Jury duty anyone?

[boattail]

Anyone do your duty lately?
I just finished a long one. For years I have been called but never even made it to the box for questioning. I was dismissed because of my law enforcement job many many times. I had always wanted to be part of jury service to see the process. This time around I was in group one and seated number nine. I made it through five days of questioning as they filled, emptied, and refilled seats. The selection took a span of two weeks to get done. We ended up with a good panel of people and a bunch of horrid folks were thankfully dismissed. Both sides recognized the trouble makers and booted them quickly.

We all sat through five days of testimony as the case was unfolded for us. This stretched over another two and a half weeks. We were given a very short window to deliberate at the end of the testimony then had to take a four day break and resume in week five.

It was interesting to eventually find out that the defendant had major priors that were kept from us. The case was murder with more twists and turns than the coastal highway. In a nutshell the victim was accused on Facebook of molesting children. A guy working for him found out and confronted him. Things went south and the guy beat the victim to a pulp, waited for him to regain consciousness, and beat him to a pulp again then walked away. Broken face, jaw, 8 ribs, bruised heart, traumatic brain injury...and on and on. Guy is found before he dies and taken to the hospital. Ten days later the family of the victim pull the plug on him.

Other than the guys bloody boots and some statements from witnesses there was no hard evidence. All the rest was circumstantial. The first day deliberating nine of twelve were ready to vote and three were iffy. We hammered out things before we were sent home. The four day wait was enough time for the other three to decide his fate. We got to pick from Murder one, Murder two, Voluntary manslaughter, and Involuntary manslaughter. There was also a special enhancement for the beating being so violent.

We took Murder one off the table the first day of deliberation as the facts were not there for it. We also included Involuntary manslaughter as a guilty if we got that far. Voluntary did not fit so all that was left was Murder two. We had instructions that we all had to agree before we could move on to the next lower charge. We all agreed not guilty on murder one and we all agreed guilty on two plus we allowed the special enhancement to stick.

Very interesting process that I am glad I did but I don't want to go through that again for a while. So stressful!!!. We had to pick a foreman and since I was the person that was in my seat the longest I asked if anyone wanted to be the foreman....nobody raised a hand. To move things along I volunteered and nobody objected. I at least was able to have some control over the group but I let everyone participate and was not any more or less vocal than anyone else. I was just the guy that signed the papers and spoke at the end of the trial. Met eleven really great folks from all walks of life and made a couple friends while we were there.

Funny side story, my wife brought me lunch one day and she calls me and asked where I was. I told her in my car. She said, no, I'm parked by your car and you are not here. I told her I was sitting in my car...this went back and forth until I told her to drive around until she found me. Turns out the juror next to me, Gary, owns the exact same car. The wife finally found me and later Gary told me a nice lady tried to give him lunch

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[L84Cabo]

Try as I may, I have been on three juries. I pray that I never have to rely on, " a jury of my peers." Most of these people are most definitely not my peers. And some of them scare the hell out of me, quite frankly. Like how have you managed to make it this far in life when you clearly don't have two brain cells to rub together.

The last trial I was on was a pedophilia case. It sucked. But we weren't actually deciding whether the dude was innocent or guilty. He had already been tried and convicted multiple times and had been a ward of the state for several years, and was petitioning for release. I'm still not quite clear on why this gets decided by a jury but it did.

At any rate, we didn't just get to hear about one of his transgressions, we got to hear about all of them. And it was our job to determine whether he should remain a ward of the state or get released. After a couple days of deliberation we ended up in a hung jury. 10 people wanted to keep him incarcerated and two didn't...and actually, two weren't really sure. My take on it was that they just didn't have the intestinal fortitude to make this type of decision for/against another human being. Bad jury selection on the part of the State's lawyer.

 

[chukar]

Did it once. Small town so I only got one trial. I was not expecting to be selected.

Dude was guilty as all heck, prosecution did not make their case.

 

[boattail]

I had heard the horror stories with bad jurors from my wife's time in a trial where one juror sided with the defendant because she was of the same race and she drove around drunk too so it was okay. We had three that had a hard time personally making the decision. Luckily they took heed to the judges instruction to follow the law. That alone was the only reason they switched to guilty.

I was worried the prosecution was going to blow the case as well. The whole thing sounded like a blundering circus. Officer after officer testified and it all went like this....officer how long had you been employed in this field at the time of the incident? "less than a year". Officer what did you find while you were at the scene? "nothing". There were only two people that added any substance to the prosecution and the rest could have just not testified as it wasted days just listening to them say nothing. .

