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Joy of Joys! Jury Duty!


Subdeacon Joe

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Just now, Subdeacon Joe said:

OK, I get it.  Civic duty and all that.   But time to check in is 0930.   Half the bloody day is gone!

Federal or county?

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Tell 'em you need to use the bathroom a lot...

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1 hour ago, Smuteye John SASS#24774 said:

I just carry Louis L'Amour westerns to read.

 

And wear a suit and tie every day.

I don't own a suit...Might still have a tie....Just not sure where it is....I think I put it on about 45 years ago...Might be outdated...

 

Texas Lizard

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I once had the "grand mal" of jury doody sentences.  :(

 

Back in the early 80's, I received a summons to the Federal Court in San Francisco.  The only good part was that I actually lived in the city, but worked in Fremont - about an hour drive each way, or two+ hours via bus and BART. 

 

Anyway, I showed up on the appointed day, and found myself in a room packed with literally over a hundred prospect jurors.  And, by golly, I'll be dipped in snuff if I wasn't the last one empaneled.

 

On a Federal Grand Jury.

 

For six months.

 

Hearing an Antitrust cast.  Plainly, the most boring subject possible.

 

And, at the end of six months, the U S Attorney read us a speech declaring that they had the right to extend our service an additional six months.  Which they did.

 

And at the end of THAT six months, she read us the same speech again!

 

At the end of a year and a half, the attorneys declared that there was insufficient evidence to request an indictment; thank you all for your service.  

 

Now, we only met three or four days one week a month, but still... missing the equivalent of  twelve weeks of work in that period brought about a re-organization, and my management position was eliminated.  Oh well ~ on to other things.

 

Oh... so what was the case?  Literally, independent commercial fishermen from the little fishing village of  Crescent City (just below the Oregon border) were accused of "price fixing."  Bottom line?  It was nothing more than these hard-working, blue-collar boat owners passing each other in the coffee shop before heading out in the morning and having simple exchanges:  "So Fred, do ya think we'll get a fifty cents a pound for crab today?"

 

"Well, if we don't, I'm dumpin' 'em back overboard!"

 

"Yeah... me too!"

 

Sheesh.  Mebbe a hundred or more witnesses brought in at government expense and countless pages of written stuff we had to review.  What a perfect waste of time and taxpayer dollars.  :wacko:

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I was on jury duty maybe 10 years ago for a week. I was on three different cases, two plead out and one I was an extra. At the end of the week I told them I was self employed, they said go home!

I got summoned the next year and told them I was self employed and I was losing money. They excused me and never contacted me again,

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I will say the jury duty that I did on the Grand Jury in Clackamas County Oregon back in 2017 was very educational.  The duty was a full month, five days a week. I learned a great deal that month. A lot of what I learned was positive, but there was some negative too. Most of the negative was how much money, time and effort is wasted by police regarding druggies and a legal system that has a revolving door policy. 
 

I have done regular jury duty in Oregon, 3 different counties in California and in Charlotte, North Carolina. I have sat on a couple of panels and have been dismissed from a few due to my views on criminals and how they should be treated, but all in all the experiences weren’t bad, just inconvenient. 

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I've done it 3 times. Got selected for one Federal and 2 districts juries. Loved it! Plus it's a get out of work for a week ticket. Lol. I'd do it again, and again and again. I find the system fascinating. 

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I've done duty twice.  Three times?  I forget.  Was in the pool for a murder trial along with 200 others.  Didn't get selected.  I am currently on deck for March.  County level.  I'm looking forward to it.  Well, maybe.  My wife is on deck for the same time period.  They wouldn't have a husband and wife on the same panel, would they?

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You don’t expect lawyers to get up early do ya? 

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When I was on a jury in Connecticut, 2 guys lost their new landscaping businesses. Being self employed is not an excuse to avoid jury duty. Neither was the fact that I was the field supervisor for half the state for the phone company. It was only a week and still took 2 more to get my area back in shape. Also, cost the phone company thousands in fines for service outages! They did however compensate me 50 cents a day to be a juror!

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One of the times I was called was a high profile murder trial. They gave us a questionnaire to fill out. When it got to the part about hobbies, group memberships, and other activities, I put down that I was a member of the NRA, Gun Owners, of America, the Single Action Shooting Society, and a follower of Rush Limbaugh. Never heard back from them.     

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I took one tour of jury duty. I was empaneled on three different juries, one as foreman.

 

The county paid $10.00 a day and my employer paid full pay, (eight hours) for every day that I was on an actual jury. 
 

