Jury Duty Question

[msventoux]

I received a notice to call in for jury duty in a couple of months. I've never had to go before. I'm not necessarily thrilled about going, but it might be an interesting experience and it's at a not completely inconvenient time of year as far as work goes. Lost wages would kinda suck though.

My question is, my firm has a number of clients who are lawyers or judges. Some I work with directly, others I just recognize their name. If I'm called in for jury duty and recognize any of the attorneys or judge as being a client, even if I don't work with them directly, do I need to mention that during the selection process or is it not an issue? I would mention it if I knew them on a personal level, but I wasn't sure how the professional association thing plays out.

[mollyanna58]

The last time I had jury duty, a large group of us was sent into a court room for possible jury selection. The judge introduced himself, the assistant DA, the defense attorney, and the defendent. He told us to raise our hand if we knew any of them. He then asked each person with a raised hand to state which one, and how we knew them.

I'm sure something similar will happen during the selection process when you have jury duty.

[swamp]

You will be asked that question.

[Colleenz]

That reminds me of my last jury call. They do ask if you have heard of either lawyer. I had, and asked to approach the judge to answer where. I thought it might effect the rest of the jury pool if I said in open court "the plaintiffs lawyer advertises on NPR that they win or you don't pay.".

Needless to say I was dismissed.

[alabamagal]

I live in a small town. I am personal friends with the sheriff, go to church with two judges, my DH does work for several of the lawyers. That does not automatically disqualify you for jury service.

Last time I had jury duty, they assigned ~50 people to each jury pool, then introduced you to the lawyers who were actually trying the case, plus I think th ename of the defendents. Then they started asking general questions. The one that got the most people dismissed was "Are you related to anyone currently serving time for assault". I was shocke at how many people raised their hands, and felt bad (in a way) that none of my relatives were in jail.

Basically, you have to show up and wait for them to answer the questions.

[Deleted]

Where I am they bring you into the courtroom, read the charges for the case, and then randomly call up 18 people. Those people were given a sheet of questions. They had to state their name, age, all of the people in their household and what they do if they work, and if they knew any of the people in the case.

Once that basic questioning was over, the lawyers asked people questions about drinking, etc... that pertained to their case.

We were not given the opportunity to say we knew anyone unless we were called to be in the jury box for the random questioning. I knew the defendant and one atty and still had to sit there all day...

I highly suggest taking a book to read. It is a VERY long day if you have to sit there and listen to 100 people tell about themselves and any people they might know, if they can be fair, and on and on and on it goes.....

[Gardening Grandma]

Sept 1, 2012 22:53:08 GMT -5 mollyanna58 said:

The last time I had jury duty, a large group of us was sent into a court room for possible jury selection. The judge introduced himself, the assistant DA, the defense attorney, and the defendent. He told us to raise our hand if we knew any of them. He then asked each person with a raised hand to state which one, and how we knew them.

I'm sure something similar will happen during the selection process when you have jury duty.

That is pretty much what happened when I went in for jury duty. We were asked if we recognized and of the attorneys as well as the defendant. A couple raised their hands and they were asked specifically how they knew them.

And, yes, take a good book to read. Unless you have a smart phone or an ipad with 3G. Free wifi is unlikely.

[NoNamePerson]

Sept 1, 2012 22:30:27 GMT -5 msventoux said:

I received a notice to call in for jury duty in a couple of months. I've never had to go before. I'm not necessarily thrilled about going, but it might be an interesting experience and it's at a not completely inconvenient time of year as far as work goes. Lost wages would kinda suck though.My question is, my firm has a number of clients who are lawyers or judges. Some I work with directly, others I just recognize their name. If I'm called in for jury duty and recognize any of the attorneys or judge as being a client, even if I don't work with them directly, do I need to mention that during the selection process or is it not an issue? I would mention it if I knew them on a personal level, but I wasn't sure how the professional association thing plays out.

The companies that I used to do payroll for paid employees their wages minus what they were paid for being on jury duty. Check to see if that is your companies policy.

Also I think everyone should serve at least once. It is a good experience and a major eye opener

[Bluerobin]

Don't worry when they ask the question, if there is ANY chance you might favor one side, you are off the case!

[TheOtherMe]

I've never gotten past the being called in to the court room where potential jurors are being questioned. I think 3 times. In all instances, the general questions about knowing the people involved was asked first and some people were immediately dismissed.

I've never made it in to the juror box for the questions. I've completed written questionnaires, but that is as far as I've gotten.

I did get to listen to a doctor who deemed himself way too important for jury duty attempt to convince a judge of that. This doctor told the judge that he hadn't even canceled his appointments for the day because his patients needed him. It wasn't the first time he had asked for a postponement. He got a big time lecture and was told to go call his office and have his appointments rescheduled. Not a happy doctor. That is my most exciting experience with jury duty.

