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Post by Alan Petersen on Apr 15, 2014 19:42:12 GMT -5
I received a Jury Summons, so I have to report in at the courthouse tomorrow afternoon. I've been living the states for over 20 years now, but this is the first time I've had to report to jury duty. I'm a little worried about getting on some long case that will interfere with my writing, but civil duty and all that, so we shall see how it goes. Maybe I can get some book ideas.  Anyone here been on jury duty? |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 15, 2014 23:21:57 GMT -5
Yep. One of the lawyers selected me to dismiss from the jury, which was awesome.
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Post by vrabinec on Apr 16, 2014 8:08:37 GMT -5
About 3 years ago, I was on a jury for a possession with intent to distribute case. Interesting case. I had a big hand in getting the intent to distribute acquitted, but I thought he should've been convicted for possession. But we were hung on that. It was a blast. Enjoyed every minute.
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Post by Daniel on Apr 16, 2014 8:38:25 GMT -5
In 20 years, I've been put on call three times. We had to phone in once a week, and most of the time, I didn't even had to go down to the courthouse. Once or twice out of each time on call, I did have to show up. During the first round, I wasn't selected from the lottery for voir dire. The second round, I was selected, but then I was eliminated from the pool because I knew the scumbag lawyer representing the defendant. The third round I was put on a jury, but the judge dismissed the case at noon.
I wouldn't worry too much about jury duty. You'll have many opportunities to bail out (so to speak).
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Post by cbedwards on Apr 16, 2014 9:31:36 GMT -5
They wouldn't even let me on the jury for a traffic ticket. But I tried, I tried.
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Post by Alan Petersen on Apr 16, 2014 12:48:36 GMT -5
I have to go in today at 1:45 PM. My understanding is that you check in then "hang out" until they call you for possible selection. I guess they have great WIFI so bringing my iPad and Kindle. Not looking forward to just sitting around and waiting, but we'll see. Our state senator just plead not guilty on corruption and other charges, that would be an interesting case. But doubt they're at the jury selection stage. www.sfgate.com/crime/article/In-Calif-Sen-Yee-case-Chow-and-others-plead-5404670.php |
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Jury Duty
Apr 16, 2014 13:37:19 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by vrabinec on Apr 16, 2014 13:37:19 GMT -5
That's the feds that nabbed him. It would be a grand jury you'd be going to. You're probably on a petit jury, which is the local boys. If it IS a grad jury you've been called to serve on, then you're almost guaranteed of getting something juicy. But it's waaay too soon to get his case. That's gonna be a year in the making.
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Post by Alan Petersen on Apr 16, 2014 19:51:40 GMT -5
That's the feds that nabbed him. It would be a grand jury you'd be going to. You're probably on a petit jury, which is the local boys. If it IS a grad jury you've been called to serve on, then you're almost guaranteed of getting something juicy. But it's waaay too soon to get his case. That's gonna be a year in the making. It's just a local trial not federal. It's a civil case not criminal, sounds boring. I filled out the juror questionnaire we were given and I have to go back on Tuesday to see if I get selected or dismissed. I'm hoping to get the boot. It's a four week trial. M-F from 9:30-4:30. That's a lot of time. We shall see. |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 16, 2014 22:05:08 GMT -5
Four weeks?? Oh man.  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2014 3:29:04 GMT -5
The last time I was on Jury Duty in San Francisco, it went like this-
About 100 of us were shuffled into a courtroom.
Judge- Who has a reason they want to get out of jury duty?
About half the room raises their hands.
Judge- Ok, listen up, I'm giving my civic responsibility speech now (does so). Who still wants to tell me why they can't be on a jury?
About a quarter of the room raises their hands. Nursing mothers, people with no child care, people with notes from their bosses...
Judge calls each one up to the front, listens to their reason and then tells them that they can come back at a better time, or serve now, take your pick. The only person who was completely released was an elderly Asian lady who spoke so little English that they had to bring an interpreter up to tell her she could go.
After he'd been through 6 or 7, we got to "that guy".
This young guy says, "I have a note from my boss. I work on commission selling cars, I can't afford to be on jury duty."
Judge- You can come back at your slow time of year when you're not selling anything anyway.
Guy- But that's not fair! I can't be on jury duty.
Judge- You can tell me which is your slowest month and come back then.
Guy- BUT I said, I can't afford to be on jury duty!
Judge- Can you afford to be in jail? If not, take this slip down to room such and such and leave my courtroom without another word. I don't even want to hear Thank You from you. Come back in October.
