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I was always rejected from serving on a jury because I worked in Criminal Justice -- never got to serve. My wife was on a jury involving some sort of publicized inmate assault and I was working for the prison system at the time so I'm even surprised that she was selected. I guess they didn't ask that question. She was almost selected for a Federal Grand Jury about 200 miles from home but dodged the bullet.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I have also served twice on cases, and two other times just sat around and got released. I was on a murder case in Oakland, CA, drug related death by baseball bat. After jury selection but before the first day of testimony the defense attorney did a plea bargain and we were sent home. He was apparently not happy with the jury, but ran out of Peremptory Challenges and the judge refuse to dismiss some of us for cause, such as me. I was a good friend of one of the District Attorneys.
The second time was here in WA state in the superior court, a case of "attempting to elude" which is a class C felony. The young man was racing in an industrial area of Kent, WA and when the cops showed up he drove away with lights off at up to 100 mph and eventually missed a turn and rolled his car. We found him guilty in about 15 minutes after two days testimony.
DH just packed up his car and headed back to California. There's an amateur radio event this weekend he wants to do with his Stanford group. OK, that's not weird. Many -- maybe even most -- hams are retired.
He's also clutching a jury summons and hopes to be selected for a jury.
Well, more power to him, doing his civic duty and all that. We are a two-state household: I'm a resident of 48 and he's still hoping the next time he crosses the border it will have reverted to the California of the 1950s.
I've given you rep today! -- and found two other of your posts where I would love to give rep, but C-D won't let me!
I lived in coastal Southern CA for 57 years. If I could move back to the coastal CA of the 50s, 60s, even 70s -- I'd move back there in the next 5 minutes. It really was heaven 'back then'. Now it's like living in an overstuffed sardine can that can't go more than 2 mph down any street/freeway. A bit of an exaggeration -- but not by much. I retired 8 years early just to get out of CA! I don't even bother visiting anymore. What a mess it's become.
He's also clutching a jury summons and hopes to be selected for a jury.
I was on a jury 2 years ago, when I was 40-years-old, even got to be the foreman. I always wanted to be on a jury, it was a he said, he said, civil dispute over a car accident at a light. It took one day for the jury selection part, then the trial was another day and a half.
Being a scientist, is was interesting being on a jury, I found out quickly that law/trials are as slow as molasses in the wintertime. But the 1st thing I thought while being held in the jury holding area, waiting to see if my number would be called, is that I bet their are some retired people out there with plenty of time and would probably love and enjoy being a "full-time" juror going from trial to trial, if you're into that type of thing!
My coworker just got back from being a juror for the Timothy Jones trial in South Carolina, he said he started serving on April 30 and just got back to work last Friday, June 14th and got paid $15 a day. They convicted him and sentenced him to death, the inside info he told me about the trial and deliberations was fascinating, I told him he should write a book.
I was on a jury two years ago. The case was interesting, but it was over and done in a couple of hours. The defendant represented himself and didn't do a very good job of it.
I was on a jury 2 years ago, when I was 40-years-old, even got to be the foreman. I always wanted to be on a jury, it was a he said, he said, civil dispute over a car accident at a light. It took one day for the jury selection part, then the trial was another day and a half.
Being a scientist, is was interesting being on a jury, I found out quickly that law/trials are as slow as molasses in the wintertime. But the 1st thing I thought while being held in the jury holding area, waiting to see if my number would be called, is that I bet their are some retired people out there with plenty of time and would probably love and enjoy being a "full-time" juror going from trial to trial, if you're into that type of thing!
My coworker just got back from being a juror for the Timothy Jones trial in South Carolina, he said he started serving on April 30 and just got back to work last Friday, June 14th and got paid $15 a day. They convicted him and sentenced him to death, the inside info he told me about the trial and deliberations was fascinating, I told him he should write a book.
I worked for a major court system for the state of CA for almost 30 years. Sitting on a jury SHOULD NOT be 'fun'. Ever.
Sitting on a capital punishment case, like Timothy Jones, should give a sane person PTSD. I knew judges in the criminal division who lost sleep, night after night, during a capital punishment case -- because, more than likely, the defendant was going to be sentenced to death, and it was up to the judge to allow that to happen. (Although there was one judge I knew that refused a jury's recommendation for death, because the death penalty simply wasn't warranted for the crime and the circumstances.)
Our 'justice' system, here in The US, is anything but just. Minorities and the poor are given longer sentences for the same crimes that white and rich people commit. You don't have to take my word for it -- the government keeps the stats.
When I was in my job interview (35 years ago), I told my interviews that I would never ever work in the criminal division, and I never did. (I could never believe that I was hired.)
About five years before I retired, I was summoned for voir dire for a civil trial (business dispute). And I refused to do even that.
Being a juror is neither a hobby, pastime, nor a 'lark'. It is a tremendous responsibility.
I was on a civil trial a few years ago. It lasted three weeks. Some of the older jurors fell asleep, especially after lunch. Although lot of it was boring, you had to pay attention. There were times when you just wanted to scream out "How many times do you have to ask the same question in different ways?" At least in Colorado, jurors were allowed to submit written questions to the witnesses, subject to review by the judge and lawyers, so that kept it interesting. Some jurors did not want to pay attention to the jury instructions from the judge (we had 53 instructions). There were personality conflicts during deliberations. And during the trial, all you had was a chair to sit in, but know that the lawyers on both sides submitted several 3 inch binders of written materials for the jurors to review. Ever tried to balance a 3 inch binder on your lap and try to take notes at the same time? Some jurors put their binders on the railing. Of course they fell off and split open. Good times. LOL.
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