a scam that she was running so he was the one that was caught for the crime. His wife went to a local Walmart and after shoplifting a few things and going out to her car where she was seen by an undercover detective who decided to watch her some more because she didn't drive away but came back inside the Walmart. She got a cart and went went to the kitchen electrics. She put a microwave in the cart and a few things from the electronics department like a boom box and some shoes and then collected her old man who was sitting on a bench waiting for her. They then went promptly to the return desk and she told the customer service lady that they'd just purchased this stuff a few days ago and don't need it any more. She got all in the face of the woman and was screachy (we watched the closed circuit recording of her acting like a fool) and finally the customer service lady relented to make this woman go away and she scanned it all and gave the lady cash. The lady then made her husband sign that receipt for the return. The undercover detective swooped in and arrested them both. She also had a ton of cigarette cartoons in her car when they searched it. But the case was based on the fact the husband signed the receipt and we all felt bad for the dude. Because clearly it was the lady who was the mastermind but in a way the dude deserved it for shacking up with a coniver. Now Walmart requests receipts for returns. Naturally.

 

Anyways. In Texas you get called once every 5 years and once you go in they take you off the list for 5 years. You only go one day unless you make it on a trial. They have free wi-fi and a nice cafeteria and you can get a lot of reading done. I used to bring my laptop and work on school stuff. They pay you six bucks for your day and validate your parking. Sometimes if there is not a lot of cases that are pending a jury trial you go in and wait about 2 hours and leave because your dismissed because the docket may be light because some defendents opt for the judge to decide instead of a jury of your peers. Some days you spend waiting to in a room. I have never seen it be a week here. I've been summoned only three times in the time I've lived in Texas. Usually my school will pay my day and I waive the 6 dollar payment to donate it to a court charity and take a court paper they give you when you go in to give to HR as proof I was there.

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I served on a jury once. Educational experience, really. A guy who had priors dealing marijuana, later lost his job due to injury, had later been busted for possession and intent to distribute. (Or whatever the legal jargon is.)

 

At the very beginning, there was a call for supporters of "jury nullification," and they were eliminated from the jury pool. I just started reading about it at the time, so I didn't have an opinion on it one way or the other. In this instance, jury nullification would have upset the entire applecart.

 

Second, mandatory minimums were immutable sentences. In the bust, a firearm was found in the home and that violated his parole, I think. So he was already guilty on one count.

 

Third, holy shit, do the police love a boogeyman. One witness went on about the specters of drugs to our society but didn't offer anything to contribute to the case. Actually, several officers of varying involvement and rank made similar appearances.

 

The defendant did have a large amount of marijuana, and he did have a severe injury, but after two days of deliberation, the only thing that tipped it to a guilty verdict were several scales and baggies.

 

So I came away with some appreciation for jury nullification, victimless crime, and the drug war.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

 

I've received a few jury summons in the past, but I threw them in the garbage, and it's been over a decade since my last one. I have absolutely no desire to do jury duty, either. I think it would be a complete waste of my time to bother to show up, because no defense lawyer would ever agree to pick me, anyway:

1. college education

2. full time job that would be disruptive if I were out for more than a couple days

3. unmarried Caucasian male (statistically speaking, not typically desirable for juries)

4. former military

5. I have family members who were in law enforcement

6. I've had a truck stolen, my identity stolen, and have been a victim of violent crime

7. I doubt I could be sufficiently impartial. Though I consider myself a left-leaning centrist politically, when it comes to criminals and crime, I am pretty conservative. I sincerely believe in most cases someone charged with a crime usually IS guilty, and it is more about the degree of their culpability. Throw the book at them, especially if the crime is violent assault or sexually based!

 

If any defense attorney agreed to having me on the jury, and later lost and even if their client was Charles Manson, that attorney would deserve to be sued for malpractice.

I could envision a scenario where a defense attorney would love to have you: a case where a police officer was being prosecuted for wrongful use of force, or something like that (e.g., Ferguson).

 

But yeah, otherwise, you're basically the first peremptory challenge that a defense attorney will use. On the flip side, in most cases you're basically the DA's perfect juror.

 

I think you'd also have a good chance of making it on a non-criminal case jury. So something like a lawsuit against a manufacturer for defective products, or a contract dispute, or real property dispute or something like that. A college-educated centrist with no strong political lean is basically the perfect person for these cases.

 

So, what are the magic words one has to utter to be disqualified from jury duty, because I don't have the time nor the desire to do it!

 

 

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Got a summons yesterday. Never had to do it before, but it sounds like a lot of sitting around doing nothing for a week. Which sounds awful.

 

Anybody ever do it? What was your experience?

Ya, it's basically just a lot of sitting around. Bring a book, kindle, ipad, etc. Based on your posting history here though, I think you might actually enjoy it, if you get picked and it's an interesting case. The problem is, there's no way to know how far you'll make it (at least, in NY), so you end up feeling like you wasted a day if you don't get picked.

