Lawyering Must Involve Tons of Boring Time...

[shanendoah]

If you get called for jury duty here, part of the letter says- if this is a bad time for you, please go online and reschedule your jury duty for a time that would be better. You don't have to talk to anyone, you just go online with your info and reschedule. No big deal.

For federal jury duty, you are on call for 2 weeks. When DH went in for jury duty and they were being questioned to see who would get on the jury, one of the women in the group tried to get out by saying her family had a Hawaiian vacation planned and they would be leaving the next week. The judge told her that she had had the opportunity to reschedule her jury duty and since she didn't, the vacation was not his problem. She ended up on the jury with DH.
DH actually had his own court date during that time (traffic court) and the judge told him that he outruled traffic court and would write him a note to get it rescheduled.

[thyme4change]

The judge told her that she had had the opportunity to reschedule her jury duty and since she didn't, the vacation was not his problem. She ended up on the jury with DH.

LOL - that'll teach her! 20 years ago, before the internet and before they let you reschedule without a note from the President of the USA, a guy got dismissed from the Jury because his daughter was getting married the next day in another state. The judge asked him (jokingly) "Would she consider changing her wedding date so you can do this trial?" The guy answered "I don't think so" and the judge dismissed him. It was cute. But now, I love that you can just go online and they give you a bunch of dates to choose from. It is so much easier. None of my reasons are really hard-pressed, and the office would of course be fine without me - but it is just easier on all of us if I can go in the third week of August instead of the first week of October (or whatever.)

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Wow you guys are lucky. In my county I still have to write a petition and then hope they dismiss me, there is no rescheduling unless they approve it. You can't choose when you are rescheduled, they choose it for you.

I've been called three times. First time they dismissed me because I was leaving for college the next day.

Second time I was 32 weeks pregnant, they rescheduled me to the following December. I had to come in but I was dismissed shortly afterwards when I told them I was breastfeeding and would need to know the location of the nearest area I could use to pump.

So far ::knocks on wood:: I haven't been called again. DH hasn't been called since he was 21 years old.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I was called for jury duty when I was 18. Didn't make it on a trial.

I was a reserve juror sometime in the last 3+ years. All I had to do was call in the night before to find out if they needed me and where to go. They didn't need me so I didn't have to go. ETA - like Drama, I was pumping at the time and really didn't want to go.

But like Shane, we can reschedule. DH did, he was trying to meet a deadline for 401K testing when he was called. So he did the reschedule thing and ended up with jury duty 6 months later, in Nov.

[Firebird]

Aug 22, 2012 10:56:23 GMT -5 swamp said:

really, guys, jury trials aren't that interesting.

They are too, I just KNOW it! You sneaky lawyers are always trying to have all the fun

[thyme4change]

I actually like the way we do it here. You get called for a day, and if you are on a trial, it is a few days (mostly.) And if you are not put on a trial by the end of the day, you are dismissed. They have a nice facility - internet access, comfy chairs, magazines, televisions, even desks in one area. So, hanging out isn't a big deal. It is somewhat nice to have a relaxing day.

[Deleted]

Someone yesterday mentioned federal jury duty. You have to go to Sacramento. For me, that would be about a 250 mile drive, one way! I would do just about anything possible to get out of that, including bribing the doctor for a note. Going down there would cost me a fortune... I am all for civic duty and all that, but I think that is just plain wrong. Way to far to travel for jury duty.

[shanendoah]

I will note, I've received a summons for jury duty once in my life. And it wasn't random. DH also received a summons for duty, and our numbers were just one apart. We called the night before and all possible trials had been settled, so we didn't have to go in.
DH received summons for federal jury duty again this summer in the beginning of July and for Superior Court at teh end of July. In both cases, he called and the message was- call back tomorrow. When he called back the next day, he got the message that he didn't have to go in. For Federal, it also said you were considered to have served- which is important because if you serve jury duty in Federal Court, they can't call you again for two or three years.

[muttleynfelix]

Aug 22, 2012 15:26:17 GMT -5 @goldpanninggirl said:

Someone yesterday mentioned federal jury duty. You have to go to Sacramento. For me, that would be about a 250 mile drive, one way! I would do just about anything possible to get out of that, including bribing the doctor for a note. Going down there would cost me a fortune... I am all for civic duty and all that, but I think that is just plain wrong. Way to far to travel for jury duty.

