It's my first day. I'm looking over the building crowd of jurors in the Juror Assembly Room.

There's quite an array of people here, but mostly older folks who seem to be wishing they were elsewhere.

I'm stuck til 4:30. I have my iPhone and a pad of paper. And my coffee from 7-11.

I wonder how many of these people are mormons. I'm guessing the usual percentage for Southern California.

It's been 15+ years since I've done this. I'm doing my civic duty, I suppose.

I wonder what people fight about so seriously that they end up in a court. Can't we all just get along?

I'd be interested in others' opinions & experiences with jury duty.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2017 10:55AM by PapaKen.

I loved most jury duty I had.

I mainly really enjoyed the business cases involving $millions.

Some of the lawyers on those cases were really good! They could make anyone look like a complete idiot with their questions and body language.

It would seem to me that when one 'goes to court', the only real winners are the Lawyers. Especially when the cases involve million's. It's amazing to see how far they will go to convince the courts of their positions. Maybe justified sometimes but sometimes totally shocking and seemingly without scruples.

The first time I was called into jury duty, I made it past the first round of scrutiny and was led into the courtroom to see the lawyers, defendants etc. It turned out I knew the defendant from work so I was subsequently excused from jury duty. Jury Duty here in the Corners is kinda odd, though. You are under it for 30 days and have to call every weekday to see if your colour group is called for a trial. I had is last summer and BF had to deal with it twice in one year and it's a pain.

I have been called for jury duty a lot of times but I've never been selected for a trial.

It must be because I'm ugly.

Aw, I'm willing to bet you're not ugly at all!

I've only been called once but was rejected.
Probably because my husband worked in law enforcement.
Or else it was because I'm ugly, too!

It's probably because you're too smart. Neither the prosecution nor the defense want jurors who think for themselves. They prefer people who can be swayed by their arguments.

I remember once, years ago, I was called for jury duty. It was kind of a bucket list thing, and I was THRILLED. I bought what looked like a John Grisham-style briefcase, a legal pad, two pens (no running out of ink on MY watch!) a bottle of water, and of course, proper courtly attire. I sat ramrod-straight in the jury box and looked intently at whomever was speaking.

Did they address a single question to me? They did not.

Was I dismissed from the jury pool at the end of the day? I was. I cried as I drove home because I could not figure out how, after all the effort I had put into trying to appear to be a model juror, they could have turned me down.

Now, I'm old and creaky, and if they ever call me again, I will have every right to tell them where they can stick their summons.

Catnip, when I went for jury duty, I wore a 'business casual' type outfit. Nice tan slacks, a button-down light beige shirt, and a lightweight navy blue blazer. I can't wear high heels so I wore nice-looking flats that matched my shoulder bag (which contained my Kindle, of course). Not fussy but okay, I thought. I wasn't about to wear a skirt or dress; for me they are only for life passages like baptisms, weddings, and funerals!

When I went in and we all had to wait, people looked at me funny because I was so obviously overdressed. There were guys in cut-offs and ripped wife-beater shirts, and women in halter tops and shorts or t-shirts with no bra. Several young women were wearing flannel pajama bottoms and sweatshirts. One guy had a real classy shirt. It had a picture of two turds with happy little cartoon faces dancing with each other, and the caption was: "Get your $h!t together". He saw me looking at his shirt. He came over to me and in a friendly whisper asked me if I was a cop. I sure did look like one, he said.

I did not get chosen...

You were too smart to be a juror. I am the rare attorney who picks a smart jury, the others don't want someone who is too straight and maybe can figure out the truth in the matter. However, many judges are also rather dumb.

About ten years ago I landed on a grand jury. I had a great time. I enjoyed being able to interrogate the witnesses, mostly police. We heard about 400 cases in two weeks over a two month period. And we inspected the county jail. About half the cases were drug related in some way.

The math of this... 400 cases over 2 months.... say that is 8 working weeks - 40 days - that would be 10 a day. 8 hour day - 50 minutes per case.....