 

I've only done it once, and didn't make it past the first cut. As soon as they found out I was an attorney, I was dismissed pretty quickly. The last thing you want is another attorney on the jury, who is going to end up taking over the jury and explaining things to people and influencing them. Especially if your case is a little weak and you're hoping to rely on theatrics and people's biases.

I really think that I will enjoy it if I actually get to sit on a jury. Otherwise, based on experience of friends and what the summons says, I'll just be sitting in a room twiddling my thumbs for a week. Definitely going to make sure I'm loaded up on entertainment.

 

I wish I was allowed to continue to work while I'm there, but the state policy (my employer) is that I can't.

 

I also wonder if my job history will work to disqualify me. I would imagine that I would be disqualified from anything involving auto accidents.

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I've received a few jury summons in the past, but I threw them in the garbage, and it's been over a decade since my last one. I have absolutely no desire to do jury duty, either. I think it would be a complete waste of my time to bother to show up, because no defense lawyer would ever agree to pick me, anyway:

1. college education

2. full time job that would be disruptive if I were out for more than a couple days

3. unmarried Caucasian male (statistically speaking, not typically desirable for juries)

4. former military

5. I have family members who were in law enforcement

6. I've had a truck stolen, my identity stolen, and have been a victim of violent crime

7. I doubt I could be sufficiently impartial. Though I consider myself a left-leaning centrist politically, when it comes to criminals and crime, I am pretty conservative. I sincerely believe in most cases someone charged with a crime usually IS guilty, and it is more about the degree of their culpability. Throw the book at them, especially if the crime is violent assault or sexually based!

 

If any defense attorney agreed to having me on the jury, and later lost and even if their client was Charles Manson, that attorney would deserve to be sued for malpractice.

I could envision a scenario where a defense attorney would love to have you: a case where a police officer was being prosecuted for wrongful use of force, or something like that (e.g., Ferguson).

 

But yeah, otherwise, you're basically the first peremptory challenge that a defense attorney will use. On the flip side, in most cases you're basically the DA's perfect juror.

 

I think you'd also have a good chance of making it on a non-criminal case jury. So something like a lawsuit against a manufacturer for defective products, or a contract dispute, or real property dispute or something like that. A college-educated centrist with no strong political lean is basically the perfect person for these cases.

So, what are the magic words one has to utter to be disqualified from jury duty, because I don't have the time nor the desire to do it!

 

 

Just mumble about the blacks and the Jews ruining America and you'll get released right quick.

 

Unless you live in West Virginia.

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Got a summons yesterday. Never had to do it before, but it sounds like a lot of sitting around doing nothing for a week. Which sounds awful.

 

Anybody ever do it? What was your experience?

Ya, it's basically just a lot of sitting around. Bring a book, kindle, ipad, etc. Based on your posting history here though, I think you might actually enjoy it, if you get picked and it's an interesting case. The problem is, there's no way to know how far you'll make it (at least, in NY), so you end up feeling like you wasted a day if you don't get picked.

 

I've only done it once, and didn't make it past the first cut. As soon as they found out I was an attorney, I was dismissed pretty quickly. The last thing you want is another attorney on the jury, who is going to end up taking over the jury and explaining things to people and influencing them. Especially if your case is a little weak and you're hoping to rely on theatrics and people's biases.

 

I really think that I will enjoy it if I actually get to sit on a jury. Otherwise, based on experience of friends and what the summons says, I'll just be sitting in a room twiddling my thumbs for a week. Definitely going to make sure I'm loaded up on entertainment.

 

I wish I was allowed to continue to work while I'm there, but the state policy (my employer) is that I can't.

 

I also wonder if my job history will work to disqualify me. I would imagine that I would be disqualified from anything involving auto accidents.

 

Well, I don't mean to pry, but you work(worked?) in something insurance-related, right?

 

Yeah, any sort of accident or personal injury type case, you'd probably be dismissed early. At least in my experience... the one time I got called up (this was in NY, but I imagine it's pretty similar everywhere), groups got called up from the main group. Our smaller group went into a separate room and we got assigned to a case. The attorneys then told us the very very basics of the case.

 

My case was some type of motorcycle accident... this was years and years ago, so the details are foggy... but I don't think the motorcycle rider was suing someone that collided with him... he was suing some other third party.. I think either the city itself, or maybe the motorcycle manufacturer, or something like that. Anyways, we went around and everyone said what their occupation was. One guy was a claims adjuster for some large insurance company- that guy was the first to be dismissed. I was the second.

 

I chatted with him a bit in the lobby afterwards- he said that he'd been called up for jury duty a few times, but every time it was an accident lawsuit of some sort and he kept being the first guy struck. He said it was pretty disappointing because he actually really wanted to do it and was looking forward to being on a jury... I told him that hopefully next time he got put on a criminal case.