We had one case of criminal mischief/harassment that was so comical that we spent the entire sequester in tears, laughing.  The guy was guilty and there was little debate, but we DID go over all of the testimony before rendering our verdict.

 

What you see on television is nothing like what actually goes on in a criminal trial!!  I get a kick out of seeing some of the stuff they portray on the boob tube!!

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It used to be that law enforcement never even made it to the courtroom, because there was a 99% chance you would be excused once you got there.

 

Once in a very small county, a trooper WAS picked to be on the jury for a DUI trial that involved another trooper as the arresting officer. Well the other jurors made him the foreman! He stayed on the jury because they ran out of people in the jury pool, and he was one of the last to be called. 

 

Shortcake was picked for a domestic battery case where a husband beat his wife with one of those little souvenir baseball bats. One male on the jury said that wasn't a deadly weapon, and the defendant should not have been charged. Little Shortcake grabbed the bat and went up to him asking what side of his head he wanted her to use to prove her point?  He was convinced that he had erred in his estimation that it was not a deadly weapon. Guilty verdict.

 

A judge friend said a quick way to be excused was to point to the defendant and say, "He's here for a reason."

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12 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

OK, I get it.  Civic duty and all that.   But time to check in is 0930.   Half the bloody day is gone!

You have to show up ? All I ever had to do was call the court house after 5pm.

They did send me a survey once and I put on there that the courts, judges and lawyer were corrupt and never heard from them again

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2 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

When I was on a jury in Connecticut, 2 guys lost their new landscaping businesses. Being self employed is not an excuse to avoid jury duty. Neither was the fact that I was the field supervisor for half the state for the phone company. It was only a week and still took 2 more to get my area back in shape. Also, cost the phone company thousands in fines for service outages! They did however compensate me 50 cents a day to be a juror!

Being self employed was an excuse for me to get out of jury duty in Cuyahoga county, Ohio.
I’m a one man business and I don’t get paid if I don’t work, they understood that! B)
I did put in a week and that fulfilled my obligation. 

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County sent me summons on 3 occasions. Each time it seems the mailman lost it or the dog ate it. Finally got a notice if I didn't appear they would send a warrant for my arrest. I went. I was there an hour and they sent us home.

 

Recently I got a Federal notice. I tossed it.

A year later I got another Federal notice. I tossed it. Why because it said if your over 70 send it back and we'll take you off the list. I also noticed it said if I didn't respond they would arrest me.

 

So the arrest thing makes me mad. Its a Civic Duty thing. But if I choose not to how is that arrestable?

Besides, I'm well educated, conservative, with a strong commitment to the death penalty and as severe of a sentence that is allowed. I would never be put on a jury.

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One of the meds that I take is the "water pill". That got me out of jury duty. They didn’t want me making multiple trips to the head every hour. 

 

BS

 

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Jury duty is a PITA at best. I've served 3 times, a DWI, child custody case, and attempted capitol murder of a police officer. Have been summoned and dismissed several more time. I now live in a small town in a small county so don't get many. Oddly enough the child custody case here in Callahan Co. was the most time consuming. You just want to stand up and tell some stupid attorney "You've asked the witness the same question 5 times already. You think he'll change his testimony of you ask him once more?" :angry::angry: Move on already!!!!!

JHC

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Been called a few times, dismissed due to background all but once.  Alternate on a local murder trial. I was dismissed on that when the jury and final alternates were chosen.   What was interesting was being appointed as a Bailiff in the final year of the previous Sheriff's term.  That was interesting since there were various duties and an inside view of the proceedings.  Unpaid, ex milage but I'd do it again.

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8 hours ago, The Shoer 27979 said:

You have to show up ? All I ever had to do was call the court house after 5pm.

They did send me a survey once and I put on there that the courts, judges and lawyer were corrupt and never heard from them again

 

Yeah, I had to show up.  Had put it off three times already.  

Checked the website Sunday night.  Nope.

Monday night. Nope.

Tuesday night.  Show up at 0930.

 

So....

 

0930..... waiting
0945..... Get told that things were behind, come back at 1010.
1010..... waiting
1015...... Told to come back at 1045
1045...... Judge, recorder, bailiffs, prosecutor, defense attorney, defendant, show up, get introduced, we get pre-sworn, given the Jury Pep Talk by the judge.   Told to meet in Section (Court room) 2 at 1330.

Get into the hall and ask someone how the heck to get to the 2nd floor.  Empty pockets, take off belt.  Cheap ballpoint pens in my shirt pocket set off the metal detector.

Find courtroom and have a seat outside the door.