We had days where we had three hour lunch breaks, days where we waited long periods on breaks, and one day where we were there for less than fifteen minutes before being sent home for the day. The judge read us instructions and then gave us written copies and they were different, different in a very important way. We were taking bets on how late each break would go it was so bad. A lot of evidence was withheld from us and I lost count how many times council approached the bench to discuss what could or couldn't be said to us. Even some Standard jury instructions were lined out and we were told not to consider those parts.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I've been on Jury Duty twice...I would do so again as I view it as part of my civic duty.

With that said...
It is also not a duty to take lightly , since people's lives , future and the like rest upon your decisions.

And with that all said...
Having seen some of my so-called peers in action as well as their reasoning ability ...
Has me taking the old over used phrase :
Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6 with a huge salt shaker.
Andy

 

[Certaindeaf]

Facebook is the devil!

 

[boattail]

Facebook is the devil!

Agreed. I don't use it or any of the others. The Facebook group in this case was created to be a place where the town folk could let others know about crime, drug use, homeless, and other issues in the community. The area is remote and the sheriff has not been keeping a lid on things very well.

Someone posted up an allegation that this guy molested kids and other drug use issues. Our guy hears about it decides to take it upon himself to seek justice.

My only encounter with Facebook was a gal that I had not seen since high school (40 years ago) ran into me and we were talking a bit and I was trying to explain 40 years in a few minutes. She totally took what I said out of context and decided to post it up on Facebook. A day later I'm getting phone calls asking me what the heck is going on. The gal ended up removing the post because so many comments blew her up. The next time I ran into her I made eye contact and shook my head "no" and walked the other direction.

I never understood people that had to puke their whole days worth of activity out and make up big stories other than for attention.

 

[Alexx1401]

I go when called, not yet ended up on one. I too find it scary as hell who they have to choose from. Last time some scum who was guilty. During one break I hear this kook telling another "my job is just to find this guy guilty" Conversation with the other juror went on like this for a few. I went to the woman who we were supposed to speak to if we had concerns. She tried to blow me off till I finally button holed her and said I am now going to speak up to the Judge. This PISSED her off but soon I was called in alone before the Judge and D/A and Defense. I told the Judge what I had heard this woman saying and her juror number. Judge asked me if I thought she was joking. I said it did not sound like it to me and that even if she was it was about as funny as making a bomb joke at the airport. Judge thanks me and sends me back. They call this woman up and take her number and send her on her way. I probably got her name taken off the list for life. While I was sure the scum was guilty I did NOT want to end up with this woman on any jury. I missed being on that jury by one and it was Friday. Monday when the trial was to start the scum plead out and will be middle age when they let him out of prison to do it again.

 

[Hooyah DeepSea]

I was dismissed because of my law enforcement job many many times.

Law enforcement job or law enforcement family and friends; "You're excused". Happens almost every time.

I was selected one time, and I was named jury foreman (first time out, that was an interesting gig.) We convicted the scumbag. It was a good day!!

 

[elsie]

Over the years I've been not selected for most, dismissed during selection for a federal trial once and served on a grand jury for two weeks. That was an interesting experience.

elsie

 

[boattail]

Law enforcement job or law enforcement family and friends; "You're excused". Happens almost every time.

I was selected one time, and I was named jury foreman (first time out, that was an interesting gig.) We convicted the scumbag. It was a good day!!

For twenty years my job got me a pass. Once they found out where I worked I was done. I even got deferred a few times because I was not replaceable and my department needed me to work. This time around the agency involved was far removed from mine so they let me stay.

Nobody wanted to be foreman (I asked the group) so I just volunteered to do it as long as nobody objected. They were happy I stepped up. I did it so I could try and keep things under control and not get out in the weeds. I'm a tad OCD and the control was nice to hold. We ended up with a good group that needed very little direction.

It was a good experience and I am glad I did it.

 

[bolus]

Try as I may, I have been on three juries. I pray that I never have to rely on, " a jury of my peers." Most of these people are most definitely not my peers. And some of them scare the hell out of me, quite frankly. Like how have you managed to make it this far in life when you clearly don't have two brain cells to rub together.

I go to jury duty for the same reason. I'd want someone who is a peer if I was a defendent, not just someone who could not get out of jury duty. Plus jury nullification. Heck yeah I'm going to vote not guilty on any BS firearms law charge. If the president can pardon people, then I can do it to in a jury.

