Jump to content

Jury duty


Guest
 Share

Recommended Posts

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

Unless you live in West Virginia.

While I'm sure that would probably work, and I might have thrown away summons or two, I don't want to perjure myself. :eek:

 

But seriously, jury duty is a big pain in the ass. It should be enough to say you don't want to do it to get out of it. It's like the draft in a way; you force someone to do something they don't want to do, and you will likely get mixed results. Besides, there are more than enough people who would love to do it for whatever reason!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Robin

I served on a jury for a trial involving a drug ring. The experience was enlightening regarding actual procedure vs fiction and sobering regarding being part of a life altering case for the defendant. We found the defendant guilty on all counts, and while this next part was not part of consideration in deliberations the defendant likely faced a hefty sentencing given his repeat offender status. The defendant made his choices, sewed his life as he did... but still I do sometimes think about him, his family and the part I played in their lives by being on that jury.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Day one in the books. Went through orientation, got called up to a courtroom, the guy took a deal while we were waiting in the hall.

 

Went to lunch, came back and started watching X-Men: Apocalypse, and then thirty minutes in, they let us go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today they're kindly showing a movie on the large projection screen and using the nice sound system.

 

Unfortunately, it's Batman v Superman. Guardians 2 on my laptop it is!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I liked parts of Batman v Superman

 

I would rather do jury duty than spend the first three hours of in service before school starts going over new school policies in the handbook. They had to add stuff about bathrooms which is ridiculous and there's always an arguer or questioner that spends 30 minutes asking "WHY?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Robin

During the jury selection process no one in my group even really looked at each other, keeping everything quiet and purely polite. While in the jury room we of course couldn't discuss the trial, so we had to either chat about ourselves and life in general or ignore each other, considering we couldn't know how long the trial was going to go we all decided to chat.

 

During one conversation Nightly's very own Driver was brought up by his real name and not by me. Rando-Guy, I don't recall his name but he was one of the younger jurors, brought up the new Texas Chainsaw film as we passed time talking about movies (this was a few weeks after Halloween btw). Rando-Guy humorously ranted about the idea of a new Leatherface film in much the same way I can about why Captain America is blonde or the character ages in NuTrek being impossible to be affected by Nero changing time.

 

I was initially torn over whether I should enter into this conversation, especially with how coincidental it was that I knew the writer that Rando-Guy was geekily concerned over. My need to defend Driver's honor, if you'll let me call it that, won out. I laid out how I knew Driver without being specific (I wasn't looking to have people find me online after all). Afterwards Rando-Guy was satisfied that Driver had the stuff to write a story for his beloved horror universe and I was unintentionally suddenly a star in the jury room. Every day afterwards I was asked some question about Hollywood, I'd reiterate I was just a geek with aspirations like many and/or any Average Joe who happened to know someone but never-the-less the "fame" persisted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hopefully it somehow doesn't happen.

 

Sat there for three days and then they sent us home today and said we're done. So back to work tomorrow having done nothing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am lucky in the financial aspect of civic duty in that being a Mr. Mom and my wife having ample paid leave allowed the juror compensation to be all gravy. Once I got the check I immediately spent it on a night out for the family paid for by money soley earned by Dad for once. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yay for Torch! I get paid jury duty leave, which is nice. And we're still allowed to get paid by the county as well, but only $15 a day. So I have to return $5 a day to the state.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.