Amazingly, suddenly, there was no one else with a need to get out of jury duty! And the guy decided to shut his yap and escape with his slip.
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Post by Suzy on Apr 17, 2014 3:45:13 GMT -5
LOL! Hi Andre, and welcome! Happy to see you here!
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 17, 2014 9:34:30 GMT -5
Welcome, Andre! Heh, heh. Great story.
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Post by Alan Petersen on Apr 17, 2014 13:23:21 GMT -5
The last time I was on Jury Duty in San Francisco, it went like this- About 100 of us were shuffled into a courtroom. Judge- Who has a reason they want to get out of jury duty? About half the room raises their hands. Judge- Ok, listen up, I'm giving my civic responsibility speech now (does so). Who still wants to tell me why they can't be on a jury? About a quarter of the room raises their hands. Nursing mothers, people with no child care, people with notes from their bosses... Judge calls each one up to the front, listens to their reason and then tells them that they can come back at a better time, or serve now, take your pick. The only person who was completely released was an elderly Asian lady who spoke so little English that they had to bring an interpreter up to tell her she could go. After he'd been through 6 or 7, we got to "that guy". This young guy says, "I have a note from my boss. I work on commission selling cars, I can't afford to be on jury duty." Judge- You can come back at your slow time of year when you're not selling anything anyway. Guy- But that's not fair! I can't be on jury duty. Judge- You can tell me which is your slowest month and come back then. Guy- BUT I said, I can't afford to be on jury duty! Judge- Can you afford to be in jail? If not, take this slip down to room such and such and leave my courtroom without another word. I don't even want to hear Thank You from you. Come back in October. Amazingly, suddenly, there was no one else with a need to get out of jury duty! And the guy decided to shut his yap and escape with his slip. Things haven't changed much. About 100 of us sat in this big room inside the courthouse on McAllister St. They played a video on how great is to be a juror. Then the judge came out . She thanked us profusely for showing up to do our civic duty, which made me chuckle, the jury summons says we would get fined/might be jail time or both if we don't show up, which is probably why 99.9% of us were there. Then as you described they go through the "hardship deferral". The judge was adamant that you would have to really prove hardship to be dismissed, mostly she agrees to defer your jury duty to later. That is what happened to my wife, she couldn't risk being selected to serve on a three week trial due to her job since she didn't have time to make arrangements, so she the judge defer it to May. So now she has to go through the whole process again. The judge would then scrutinize your request, but yes even after all those warnings, I would say more than 50% raised their hand for the hardship request form. I went with the questionnaire to just get it done versus having to come back in a couple months. After we filled out the ten page questionnaire we could just drop it in a bin and leave, those with hardship forms had to sit there while the judge reviewed their request/excuse. |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 17, 2014 22:17:51 GMT -5
Things haven't changed much. About 100 of us sat in this big room inside the courthouse on McAllister St. They played a video on how great is to be a juror. Then the judge came out . She thanked us profusely for showing up to do our civic duty, which made me chuckle, the jury summons says we would get fined/might be jail time or both if we don't show up, which is probably why 99.9% of us were there. Then as you described they go through the "hardship deferral". The judge was adamant that you would have to really prove hardship to be dismissed, mostly she agrees to defer your jury duty to later. That is what happened to my wife, she couldn't risk being selected to serve on a three week trial due to her job since she didn't have time to make arrangements, so she the judge defer it to May. So now she has to go through the whole process again. The judge would then scrutinize your request, but yes even after all those warnings, I would say more than 50% raised their hand for the hardship request form. I went with the questionnaire to just get it done versus having to come back in a couple months. After we filled out the ten page questionnaire we could just drop it in a bin and leave, those with hardship forms had to sit there while the judge reviewed their request/excuse. It was much less painful doing it in Madison, WI. I showed up, sat in a room with the other recruits for 20 minutes, got called into the court as a potential juror with a bunch of other people, sat there for an hour as we all got questioned (mostly stuff like, "I'm the defendant's lawyer ... do you know me?"), got struck, was told no more jury trials were planned for that week, and I was done. |
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Post by Alan Petersen on Apr 22, 2014 17:16:13 GMT -5