[Tiny]

I received a notice to call in for jury duty in a couple of months. I've never had to go before. I'm not necessarily thrilled about going, but it might be an interesting experience and it's at a not completely inconvenient time of year as far as work goes. Lost wages would kinda suck though

Lost wages? Can't this get you out of jury duty all together? Jury Duty isn't suppose to hurt you financially.

[Deleted]

Knowing the lawyers doesn't get you off where I live either. A colleague of mine, in her 50s, was called and asked if she knew any of the lawyers. She said she had gone out with a date with one of them when she was 16, and he hadn't called her for a second date. The judge said, "Try to forgive him," and kept her on the jury. I am sure some of it was the tone she used. It was obvious there were no hard feelings.

My daughter was called and asked the same question. She said she knew the district attorney. Everyone knows everyone in that county through school, church, friends of friends, and tons of stuff. So she was asked how well she knew him. She said, "Well, I call him Uncle Johnny and his wife Aunt Janey." (not their names) She was dismissed; the DA was best man at my ex's and my wedding.

[msventoux]

Sept 2, 2012 17:24:29 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

The companies that I used to do payroll for paid employees their wages minus what they were paid for being on jury duty. Check to see if that is your companies policy.

Also I think everyone should serve at least once. It is a good experience and a major eye opener

Unfortunately I work for a relatively small employer and there is no pay for jury duty. A coworker sat on a jury and the trial was a couple of weeks and he wasn't paid by our firm and was paid a whole whopping $30 per day by the court.

Sept 3, 2012 12:46:00 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Lost wages? Can't this get you out of jury duty all together? Jury Duty isn't suppose to hurt you financially.

I suppose I could ask, but the Court FAQ website didn't make it seem like that was a possibility. It basically provides a lecture about the importance of jury service and lists a very small number of reasons that an excusal may be granted.

I figured that if one of the lawyers turned out to be one that I work closely with as a client that I might be dismissed, but I thought I would be thrown back into the pool to possibly be selected for another trial and not lucky enough to be done for good. I guess for clients that I don't work closely with I was just somewhat uncomfortable saying they're a client in public since we typically don't disclose who our clients are.

Sept 2, 2012 10:15:22 GMT -5 @goldpanninggirl said:

I highly suggest taking a book to read. It is a VERY long day if you have to sit there and listen to 100 people tell about themselves and any people they might know, if they can be fair, and on and on and on it goes.....

I had planned on at least bringing some reading material and possibly my computer. I don't think wi-fi is available there, but there's other stuff I can putter around on.

[happyhoix]

"I highly suggest taking a book to read. It is a VERY long day if you have to sit there and listen to 100 people tell about themselves and any people they might know, if they can be fair, and on and on and on it goes..... "

Depends on the courthouse. When I got called for jury duty when I lived near a city, we could bring a book. When I got called for jury duty in the tiny town I live in now, they took my book away when I first came in, and I had to sit there, bored to death, for nearly the whole day.

I thought since, at the time, DH was a parole officer, I wouldn't be asked to serve on a jury, but that didn't get me off. Other things did. Because I work with worker's comp for my job, I was dismissed from an insurance case. Because I said I didn't believe in physical punishments for kids, I got dismissed from a case about child abuse. Several times I got dismissed for no reason I could tell, except possibly because I had a college degree and worked a full time job as a manager; the jurors who were left were either SAHM's or minimum wage type employees. Could possibly be that I was a Yankee in a small Southern town, too - they don't trust us here.

[Bluerobin]

Sit there with a dumb look on your face and say "the police would not have arrested them if they didn't do anything bad". Try to sound like you really believe this, and you will probably get off.

[Deleted]

Sept 4, 2012 7:54:00 GMT -5 Bluerobin said:

Sit there with a dumb look on your face and say "the police would not have arrested them if they didn't do anything bad". Try to sound like you really believe this, and you will probably get off.

For the recent DUI case I was called for, one of the older men went on a rant about how obviously the defendant was drinking and driving or he wouldn't have been the defendant. He went on about how the DMV sends you this pretty chart about blood alcohol levels every time you interact with them and that if the defendant could read, then he must know drinking and driving was illegal...

Needless to say, said juror was dismissed by the defendant's atty.

An interesting note. I looked up the case I was called for. The defendant was acquitted of all three charges. He was facing DUI, DUI on a commercial license, and some other driving thing with a $5K fine.

He had the town's "slimy" lawyer who advertises in the paper that he can get you off from just about anything including DUI. Apparently in this case he did!