 

So yeah, I'd say your prospects on those types of cases are low. On a criminal case- probably pretty decent, if your posting history is reflective of your actual personality. If you're a, for lack of better words, relatively 'normal' dude that's not retarded, has no super strong political lean or bias and seems pretty level headed/even keeled, you got a good shot of making it. Neither side is going to get their perfect jury, so they're gonna use their challenges on the people with obvious issues. They'll live with people that may not be their ideal, perfect juror (in terms of income, job, age, race, etc), as long as it's a relatively average guy that's not stupid and will at least stay awake for the entire thing.

 

Krawlie/Tank- along those lines (since you both stated you'd like to be on one someday), I think you both have a pretty decent shot, in all cases. Well except- for you tank, something involving the entertainment industry, especially if it had to with intellectual property or creative rights, loyalty payment disputes, etc. Jacob I don't know what you do, but ditto. Neither of you are too far outside the American average in terms of weirdness. I know you both are fairly left-leaning, but that wouldn't matter in like 90% of cases.

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I did insurance claims for six years. Did a little bit of everything - health, home, and auto. I switched to the regulatory side of things last month.

 

And my posting reflects my personality pretty well. I'm average in almost every way. I work in an office environment, have two kids, a dog, and a picket fence. I'm pretty moderate politically, and I don't have any strong biases.

 

I'm basically the living embodiment of a Norman Rockwell painting.

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I have never been picked to actually sit on a jury, but have been voir dired multiple times. First time was my very first time at 18. I remember the case, too. It was a couple suing a company because their child drowned on company property. I was sympathetic to the parents, but asked why was the child on the property? Their lawyer was like, adios.

 

Trust me, I know how that sounds. I was not heartless, or trying to be or trying to get out of it. I was genuinely sad for the parents. I guess I didn't come off as impartial.

 

I was actually summoned for duty on 07/06, but called the night before and heard a recording that I did not have to appear. Yay.

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I've been called into a room twice, and both times they picked a jury before I was ever questioned. I wouldn't have been surprised if I was dismissed in both of them, though, since both had issues with out the officer who made the arrest. I don't remember the details at all about the first one, but the more recent one was DUI related. I had a DUI more than a decade, and my grandfather was a police officer, and they dismissed similar people. But in general yeah, I think I have a pretty good shot in future call ups. I hope so, at least.

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If I hadn't had some meetings and housework that desperately needed doing this week, I would have been all for serving on a jury this week. The timing was almost as perfect as possible since my summer teaching ended last week. I guess it must have been a slow week for thing here, though. I am really grateful they told me I didn't need to bother appearing, though. That definitely made the week nicer.

 

I had previously been summoned two or three times in Florida after I moved away from there. I only found out because they kept mailing the summons to my parents. Each time, I had to keep telling them that I had moved out of the state a few years previously. The city, county, and state courts must not have communicated that information with each other. It seems, though, that they have finally gotten the message.

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I had jury duty myself in May. I've served four times, had only one case, but didn't get chosen because I knew the defendant. I have such great luck.

 

You can apply for a change of venue and get a closer courthouse, which you can usually take advantage of.

 

It's an awkward and uncomfortable experience, but it's not too painful. Just bring plenty of reading material and a tablet to entertain yourself.

 

They put you in a room with like 20 strangers. Don't expect tons of conversation, but if you sit near the right people it's a whole lot better. They usually give you a short video to watch. It's more of a pep talk about how great jury duty can be. After that, you have to entertain yourself. You basically sit in that room while cases are being resolved, with periodic updates on when you might get called in. Usually all of the day's cases get resolved without the need for a jury and you leave when they are done...with a full days pay. If you do have to serve, they walk you through the rest of the process.

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I sat on a criminal jury for a possession with intent to distribute case. The guy was obviously guilty, but his last trial has ended with a hung jury so my time around they barred most of the evidence from being presented. Add in a dumb girlfriend who submitted a sworn statement that all the drugs were hers, then recanted, then changed her mind again then testified very poorly and there was an abundance of reasonable doubt. Even though he was a career criminal and knew all the right things do do and say during the arrest, it almost seemed like the prosecutor wasn't trying to get a conviction.

 

This happened on day 4 of sitting in the room all day. I almost made it up to the jury selection in an earlier case, but the defendant took a plea deal just before we got on the elevator.

 

The worst part was the stupid people on the jury (one lady was high the whole two days of the trial) and the sleazy defense attorney who stopped looking at my half of the just box because of the annoyed/disgusted look I kept firmly on my face whenever he got near me. So skeezy. Oh, and the fact that they confiscated phones, books and all personal belongings when you went up to the court room, so you had to sit for hours in silence between witnesses and before going into the courtroom. It was a relief when we could finally start deliberating so we didn't have to stare awkwardly at the wall. Luckily I snuck my Kindle in so I could read.

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The worst part was the stupid people on the jury (one lady was high the whole two days of the trial)

My boss swears if I ever get called in, I'm going to wind up being foreman because of crap like this. He predicts 5 minutes before I lose my shit and just start running the show lol.

 

My boss knows me pretty well...

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