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This is not exactly about crimes, but I can't find a better place to post this. I'm interested to hear stories people can share about serving jury duty. Anything that may be of interest welcome. Thanks.
My own experience is a mixture of the mundane and the memorable -- probably because I live in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, which is a fair distance removed from Mister Rogers' neighborhood.
This region grew rich from anthracite coal mining in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century, and the civic leaders of the day spared no expense in the building of a Court House for the Ages -- lavishly decorated with murals, mosaic tiles and other artwork. Jurors are given a short lecture on their first day of service, and encouraged to look around, and look closely--(one of the artists was somewhat of a practical joker, and one of the paintings, for example, has a figure with two left feet); and that's not the only suprise.
And those courtrooms have hosted far more than their expected share of noteworthy cases. The most famous of these is a 1934 murder with a number of parallels to the real-life case used in Dreiser's An American Tragedy, and the subsequent film A Place in the Sun,
But that's only one of a number of cases: some others, like a 1936 bombs-by-mail case involving the United Mine Workers (a parallel to the Yablonski case of the early Seventies) or the George Banks case of 1982, involve bloodshed, but Mary Jo Kopechne, the central figure of the Chappaquiddick incident, involving Senator Edward Kennedy, is buried in Luzerne County, and the "kids for cash" juvenile justice farce of a few years ago is just the latest in a long list.
The region is, of course, no stranger to the corruption of its times -- first exemplified by the Republican machines depicted in the works of author John O'Hara, and set in neighboring Schuylkill County (Pottsville or "Gibbsville"). But when the Democrats finally came to power in 1959, they likewise quickly learned how to stack a deck. The most recent wrinkle was an unexpected shift which delivered one of the most blue-collar counties in Pennsylvania to Donald Trump.
But to return to my own experiences, once the initial lecture is completed, prospective jurors sit in front of a TV set -- usually tuned too the most plebian of the local channels rather than PBS, and wait to be called for individual cases. Then comes voir dire, the question-and-answer process by which it's determined whether a juror can be challenged for prejudicial reasons; a minor brush with the law while in my early twenties here usually leads to extra questioning in chambers for me at this point, but I've still been seated in some instances.
The actual testimony can be tiresome, and jurors are not expected, or allowed to take notes. One case I recall involved a residential burglary at which most of the loot came from a liquor canbinet; and both prosecutor and defense attorney were still in their twenties, and of opposite gender. The Jurors aren't expected to mingle with attorneys, defendants and plaintiffs/victims, and security is undoubtedly stronger in higher-stakes cases, but it's been my experience that the process can't be kept completely "airtight and sanitary"
In short, jury duty is a microcosm of American life, and an experience everyone should have at least once.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 01-26-2019 at 06:49 PM..
My own experience is a mixture of the mundane and the memorable -- probably because I live in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, which is a fair distance removed from mister Rogers' neighborhood.
This region grew rich from anthracite coal mining in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century, and the civic leaders of the day spared no expense in the building of a Court House for the Ages -- lavishly decorated with murals, mosaic tiles and other artwork. Jurors are given a short lecture on their first day of service, and encouraged to look around, and look closely--(one of the artists was somewhat of a practical joker, and one of the paintings, for example, has two left feet); and that's not the only surprise.
And those courtrooms have hosted far more than their expected share of noteworthy cases. The most famous of these is a 1934 murder with a number of parallels to the real-life case used in Dreiser's An American Tragedy, and the subsequent film A Place in the Sun,
But that's only one of a number of cases: some others, like a 1936 bombs-by-mail case involving the United Mine Workers (a parallel to the Yablonski case of the early Seventies) or the George Banks case of 1982, involve bloodshed, but Mary Jo Kopechne, the central figure of the Chappaquiddick incident, involving Senator Edward Kennedy, is buried in Luzerne County, and the "kids for cash" juvenile justice farce of a few years ago is just the latest in a long list.