By some miracle jury selection starts on time!   Call 18, statements and questions by both attorneys, dismiss seven.   Call seven more.   Questions etc. Dismiss six.  Take 15 minute break.  Come back.  Call six.  Questions, etc.  Dismiss four.  Swear in jury.  Swear in alternates.  Kick the rest of us out at about 1620.   

I've done my civic duty.

 

And that is why I rather dislike the system.  Too much time waiting, too much chess playing by the attorneys.

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2 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Empty pockets, take off belt.  Cheap ballpoint pens in my shirt pocket set off the metal detector.

 

Back before 9/11, I was at work and checked my calendar. Dammit - I had jury duty that day in less than an hour!

 

I took off for the county courthouse (mind you, this was in southern ca with morning rush hour traffic) and made it just in time.

 

Well, since my last time at the courthouse (jury duty), they had installed metal detectors and x-ray machines

 

Since I was at work, I brought my soft briefcase along with some quickly acquired reading material. As they scanned my briefcase, the deputy on the monitor told the deputy at the end of the machine that there was a knife in the briefcase. He asked me to relinquish it until I left the building when I could pick it up.

 

I complied and gave him "a" knife. Well, I always carried a pocketknife on me but I also had a large Swiss Army knife, a leatherman, and a credit card multi tool with a blade in the briefcase. 

 

"He only asked for a knife!":rolleyes:

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2 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Yeah, I had to show up.  Had put it off three times already.  

Checked the website Sunday night.  Nope.

Monday night. Nope.

Tuesday night.  Show up at 0930.

 

So....

 

0930..... waiting
0945..... Get told that things were behind, come back at 1010.
1010..... waiting
1015...... Told to come back at 1045
1045...... Judge, recorder, bailiffs, prosecutor, defense attorney, defendant, show up, get introduced, we get pre-sworn, given the Jury Pep Talk by the judge.   Told to meet in Section (Court room) 2 at 1330.

Get into the hall and ask someone how the heck to get to the 2nd floor.  Empty pockets, take off belt.  Cheap ballpoint pens in my shirt pocket set off the metal detector.

Find courtroom and have a seat outside the door.

By some miracle jury selection starts on time!   Call 18, statements and questions by both attorneys, dismiss seven.   Call seven more.   Questions etc. Dismiss six.  Take 15 minute break.  Come back.  Call six.  Questions, etc.  Dismiss four.  Swear in jury.  Swear in alternates.  Kick the rest of us out at about 1620.   

I've done my civic duty.

 

And that is why I rather dislike the system.  Too much time waiting, too much chess playing by the attorneys.

Every time I go throw  metal detectors I set them off, I can be bare a$$ naked and still set them off

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One bright spot was the amazing patience of the workers.  So much that I wrote an email to the Sonoma County jury commissioner:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I was called to appear as a prospective juror today, 25 January, 2023.

 

I want to praise the patience and professionalism of the workers.

 

Announced that metal and glass containers were not allowed in the courtroom. Said it several times.

 

(Prospective juror holding up a metal water bottle)"Is this OK? It's empty." Or "It's only water." And about a dozen variations on that.

 

"Is it a metal or glass container?"

"It's not the content, it's the container." And a couple of variations on that.

 

That these ladies didn't go Gordon Ramsay on people after half a dozen repetitions and scream, "WHAT THE HELL ABOUT NO METAL OR GLASS DON'T YOU MORONS UNDERSTAND???" is amazing.

 

Cordially,

 

Group 14, #6884

p

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The last time I was called was just prior to our departure on a cruise.

I showed the clerk our paperwork from Holland America and he excused me.

After 3 prior calls to Jury Duty, three years apart, I was never called again.

That was 30 years ago, when I was 50.

 

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Something I would like to bring up to everyone to think about. 
 

If you ever end up on the Defendants bench the people on your jury panel are the ones that just couldn’t get out of jury duty or they are people that like jury duty and want it to last as long as possible.  
 

They are deciding your fate. 
 

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a jury you could count on? 

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37 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Something I would like to bring up to everyone to think about. 
 

If you ever end up on the Defendants bench the people on your jury panel are the ones that just couldn’t get out of jury duty or they are people that like jury duty and want it to last as long as possible.  
 

They are deciding your fate. 
 

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a jury you could count on? 

 

I was rather impressed with the range of people that were seated and questioned.  Business owners, managers, welders, ranchers, QA for high tech companies,.  I had run out of postponements, so I had to go in.  

Yeah, it's a PITA, but a civic duty that goes with being a citizen in our republic.  Sure, I grouse about it, mostly because of what I see as so much wasted time.  But, if I were in the dock I would want all that maneuvering and chess playing, I would want every edge my attorney could find to tame the awful power of the State.

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