Jury Duty: My review

[kn51]

I have a relative who was a court reporter and she has heard some ROUGH stuff, especially related to children. Some of the reporters just give up on those cases and beg others to take the case for them eventually.

A while after my murder trial, I was called in again for a sex assault with a minor case. Now when they read the chargers for the murder trial there wasn't a peep. When they read the sex assault charges holy hell there was like an eruption through the crowd. Anyways I was booted out of the box during the selection. Apparently the defense attorney was not pleased with the back and forth we had. From the questions they were asking everyone I surmised that it was going to be basically a he said/she said case. Few days later I saw he wasn't convicted.

 

[IronWing]

I was on one jury for a drunk driving case. The police had done everything right and it was a slam dunk case for the truly incompetent prosecutor. The defendant’s life really sucked already but she was guilty as hell. The defense resorted to arguing that yes the defendant had been drinking like a fish but that she left the bar and would have made it home before the alcohol hit her blood stream if only the cop hadn’t stopped her.

The other times I got called, I got kicked out of the pool for various reasons. One case was an assault/robbery case and I made it through the entire question process. One of my coworkers had been shot three days earlier and I absolutely wanted off that jury so I asked to approach the bench and explained that I couldn’t concentrate on the proceedings due to the previous week’s festivities. The judge, prosecutor, and defense were like, “you’re out of here” and that was that.

 

[Captante]

A while after my murder trial

I assume you were acquitted?

 

[brianmanahan]

The defense resorted to arguing that yes the defendant had been drinking like a fish but that she left the bar and would have made it home before the alcohol hit her blood stream if only the cop hadn’t stopped her.

hypothetically innocent

the best kind of innocent

 

[Captante]

The defense resorted to arguing that yes the defendant had been drinking like a fish but that she left the bar and would have made it home before the alcohol hit her blood stream if only the cop hadn’t stopped her.

I can't imagine the Judge was one bit amused.

 

[Paratus]

Reasonable doubt is a pretty amazing subjective way to view the case.

If the relative had been a witness and corroborated her story -"She came to my home, upset, had been in fight, she said he struck her", etc it would have probably swung me on that charge.

Same with the interfering with a 911 call charge. If the police officer had testified the phone was on the floor or there was some evidence of a struggle.
Those would have been evidence that removed doubt from her story and added it to his.

On the emotional side, she came across as cold and he was crying on the stand about working 3 jobs and his side of the argument was trying to protect the child. He was a much more sympathetic witness than she was.

I still don't know why the prosecutor couldn't have provided some evidence of what happened. So in the abscence of evidence we had reasonable doubt.

 

[Torn Mind]

Must have been a pretty big assault case to make jury trial even an option.

Many acquittals happen even if the defendant likely did something in actual fact because witnesses' memory become faulty and the testimony do not line up.

 

[kn51]

I assume you were acquitted?

Walked into that one.

He was eighteen years old....got sixty years. Ten years from now he'll be eligible for parole. Prime years of his life...poof...spent in the big house for doing something insanely stupid.

 

[highland145]

Walked into that one.

He was eighteen years old....got sixty years. Ten years from now he'll be eligible for parole. Prime years of his life...poof...spent in the big house for doing something insanely stupid.

Guess that was worse than "Hold my beer."

 

[Exterous]

I heard from a coworker who had to serve that they are calling all the really bad cases around here now. Basically since they are back in person they're getting all the truly horrible cases through. They ended up deeply affected by what they saw

 

[Captante]

I heard from a coworker who had to serve that they are calling all the really bad cases around here now. Basically since they are back in person they're getting all the truly horrible cases through. They ended up deeply affected by what they saw

Not surprised ... all the courts are still majorly back-logged around here.

Unfortunately/fortunately I'm so cynical at this point that virtually nothing one human being does to another will shock me more than momentarily.

Any terrible thing you can imagine (and at least a few you can't!) has not only been done already, its been done multiple times.

 

[Torn Mind]

I can't imagine the Judge was one bit amused.

More like "you gotta do what you gotta do"

Judges are usually lawyers in their previous lives. Thus, they know the field(and all the scum that comes with it, and they might be scummy themselves)

 

[uclaLabrat]

I had a few lawyer friends (one is a public defender). They said the easiest way to get kicked off is to say you are a scientist. They absolutely do not want a juror who uses facts. They want someone they can persuade. They'll only take you if they must (i.e. they already booted off anyone of the race that might be sympathetic to the opposition party and ran out of people to veto).