My dad's business partner got called for jury duty for the Tony Rezko trial. It is a 100 mile one-way trip to the court house from his house. Plus something like $15 a day to park and they were saying it would be a 2 to 3 months trial. He went and wrote a huge explanation why this was a hardship for him etc, etc. He waited all day and he got called up and the judge asked him a mundane question and said ok you are dismissed.

I've been called for jury duty twice and I've written an excuse both times and gotten off. My DH has been called twice as well and has done the same thing.

[thyme4change]

I feel privledged to serve my country.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

Aug 22, 2012 16:15:00 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I feel privledged to serve my country.

[lynnerself]

My DS got called for a high profile bombing case that killed a policeman.
He was released because he said he didn't believe in the death penalty.
The interesting part was that the judge gave him grief about his belief.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I was actually excited about jury duty last fall ~ $40/day for federal! But when I walked in, I knew it would be a complete waste of time: the defendants were all police officers and the City I'd previously represented. At least I was bumped quickly when their attorney recognized me in the jury pool and asked for me to be cut loose. To my surprise, I was sent home (rather than to the jury room for another assignment!)

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

Aug 22, 2012 17:49:02 GMT -5 ❤ mollymouser ❤ said:

I was actually excited about jury duty last fall ~ $40/day for federal! But when I walked in, I knew it would be a complete waste of time: the defendants were all police officers and the City I'd previously represented. At least I was bumped quickly when their attorney recognized me in the jury pool and asked for me to be cut loose. To my surprise, I was sent home (rather than to the jury room for another assignment!)

...and, in theory, you could have been the perfect juror...

[Deleted]

I've never been called for jury duty, and I have been a registered voter for almost 40 years.

My daughter got called, and they asked if she knew any of the participants. She said, "Well, I call the DA "Uncle X." Does that count?" He was my ex's best friend and best man at our wedding. It did count, and she got dismissed.

Another friend got called, and they asked her the same question. She said, "I went to high school with X. He asked me out, and I said no." She got to serve.

The rationale, and she said the judge said this aloud, was this was a small county where everyone knows someone who knows someone.

[swamp]

Aug 22, 2012 17:35:34 GMT -5 @lonewolf said:

I got booted last time on a DUI trial because I admitted that I'm a member of MADD. I told the truth when asked. What did I do wrong? :'(

You didn't do anything wrong, but someone who is a member of a DWI lobbying group doesn't belong on a jury judging the fate of a drunk driver.

[nittanycheme]

in my county, you get called for a week. Everyone needs to show up on Monday, then they start pulling people for pools. If you don't get picked, you go back to the room to wait for another pool. Once it gets late enough in the day, they'll send you home since it's too late for another pool. You have to keep coming back until they fill all the juries for the trials scheduled that week. I went, and got put on the first jury I "interviewed" for. I got to listen to a day of trial work for a case where a guy may or may not have purposely brushed a girl's boob for <2 to 3 seconds. We then deliberated for 2 days, and ended up in a hung jury. The only good thing was that I didn't have to go back for the last day since the rest of juries were filled.

[InsertCoolName]

I got called for duty once...I think it was for federal....I told the lady it wasn't a good time because I was in labor. She said thanks for your time.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I was on the jury for a sexual abuse of a minor case last year. Lasted a little under two weeks from start to finish, if I'm remembering right. Some of the expert testimony was pretty interesting. Listening to the accuser testify was hard of course. All in all it was kind of interesting. There was a lot of watching the lawyers approach the bench and talk quietly with the judge though. A lot.

[Firebird]

There was a lot of watching the lawyers approach the bench and talk quietly with the judge though. A lot.

They were debating whether or not they should tell Juror Number Four his fly was open every day.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I honestly have no idea what they were talking about most of the time. It happened several times an hour though. I think I might have gotten lucky on the trial though in terms of excitement. The defense asked the judge for the ability to treat the accuser's mother as a hostile witness, and the judge kept telling us to ignore her answer or part of her answer, just like on TV. There were objections flying around like crazy during certain parts too. Every time it started getting really good though they'd go up and whisper with the damn judge while we sat there watching unable to hear anything. That part was kind of frustrating. It was like watching one of those law shows with somebody walking in and putting it on mute randomly.

[Deleted]

Aug 22, 2012 16:10:59 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

I've been called for jury duty twice and I've written an excuse both times and gotten off. My DH has been called twice as well and has done the same thing.

Why- just because you didn't want to bother? My attitude is that juries need a true cross-section of the population. I might try to beg off of a long trial because I have a demanding job, but would show up for the selection process unless it was a genuine hardship.