Things haven't changed much. About 100 of us sat in this big room inside the courthouse on McAllister St. They played a video on how great is to be a juror. Then the judge came out . She thanked us profusely for showing up to do our civic duty, which made me chuckle, the jury summons says we would get fined/might be jail time or both if we don't show up, which is probably why 99.9% of us were there. Then as you described they go through the "hardship deferral". The judge was adamant that you would have to really prove hardship to be dismissed, mostly she agrees to defer your jury duty to later. That is what happened to my wife, she couldn't risk being selected to serve on a three week trial due to her job since she didn't have time to make arrangements, so she the judge defer it to May. So now she has to go through the whole process again. The judge would then scrutinize your request, but yes even after all those warnings, I would say more than 50% raised their hand for the hardship request form. I went with the questionnaire to just get it done versus having to come back in a couple months. After we filled out the ten page questionnaire we could just drop it in a bin and leave, those with hardship forms had to sit there while the judge reviewed their request/excuse. It was much less painful doing it in Madison, WI. I showed up, sat in a room with the other recruits for 20 minutes, got called into the court as a potential juror with a bunch of other people, sat there for an hour as we all got questioned (mostly stuff like, "I'm the defendant's lawyer ... do you know me?"), got struck, was told no more jury trials were planned for that week, and I was done. I had to go back in today, and we finally got to the stage you described. There were 46 of us that showed for this trial. 13 were sent home right away. Then they picked 24 people, I wasn't one of them - whew. But the rest of us had to sit and wait while they played juror musical chairs asking question after question dismissing people for this or that. We broke for lunch then went back at it. Then the lawyers (defense and plaintiff) could each dismiss six jurors without explanation. If they don't boot you only the judge can dismiss you. The judge got bent with a few jurors who tried to get out of it once they were one of the 24. She refused to dismiss one guy pleading that he had asthma (that's why we have three alternate jurors, the judge snapped back). He stayed. She got really bent at this woman who was picked as juror tried to claim hardship because she's self employed and won't make money during the 4-week trial. The judge was pissed she didn't claim hardship last week. She replied that she "gambled" she wouldn't be picked and lost. Boy, the judge did not like that answer. "You don't gamble with the courts time!" she rose her voice, then she refused to dismiss her instead referring her to come back in three months to start the whole process over - ouch. The woman left like a dog with their tail tucked in between their legs. As people get dismissed the crowd get thinner and thiner, I start getting nervous I would be called on. In the end they picked the 12 jurors and 3 alternates. The rest of us were thanked profusely for our service and time, and dismissed. We can't get called again for one year. I never got put in the box, so I was never directly asked questions. I was done by 2:00 PM. I must say the entire process was fascinating. It was like watching Law and Order as the lawyers picked the jurors, but I'm glad I wasn't picked since the trial is scheduled to last four weeks. The Plaintiff and defendant was there too, so it was weird to see them there separated by their lawyers. |
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Post by cbedwards on Apr 22, 2014 17:20:36 GMT -5
I try to treat those individuals and institutions with respect that have the ability to incarcerate me.
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Post by Alan Petersen on Apr 22, 2014 17:25:54 GMT -5
I try to treat those individuals and institutions with respect that have the ability to incarcerate me. Ditto. It's funny how the judged and lawyers thanked us for being there on several times, the juror summons states you face fines and/or jail for now showing up, it's not like it's voluntary. |
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Post by shawninmon on Apr 22, 2014 17:55:07 GMT -5
Man, I love being on Jury Duty. I was initially heading toward a law degree, but now that's the closest I can get. I've been called twice and only got on a jury once, but I loved every minute of it. I've never written a courtroom scene, but I have all the details memorized now, just in case!
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 22, 2014 19:17:14 GMT -5
Congrats on your positive experience, Alan -- all the fascination, none of the four weeks of trial.  |
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Post by vrabinec on Apr 22, 2014 19:30:33 GMT -5
Man, I love being on Jury Duty. I was initially heading toward a law degree, but now that's the closest I can get. I've been called twice and only got on a jury once, but I loved every minute of it. I've never written a courtroom scene, but I have all the details memorized now, just in case! Yeah, I loved mine. I even dressed in such a way as to increase my chances of getting picked. I wore a yellow shirt with pressed green slacks. I figured, if I wore something like blue slacks and a white shirt, that's too conservative, and I'd never get on. Dress a little liberal, but still have the short haircut that could be a conservative, and neither one will know for sure. Tailored my answers to get in, too. Don't tip your hand either way. Can't be too sympathetic to either side so that they both think they can convince you. They tried to make me jury foreman, but I didn't want the job. Worked out well. I thought we were fair. |
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