I got nailed for jury duty and ended up as a foreman after I told them I was a scientist...I want a mulligan.

 

[local]

I was on a jury trial to have someone committed by the state against their will. They could only be committed for 6 months at a time and had to have another trial every time. Both the prosecution and defense were atrocious but in the end we used to testimony of the state Dr to continue having him committed. It was cumbersome and weakened my faith in the judicial system.

After that I was on the county grand jury and that was awesome. I really enjoyed seeing the back end of trials and felt good about the few cases we no-billed, especially one the DA wanted us to go after but his only evidence was that they knew the people. We had a couple murders and one big one involving a police officer being shot. However the most entertaining part was how one or two locations, usually motels, were the source of the majority of cases and how some names just kept showing up month after month. So much meth.

 

[Captante]

I was on a jury trial to have someone committed by the state against their will. They could only be committed for 6 months at a time and had to have another trial every time. Both the prosecution and defense were atrocious but in the end we used to testimony of the state Dr to continue having him committed. It was cumbersome and weakened my faith in the judicial system.

After that I was on the county grand jury and that was awesome. I really enjoyed seeing the back end of trials and felt good about the few cases we no-billed, especially one the DA wanted us to go after but his only evidence was that they knew the people. We had a couple murders and one big one involving a police officer being shot. However the most entertaining part was how one or two locations, usually motels, were the source of the majority of cases and how some names just kept showing up month after month. So much meth.

You have "faith" in the US Judicial system?

 

[MtnMan]

I have received 4 jury summons total in my life. Two were superior court, called night before and didn't have to report. Third summons, I played the age card, if over 70 I could request removal from this and any further jury pools., which I did. I was actually 69 at the time, but the date was after my 70th birthday.

One was for Federal Court. Wow, that would have been a total PIA. Pages and pages of restrictions about zero electronic devices, and other rules. 8 to 5 for a week, and may never even be seated, but obligated to be there 5 days.

For some travel, and travel time could have been could have been even bigger PIA. The federal court covers the entire western of the state, and potential jurors could be looking at up to 5 hours travel round trip. Only compensation would be a per mile reimbursement.

Fortunately the call the night before and didn't have to report.

 

[MtnMan]

Of course, you could just run to the store and find yourself on a jury that afternoon.

This happened here, where a judge sent deputies to the mall to 'find' more potential jurors, as they were running low. Couldn't find the article for the local one, but this article is for a town about an hour away.

When the Jury Box Runs Low, Deputies Head for Wal-Mart - WSJ

www.wsj.com

 

[local]

You have "faith" in the US Judicial system?

More than none, otherwise vigilantism rules. It helps that I have never actually had to relay on it for anything up to now.

We did need it to work a couple weeks ago but karma took care of that for us apparently. Some asshat assaulted us and immediately upon making bail killed himself in a car wreck.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Been a long time since I watched it. It does have Pauly Shore, but on the other hand, doesn't it have Tia Carrere?

 

[darkswordsman17]

I was on one jury for a drunk driving case. The police had done everything right and it was a slam dunk case for the truly incompetent prosecutor. The defendant’s life really sucked already but she was guilty as hell. The defense resorted to arguing that yes the defendant had been drinking like a fish but that she left the bar and would have made it home before the alcohol hit her blood stream if only the cop hadn’t stopped her.

The other times I got called, I got kicked out of the pool for various reasons. One case was an assault/robbery case and I made it through the entire question process. One of my coworkers had been shot three days earlier and I absolutely wanted off that jury so I asked to approach the bench and explained that I couldn’t concentrate on the proceedings due to the previous week’s festivities. The judge, prosecutor, and defense were like, “you’re out of here” and that was that.

Sorry to be crass but:

 

[darkswordsman17]

You have "faith" in the US Judicial system?

Sometimes it catches you in the bathroom trying to pickup a dude and sometimes it doesn't. Point being you gotta have:

 

[Captante]

It helps that I have never actually had to relay on it for anything up to now.

We did need it to work a couple weeks ago but karma took care of that for us apparently. Some asshat assaulted us and immediately upon making bail killed himself in a car wreck.

That explains it!

Sucks that some nut-case attacked you & glad you're (apparently?) okay!


I sincerely hope you never have to find out personally how little faith our LEGAL *(NOT justice) system really rates.