I'm fascinated by some of the history of that area. Some of my ancestors were from north of there around Wellsboro, so there isn't the mining history there that Luzerne and surrounding counties have.
The Molly Malone's were a paramilitary group of sorts as I understand it, very interesting, and I'd imgine there were plenty of "tainted juries" back in those days.The workers vs. the mine owners and the Pinkerton's.
The Molly Malone's were a paramilitary group of sorts as I understand it, very interesting, and I'd imgine there were plenty of "tainted juries" back in those days.The workers vs. the mine owners and the Pinkerton's.
Actually, none of the Molly Maguire cases took place in Luzerne (Wiles-Barre) or Lackawanna (Scranton) Counties; the trials and hangings were held in Carbon (Mauch Chunk, later Jim Thorpe), Schuylkill (Pottsville) and Columbia (Bloomsburg) Counties.
I was one of many who were summoned but didn't go to the courtroom. We sat in a waiting room for a few hours while some went to the courtroom. When the jury was picked the rest of us went home. I brought a book and was paid $7 for the day.
There was a metal detector at the building entrance, so I emptied my pockets, but there was more metal all over me. Eyeglasses, coat zipper, etc.
My own experience is a mixture of the mundane and the memorable -- probably because I live in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, which is a fair distance removed from Mister Rogers' neighborhood.
This region grew rich from anthracite coal mining in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century, and the civic leaders of the day spared no expense in the building of a Court House for the Ages -- lavishly decorated with murals, mosaic tiles and other artwork. Jurors are given a short lecture on their first day of service, and encouraged to look around, and look closely--(one of the artists was somewhat of a practical joker, and one of the paintings, for example, has a figure with two left feet); and that's not the only suprise.
And those courtrooms have hosted far more than their expected share of noteworthy cases. The most famous of these is a 1934 murder with a number of parallels to the real-life case used in Dreiser's An American Tragedy, and the subsequent film A Place in the Sun,
But that's only one of a number of cases: some others, like a 1936 bombs-by-mail case involving the United Mine Workers (a parallel to the Yablonski case of the early Seventies) or the George Banks case of 1982, involve bloodshed, but Mary Jo Kopechne, the central figure of the Chappaquiddick incident, involving Senator Edward Kennedy, is buried in Luzerne County, and the "kids for cash" juvenile justice farce of a few years ago is just the latest in a long list.
The region is, of course, no stranger to the corruption of its times -- first exemplified by the Republican machines depicted in the works of author John O'Hara, and set in neighboring Schuylkill County (Pottsville or "Gibbsville"). But when the Democrats finally came to power in 1959, they likewise quickly learned how to stack a deck. The most recent wrinkle was an unexpected shift which delivered one of the most blue-collar counties in Pennsylvania to Donald Trump.
But to return to my own experiences, once the initial lecture is completed, prospective jurors sit in front of a TV set -- usually tuned too the most plebian of the local channels rather than PBS, and wait to be called for individual cases. Then comes voir dire, the question-and-answer process by which it's determined whether a juror can be challenged for prejudicial reasons; a minor brush with the law while in my early twenties here usually leads to extra questioning in chambers for me at this point, but I've still been seated in some instances.
The actual testimony can be tiresome, and jurors are not expected, or allowed to take notes. One case I recall involved a residential burglary at which most of the loot came from a liquor canbinet; and both prosecutor and defense attorney were still in their twenties, and of opposite gender. The Jurors aren't expected to mingle with attorneys, defendants and plaintiffs/victims, and security is undoubtedly stronger in higher-stakes cases, but it's been my experience that the process can't be kept completely "airtight and sanitary"
In short, jury duty is a microcosm of American life, and an experience everyone should have at least once.
In most jurisdictions jurors are allowed to take notes during a trial. If a particular jurisdiction does not allow that they operating under some pretty archaic notions.
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. The Jurors aren't expected to mingle with attorneys, defendants and plaintiffs/victims, and security is undoubtedly stronger in higher-stakes cases, but it's been my experience that the process can't be kept completely "airtight and sanitary"