Over a two week period of time - 400 cases over 10 days - 40 per day - 8 hour day - 5 an hour. 12 minutes each.

Boy that is a justice system to be really proud of.....

It's a grand jury, asshole. All the prosecution has to show is probable cause. That doesn't take much.

But you wouldn't know that would you, in your haste to shoot off your mouth.

I'm going to guess that your legal education is limited to 1) watching "Law and Order" on TV or, 2) mumbling "Guilty, your Honor" while you stared at the shackles on your ankles in front of a judge.

Only had to show up once and then whoever was being tried made a plea deal and we were sent home. Here in Utah, a lot of people reading their scriptures.

I got so tired of being called that I actually quit voting. Guess what? I quit getting called.

Update: we jurors were directed to the Juror Assembly Room which has a sign by the door: "RESTRICTED AREA - JURORS ONLY"

That made me feel special.

But then, I went into the large room with bare walls except for several signs ("NOTICE TO JURORS"), to sit with 200 others on stained upholstered benches and endure a 1 1/2 hour orientation lecture.

Try as they did, they have not made me feel special again. At least not yet.

Or they might get enough jurors early in the day and send the rest home.

I was called onto two juries at the same time, superior and district. It was at a time when I had a scheduled eye surgery and I wrote letters and was released from both of them. I didn't want to travel so far every day and the cases would both have been very long and I wouldn't have been able to see well at that time. Getting out of it was the best option.

Good luck. I'm glad good civic minded people are willing to serve.

I was called several other times and saw those through to the end.

The last time I had jury duty, I had the chance to see the new courthouse as it had just been opened so it wasn't as bad. I also managed to get done before the lunch break because only 2 cases needed panels. It's been a long time since I actually ended up on a jury, usually I have to go in later in the week, when most trials either end in a plea deal or other settlement that doesn't require a jury.

The only time I was actually on a jury, it was a civil case where someone tried to sue the city because of a fall during construction. In the end, I was among the majority that ruled in favor of the city, but it was still an interesting experience. Of course, as I mentioned, the most recent time was at the new courthouse, and I got to check in online to see if I had to show up.

Edited to add more information.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2017 09:06PM by adoylelb.

I have served on several. They are interesting.

Here's a fun one when I lived in CA.

I was barely out of HS and a mere 18 when I received the subpoena. It was a criminal case involving domestic violence. The prosecutor was trying to pack the 12 juror seats with women and the defense kept "thanking individual jurors (women) and excusing them from serving." Both sides have this impasse-power so there were lots of jurors moving around in the different juror chairs. I was one of the last ones to be called.

The prosecutor asked me if I could be fair and impartial. I said yes and he sat down. The defendant's lawyer asked me if I drank alcohol. I told him no. [I was a believing member at the time]. The lawyer followed up, "Is there a particular reason for not drinking Mr. Goop?"

"Yes, I am not of the legal age of 21."

The entire courtroom erupted into laughter. Even the judge was laughing from the bench. I was not excused so I continued to stay. Eventually, the whole process was declared a mistrial because both sides had dismissed more than 20 persons and there was only 9 of us on the jury. They would get another panel and try again the following day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2017 01:02PM by messygoop.

Been called twice. First time the accused plead out just as the selection process was about to start for me and about 100 others....and as I'm over 65 I can opt out from serving which I did last year when I was called.

I was the alternate juror once. That meant I sat through the entire trial but did not deliberate. That was kind of frustrating. The case involved a multi-car pile-up in white out conditions in the Sierra Nevada's. The man who caused the pile up by parking on the freeway, was suing Greyhound because they came along towards the end of the pile-up and were involved too.

Thankfully, Greyhound prevailed since they didn't cause the crash. Pretty gutsy of the guy to sue them!

Another update:

It's already 10:15, and no one has been called yet.

The computer will apparently randomly select 35-50 people for each of 4 cases. Then the 35-50 people will go to a courtroom to be voir-dired. Then 12 + alternates will be selected.

I don't know why we're still sitting here. Probably judges & attorneys are already objecting & overruling.

