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How long has jury svce taken for those summonsed to the Bx hall Of Justice for trial jury?
The court info says 3-5 days for a civil trial and 3-10 for a criminal trial but i would like to hear from others who served how long it actually took them
I don't think there's any rule of thumb. A trial takes as long as it takes. My guess would be that a civil trial has a higher probability of settling and therefore less jury time, but who knows.
I live in Brooklyn and had jury duty in the Kings County Criminal Court a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, I was not picked and was dismissed after 1 day but the clerk said that for those of us who were not picked, we could have to serve as much as 5 days, just sitting around and waiting to be picked. I guess they had enough jurors, though, because they let us go.
Also, when I was on jury duty, a judge asked for volunteers for jury duty on a trial involving 3 cops - I believe it must have been the trial involving the guy who claimed to have been sodomized by a cop using a nightstick. He said that trial could last up to 2 weeks.
I have a friend who was on jury duty in Staten Island last year and her case (a civil one, some kind of medical malpractice) lasted 4 weeks. I have another friend who was on a civil case in Kings (she was on a personal injury case, despite the fact that she told them her husband is a personal injury lawyer) and it took about 4 days.
Sorry I have no experience in the Bronx but it's probably not that different than Kings or Staten Island.
I don't think there's any rule of thumb. A trial takes as long as it takes. My guess would be that a civil trial has a higher probability of settling and therefore less jury time, but who knows.
I live in Brooklyn and had jury duty in the Kings County Criminal Court a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, I was not picked and was dismissed after 1 day but the clerk said that for those of us who were not picked, we could have to serve as much as 5 days, just sitting around and waiting to be picked. I guess they had enough jurors, though, because they let us go.
Also, when I was on jury duty, a judge asked for volunteers for jury duty on a trial involving 3 cops - I believe it must have been the trial involving the guy who claimed to have been sodomized by a cop using a nightstick. He said that trial could last up to 2 weeks.
Wow.. we must have been there the same day (January 12), because I had the exact same experience as you and remember the judge asking for volunteers for the big trial. I remember the judge saying the trial could take 6 weeks. I was also surprised at the large number of people who volunteered.
I was picked with the first group of the day and we were led into a courtroom for a murder trial and the judge told us it would take up to three weeks. The judge introduced the prosecutor, defendant's attorney and the defendant, then asked each prospective juror to stand up and speak if they expected to have a problem with a three week trial. Of course, lots of people stood up and expressed issues with school, work, and dependent care, but the judge basically said these were not really grounds for being dismissed from jury duty. I stood up and indicated that I just accepted a job in Houston and would be leaving the NY area very soon, so I was excused. BTW, that is the truth. I am moving to Houston this week. I was also somewhat taken aback that the judge would had jurors identify themselves by name in front of an accused murderer. I thought that by the time we came into contact with the defendant, we would be anonymous and perhaps identified by number only.
I was sent back down to wait to be called again for another jury, but they let everyone go around 3PM because no more juries were going to be sat that day.
Last edited by UpstaterInBklyn; 01-31-2010 at 08:46 PM..
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