[mmhmm]

I've been called only once, for federal jury duty. Unfortunately, at the time both my father and my husband were in hospital, seriously ill.

[seriousthistime]

Aug 22, 2012 15:26:17 GMT -5 @goldpanninggirl said:

Someone yesterday mentioned federal jury duty. You have to go to Sacramento. For me, that would be about a 250 mile drive, one way! I would do just about anything possible to get out of that, including bribing the doctor for a note. Going down there would cost me a fortune... I am all for civic duty and all that, but I think that is just plain wrong. Way to far to travel for jury duty.

This from the web site for the federal court in Sacramento:

Question: 8. Will I be paid for jury service?

Answer: We will pay you a juror attendance fee of $40.00 for each day you are required to and do, in fact, report for jury duty on time. Additionally, we will reimburse you for mileage in the amount of $0.50 per mile, round-trip, from your home to the courthouse.

[seriousthistime]

I know juries often think their time is being wasted while the judge and attorneys have a side bar (at the bench out of the jury's hearing range) or that they are spending wasted time in the jury deliberation room while nothing is going on in court. But there are a lot of proceedings that have to be conducted out of the jury's presence and sometimes, yes, the jury reaches a verdict when the staff is at lunch but we are called on our cell phones when there's a verdict, as are the lawyers. We are back in court within 10 minutes because we don't go far.

I served on a jury for a federal criminal case long before I worked for the court. Our jury deliberated for 2 1/2 days. Having been on that side of it and this side of it, I have nothing but respect for juries. From my experience, they really put their heart and soul into it to reach the right decision.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I know juries often think their time is being wasted while the judge and attorneys have a side bar (at the bench out of the jury's hearing range)

That's not what I meant at all. I'm just nosy and figured we were missing all the really good legal bits. I wanted the lawyers to stand there arguing with each other in loud heated voices so we could figure out what was going on. When they go up and whisper you don't get to hear their reason for objecting to a certain line of questioning or whatever. Takes a little of the fun out of it.

[Deleted]

Aug 23, 2012 20:55:05 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Aug 22, 2012 15:26:17 GMT -5 @goldpanninggirl said:

Someone yesterday mentioned federal jury duty. You have to go to Sacramento. For me, that would be about a 250 mile drive, one way! I would do just about anything possible to get out of that, including bribing the doctor for a note. Going down there would cost me a fortune... I am all for civic duty and all that, but I think that is just plain wrong. Way to far to travel for jury duty.

This from the web site for the federal court in Sacramento:

Question: 8. Will I be paid for jury service?

Answer: We will pay you a juror attendance fee of $40.00 for each day you are required to and do, in fact, report for jury duty on time. Additionally, we will reimburse you for mileage in the amount of $0.50 per mile, round-trip, from your home to the courthouse.

That wouldn't make it right. I've driven around Sacramento. The traffic in rush hour (which extends for about 3 hours in AM-PM) is awful. Let's assume you can do 50 mph- it's 5 hours there and 5 hours back. Unless I had no job or family obligations and they paid for me to stay in a decent hotel, it would be out of the question,

[Nazgul Girl]

I was almost seated on the jury of an attempted murder case in our famous major metropolitan city, ( trust me, it's full of bad boyz ), but two of the questions asked of the potential jurors was whether we had been the victim of a major crime, and whether we believed that a person previously convicted of a felony was potentially guilty of another felony. I could truthfully answer "yes" to both questions. The judge required me to state the nature of the crime that had been committed against me. It was difficult to state that in open court, but once I had stated it, I was immediately excused. The judge thanked me. Anyway, the woman sitting next to me stated that she was a policewoman, and that there were four others that she knew sitting around us that were also officers, so if there was enough proof, I would imagine that the accused was convicted.....

[Waffle]

I was on a murder trial jury when I was in my twenties. Our county sends out a form you have to fill out when you're up for jury duty - every time I've gotten the form since then, I always state that I was a juror on the "lastname" murder trial and I have never been called for duty since. I think their was an informal agreement that we would never have to serve again as long as we were in that county. Murder is pretty rare in our little neck of the woods and it was even more uncommon back then.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

<<< two of the questions asked of the potential jurors was whether we had been the victim of a major crime, and whether we believed that a person previously convicted of a felony was potentially guilty of another felony. I could truthfully answer "yes" to both questions. >>>

...I'm sorry that you have to answer YES to the first question...

...while everybody has to answer YES to the second... I'm surprised they ask it...