We jurors are ready to go!

I just got out of jury duty a week ago for a trial of a guy accused of armed robbery. Normally I don’t mind being on a jury, but this time the length of the trial would butt up right against a trip I am taking next week. Fortunately I didn’t make it to the interview/questioning phase before being let go. Watching the others being questioned by the lawyers though just confirmed that I would NEVER want a jury if I were involved in some offense. Wow…some of those prospective jurors were stupid beyond belief (and a few of them made the jury). Having them decide my fate would be a nightmare.

I have been a juror on two other cases -

1.) Theft/Shoplifting - A gal was accused of shoplifting at a local Mervyn’s store. Everything was caught on video. On the clip we saw the gal with an empty canvas bag going throughout the store, filling up the bag, then walking out the door. I can’t remember her defense but it was weak. Deliberations did not take too long. We watched the video a couple of times and then voted. AMAZINGLY, one juror (see above were I say “stupid beyond belief”) held out saying that she just wasn’t sure. The rest of us asked her, “What the hell video are YOU watching??” Finally after watching the video a couple more times and chewing up an hour, she reluctantly gave in. Amazing. And scary.

2.) Murder - A guy was accused of shooting his pregnant recently ex-girlfriend leaving her paralyzed and killing the seven-month old fetus. At the time of the incident the ex-girlfriend told police that she did not know who shot her. She maintained that stance for several years pretty much killing the case. Then one day, after her ex-boyfriend petitioned the court for additional visitation with a son that they had together previously, her memory cleared and she told the police that HE had shot her. During the trial she testified. Because she was in a wheelchair she could not take the stand. Instead she testified next to the jury box. I was the closest juror to her…no more than five feet away. As she spoke…and sobbed…and cried…I noticed that one thing was missing…tears. She carried on like she was crying, sobbing, slobbering, etc., but no tears. Perhaps her tear ducts were paralyzed as well.

A number of other things just didn’t quite add up. When we got to the jury room I asked, “Am I the only one here who is having problems with the prosecution?” Surprisingly, most of the other jurors had problems as well. In the end, although we felt that he probably did it, we had “reasonable doubt” and according to the judges instructions we were compelled to acquit him. It didn’t feel good…didn’t feel clean. All of us agreed that we were going to go home and take a shower.

I hope your jury service goes smooth and you don’t have to wait too long. The sitting around waiting is the worst part. I probably won’t get called again for a year or two. Best of luck to you.

I've been called twice.

The first time I got called into a the bigger selection pool. There was a group of people set as the initial set of jurors, but if the lawyers didn't want any of them, then our group would replace that person in a ranked fashion. The judge asked if we had any experience working in the law, so I had to explain that I'd worked as a legal assistant for a year. I never got into the more select group, and got to go home.

The second time was a few months ago. We waited around all day, but nobody was even called for selection. So I'm off the hook again for awhile.

It's just been a lot of waiting around.

I have shown up multiple times when summoned for jury duty by the courts, but have never been called to a courtroom.

I suspect that having the same name as a very polarizing famous person may have something to do with it. Lawyers on both sides look at the potential juror list and for the sake of expediency, they just select others with less objectionable names...

I've been sent out the summons about six or seven times. Most the time I didn't have to go in. About twenty years ago I went in and was selected. It was an interesting two days. I ended up writing about me experience in my Criminal Justice class. Basically the jurors were treated like cattle, being herded in and out of the courtroom. One lawyer didn't want us to hear specific testimony so out we went. When we were brought back in, the other lawyer told us basically what went on.

The second to last time I had to go in and was asked lots of questions. One was about if I knew anybody that was a defendant in the system. When I told them I knew someone, the judge asked if I could be impartial. I had to say no and it was because I was a bit pissy about prosecutors at that time. For some reason I was immediately dismissed.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2017 09:49AM by Now a Gentile.