That being said, the lawyers always dismiss me because I'm a physician. I guess they dont want anyone on the jury that could influence anyone else? Wasted so many days going to jury duty only for the attorneys to ask "are you a physician?" "yes" "you are dismissed" No explanation, not even asking me if I would be biased. Just "get out"

 

[Ruger Rich]

Anyone do your duty lately?
I just finished a long one. For years I have been called but never even made it to the box for questioning. I was dismissed because of my law enforcement job many many times. I had always wanted to be part of jury service to see the process. This time around I was in group one and seated number nine. I made it through five days of questioning as they filled, emptied, and refilled seats. The selection took a span of two weeks to get done. We ended up with a good panel of people and a bunch of horrid folks were thankfully dismissed. Both sides recognized the trouble makers and booted them quickly.

We all sat through five days of testimony as the case was unfolded for us. This stretched over another two and a half weeks. We were given a very short window to deliberate at the end of the testimony then had to take a four day break and resume in week five.

It was interesting to eventually find out that the defendant had major priors that were kept from us. The case was murder with more twists and turns than the coastal highway. In a nutshell the victim was accused on Facebook of molesting children. A guy working for him found out and confronted him. Things went south and the guy beat the victim to a pulp, waited for him to regain consciousness, and beat him to a pulp again then walked away. Broken face, jaw, 8 ribs, bruised heart, traumatic brain injury...and on and on. Guy is found before he dies and taken to the hospital. Ten days later the family of the victim pull the plug on him.

Other than the guys bloody boots and some statements from witnesses there was no hard evidence. All the rest was circumstantial. The first day deliberating nine of twelve were ready to vote and three were iffy. We hammered out things before we were sent home. The four day wait was enough time for the other three to decide his fate. We got to pick from Murder one, Murder two, Voluntary manslaughter, and Involuntary manslaughter. There was also a special enhancement for the beating being so violent.

We took Murder one off the table the first day of deliberation as the facts were not there for it. We also included Involuntary manslaughter as a guilty if we got that far. Voluntary did not fit so all that was left was Murder two. We had instructions that we all had to agree before we could move on to the next lower charge. We all agreed not guilty on murder one and we all agreed guilty on two plus we allowed the special enhancement to stick.

Very interesting process that I am glad I did but I don't want to go through that again for a while. So stressful!!!. We had to pick a foreman and since I was the person that was in my seat the longest I asked if anyone wanted to be the foreman....nobody raised a hand. To move things along I volunteered and nobody objected. I at least was able to have some control over the group but I let everyone participate and was not any more or less vocal than anyone else. I was just the guy that signed the papers and spoke at the end of the trial. Met eleven really great folks from all walks of life and made a couple friends while we were there.

Funny side story, my wife brought me lunch one day and she calls me and asked where I was. I told her in my car. She said, no, I'm parked by your car and you are not here. I told her I was sitting in my car...this went back and forth until I told her to drive around until she found me. Turns out the juror next to me, Gary, owns the exact same car. The wife finally found me and later Gary told me a nice lady tried to give him lunch

Interesting and nicely written

 

[pharmseller]

He's got to be guilty or he wouldn't be here…

Starboard gun, Fire!

 

[JustSomeGuy]

I got called 1 time probably 40 years ago. Kinda got into it with one of the attorneys questioning potential jurors about his arrogant and rude behavior. They must have disqualified me for life for once again living up to my "Does not play well with others" reputation.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I always got sent home, so, I was always depressed about getting called up and then just sitting there waiting until excused! Finally got called up and sat on a Grand Jury hearing a nasty case, we were pretty split and it got heated in deliberations, at one point we had a pretty good row going between a couple of us until I broke out the pocket constitution and cited where and how it applied, the district attorney had to go before the judge to get answers, and the judge asked us a bunch of questions, it took almost 3 weeks, but we decided to move toward full trial, and it was a biggy!

 

[monkeybutler]

That being said, the lawyers always dismiss me because I'm a physician.

Yup they don't like my profession either I am told. I look forward to being voir dire'd right out...

 

[Lazyfaire]

I have only been called twice in 50+ years, but since my job in the beer business was very very busy in the summer my company wrote the letter and begged me off. Never been called otherwise. BIL ended up as the foreman on a major federal jury trial and was the foreman.

I would do it if called again, after all it is a duty of citizenship. A jury of your peers etc.

 

[TTSX]

jury of your peers etc.

That's the scary part

 

[Lazyfaire]

That's the scary part

Don't want to leave ANY decisions to a judge's discretion anymore.