I'm betting that you don't get picked or your case gets pled out. Happened to me twice. My next door neighbor in Ventura CA was a Superior Court judge. He'd invite us to high profile trials where the verdict came in or he was sentencing someone that was already convicted. Very intense. Made my daily work issues seem trivial.

I've been called for jury duty maybe eight times and only had to sit for questioning once. I did not expect to be empaneled due to my educational background and career, but there was another trial in the courthouse at the time that was covered almost constantly by the national media--you'd know the name--and that had apparently burned through most of the potential jurors. So I had to cancel a business trip and do my duty.

It was a sexual molestation case. An adult man had moved in with a woman and her daughters, aged about 11 and 14 at the time the alleged crimes started. According to the younger girl, the man had imposed himself on her weekly for two years; the older girl said she endured him about twice a month. The mother sided with the man, saying he was a good man, told the girls to study hard, had "counseled with" them about life. The details of the girls' stories, told and recorded by police, were compatible. The man admitted to having consensual sex with the older girl "just" once a month or so over the two years. He denied having raped the younger sister.

The jury part of the case was interesting. A few of the jurors were pleased as punch to be there and to be excused from their usual jobs. They wanted the deliberations to last as long as possible. One man came in the second day and announced that he would not agree to convict on any count unless we had adequate proof for that count; he was not willing to convict on the basis of a pattern of behavior. I pointed out that there is never such proof for incidents of sex that occurred a few years ago, that we as jurors were supposed to use our common sense. If we took the defendant at his word, it happened with the older girl 24 times. Surely that and the testimony of the girl were adequate proof for 24 counts.

The jury also had a male MD and a female pediatrician. We asked the pediatrician if she thought the girls had been abused. She said she thought they certainly had although that did not mean the defendant did it. We ultimately decided to take him at his word and convict him of the 24 counts. I then said we should add additional counts because we all were convinced that he'd done it to both girls and it was critical to show the younger girl that we believed her. Otherwise, I feared, she might one day review in her mind what had happened and wonder why we had only believed the testimony of the older sister. I believe we settled on 28 or 30 counts.

So we sent the man away for more than the law allowed. The judge cut the sentence to the maximum of 60 years, one of which the man had already served. The experience for me was distasteful and painful. I am glad, however, to the point of tears, that we showed those two girls--women now--that what that man did to them was horrific and that in our view he should rot in hell.

You know what got me off? Of jury duty, that is. The other kind would be Emma Watson. But I digress.

When I was called and had to take crap from both attorneys, the judge asked if I could be impartial.

The defendant was black. So, I answered, "Your Honor (who was also black), I don't like black people. I can tell just by looking at him he's guilty."

For some odd reason, he couldn't dismiss me fast enough. And no, I do not hate someone just because of their skin color. I would have done the same had the defendant been Asian, Mexican, whatever.

In my smallish county, you get called to jury duty and most of the time find out the night before via online that "we don't need you." I work across the street from the county courthouse and the parking lot is mostly deserted.

I was on a jury once. Domestic abuse (guy hit his wife or girlfriend)...and honestly I could _imagine_ why given the circumstances. That said, yes, I know there is never an excuse to commit domestic violence AND it was a violation of the law as we were instructed. I was the jury foreman and we found him guilty.

I showed up for jury selection of a grand jury once. Brother in law was in the same pool...was more than happy to be there because it was a six-month job and meeting maybe once a week most of the day. It was nearing the holidays and as a UPS driver he was MORE than pleased to miss deliveries one day a week that would take him well into the night. Some instructions we were given included that no two family members could serve on the grand jury at the same time so I asked to be dismissed. Judge OK'd it. So my BIL and I both got what we wanted!

I've been on a few juries, all criminal cases. It was never a happy experience, and I was always the one juror who was hardest to convince that the defendant was guilty. I was pretty much a stickler for not allowing discussions that were improper. That annoyed some other jurors a great deal.

However, since then, I've run into several of the other jurors from the trials and every one told me how glad they were, ultimately, that I insisted on doing everything precisely by the book. They felt terribly bad (to their own great surprise, for some of them) about that fact that we convicted some of the defendants (none of whom did anything that was any kind of moral outrage). However, the jurors said that the one thing that let them "go in peace" was the knowledge that the guilty verdicts had absolutely no improprieties involved.

There was simply no other possible verdict, given the laws.

Final update:

There were 60 people in my case's jury pool. I was #55. I sat thru 3 hours of voir dire, and was never asked anything.

So they had the 14 people and the rest of us went home. Duty done.

It was a criminal case of robbery & assault with a knife. No furtger details were made known.

I'm glad it's over (after only 1 day).

Jury duty is a joke - they make you feel all important....

I never will get on jury duty as I always ask the judge if I can can questions....

Judge says no...

I ask what's the point then - it's nothing more which side is better at debate....

I'm not selected... The end....

My first jury duty I was seated on the jury panel. When the prosecutor and defense lawyer learned I was an attorney, they looked at each other, and both agreed they didn't want me. (There weren't many women attorneys in our county yet.) If they had known I was a Mormon, same result. Defendant was a young black woman accused of robbing a drugstore pharmacy. This was before 1978.

Second time I was called the case was settled at 4 in the afternoon. I got to go home after waiting around for hours. I've been called several times since, but thanks to the Internet, potential jurors are able to wait at home and check online to find out if they have to go in.

He was very nearly not chosen for the jury, because the defendant was of Italian ancestry with suspected mob ties.

The ex was very bitter at the end of the trial. He was one of those who tried to take control of the deliberations, because as he saw it, the guy was guilty as hell and needed to be convicted. But the jury was afraid of the guy's "connections."

Afterward, still furious, the ex talked alone to the prosecutor. He raged that the guy was obviously guilty as hell - why didn't they push harder, present more evidence, do SOMETHING to put the guy away. The prosecutor said, "We'll get him sooner or later. And I will call you when we do."

We got the call a number of months later.

I get called UP, they take one look at me. Then, they excuse me without reason. Cheers PapaKen! Da Bone.

I enjoy getting called for jury duty, I just hate getting picked. Especially here in my city that has murder trials going on every week. Last year I got two paid days off work (plus the big $18/day from the court) to just sit around for 2 days and read. Then we were all let go because they had their juries for the week.

I got to voir dire and here's what happened:

Judge: I expect this case to start Monday, and take approximately two weeks, plus deliberations. Does anyone here have a schedule conflict?

I raise my hand.

Me: Your honor, I am finishing my degree this semester, and have my final interview with my Department Chair Tuesday afternoon. If I postpone the interview, I'll miss the graduation deadline.

Judge: If I call your department chair, he'll confirm this?

Me: Um, my department chair is Deaf. My degree is in American Sign Language. I can give you her email address?

Prosecuting attorney: Your honor, may I ask the potential juror a question:

Judge: Go ahead

Prosecuting attorney: (In ASL) You attend school where?

Me: (In ASL) I attend (Name of school) Department Chair is (Her name). I work for almost 7 years for my degree. Excited. Graduate soon!

Prosecuting Attorney relays what I've said

Judge: You're dismissed, Ma'am.

since moving here, I've been called twice and both times picked for the jury. Both cases were bizarre.

first case: Young man caught in act of stealing a backpack full of bibles at a Barnes & Nobles. His father was also involved although this info was not made known to us until later.

2nd case: man charged with burglary, 1st degree for entering a realty open house and going through items stored in a walk-in closet of the master bedroom. He was caught opening a jewelry box from which he had removed the lock. The only thing in the box was the cremated remains of the homeowners' pet dog.

Been called for Jury Duty a few times I get out of it on medical grounds Kidney Dialysis 3 times a week at hospital :)

If you don't want to be on the jury then just let it be known that you are a fully informed juror. You will be kicked off the jury lickety split. The government cannot stand jurors who know the law.

To get off on a criminal case one can simply state that they believe ALL are guilty, period; or they are ALL Innocent! In a civil case one can say either that all plaintiffs deserve something or that no-one should sue. Bingo.