I Just Had An Interesting Jury Duty Experience

[Calamity Kris]

This was my introduction to jury duty here in Florida.  It was quite the experience and it had an unusual twist.  All I can tell you about the case is it was a federal case involving more than one defendant in which a person perished. 

 

Upon reporting we were sent to the Jury room.  It had about 300 chairs, free coffee, a water cooler and snack machines.  We had to wait there until they called us upstairs to the courtroom, depending on which trial we were slated as a jurist candidate.  Once they were ready in the courtroom, they took us up to our assigned room and we had to wait on "retired" courtroom benches lined along the windows in the narrow hallway until such time as they were ready for us in the courtroom.  Once they were ready, we were called inside and assigned seating on benches in a specific numerical order.  The right and center of the room had 5 rows of 7 panelists in each row and the left side was 5 rows of 4 panelists each.  The prosecutor started with asking the questions to determine out suitability.  Wednesday all day and Thursday afternoon was the questioning the panelists phase where we had to listen to the repeated question, can you be impartial, blah, blah, blah.  By Friday morning they had whittled the over 250 down to about 100.  Since questioning each individual jurist was taking exorbitant amounts of time, the prosecutor started asking the same question to each of the three sections of panelists, "stand up if you have ever served on a jury before........"  The prosecutor would then ask the details and if they could be impartial.

 

When the prosecutor asked the question, "have you or anyone in your family been convicted of a crime?", that is where things got interesting.  In the right and center sections, she asked the standing persons about their situations and their ability to be impartial.   The left section was different..  She got to one gentleman and he answered that his father had been deported when he was in middle school for drug trafficking.  The prosecutor asked if he could be impartial, he said yes.  He then said, "I have another question.  I don't know if this is the place for it or not but......" The judge and prosecutor both said go ahead and ask.  He started, "What about protection for jurors?  How long will you keep our names a secret etc.  I have a 5 year old and an 11 year old and I fear retribution...." The prosecutor and the judge very calmly answered the question explaining how long the names would be kept private etc.  He seemed satisfied with the answer.  As he was asking the question, I looked over at the defense attorneys.  Their eyes were as big as saucers.  As soon as the judge and prosecutor finished with the answer, the defense attorneys requested to approach the bench.  The judge turned the white noise blast on so there was no possibility of jury pool hearing what was being said.  I leaned over to the gent next to me and said, "We're done.  They will be sending us home".  Shortly thereafter, they called for a "comfort" break and we were told to meet in the hallway in 20 minutes.  Unbeknownst to me, they held the gentleman who posed the question back.  45 minutes later, the deputy came out and told us to go to lunch.  We were to meet back in the jury room in an hour and a half.  That was to be 1:00.  At 2:15, the judge came into the room and thanked us for our time.  We were all being dismissed.  They will start again Monday with a whole new group of candidates.  

 

As we were leaving, the gentleman I whispered to said, "you called it".  I said there was no choice.  The jury pool was tainted.  Most of us were very disappointed and some went as far as irritated that it ended this way.  We had all taken several days to a week away from our jobs and families to have it all tossed out.

Edited July 18 by Calamity Kris

[Doc Shapiro]

This happens, went through a similar thing in CA.

[watab kid]

me too m- but i think you just identified the issue - the identities had already been released and they could not protect you - better to release you and call another pool up 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

A good story, Kris!

 

FWIW, ol' Hardpan don' do Jury Doody no mo'.  I had a summons about three years ago, and had a trip planned for the date I was to appear.  So, I filled out the request to re-schedule that accompanied the summons - and one of the questions asked was age.  I entered my age... and never heard from them again.  It seems that if you ask for a reschedule and are age 70 or over, you're permanently removed from the eligible pool.  Although in a discussion with our DA, she told me that I could request to be added back in - "We need people like you!"  Uh... just never seemed to get around to it.  I think I've served enough.

 

Many years ago, while living in San Francisco, I received a summons from the Federal Court.  So, on the appointed day and time I presented myself.  Over a hundred of us were in the room, and we were told that we were all candidates for a Federal Grand Jury.  Oh, wow!  This could be cool!

 

So, after interviewing at least 75 of us, I was literally the last person selected for the actual jury - then four alternates were also picked.  And then came the "Yikes!" moment:  We were advised that we were going to investigate a single case - antitrust!  Can you say "Boring?"  And the proceeding was expected to last SIX MONTHS!!

 

Fortunately, we only met the last week of every month - the U S Attorney's had a lot of work the other three weeks.  Anyway, at the end of our six month endenturement, one of the Attorney's stood and read us a bunch of legal stuff that said that they had the right to extend our service - and we were going to be there ANOTHER SIX MONTHS!  

 

And of course, at the end of that period, once again... "We have the right to extend your service an additional six months and we are doing so."

 

But to top it off - at the end of a year and a half, the U S Attorney's said that they had "determined that there was not enough evidence for them to request any indictments"; we were thanked and dismissed.

 

For better or worse, I lost my job.  Missing almost an entire week every month was hard for my employer to accept, so they simply eliminated my position - no recourse, but I was welcome to apply for unemployment.

 

Oh... the "case?"  Simple, hard-working commercial fishermen were being investigated for "price fixing!"  And in the end, it was literally nothing more than these poor dudes passing in the coffee shop before heading out each day before dawn: 

 

"Hey, Ralph - think we'll get at least seventy-five cents a pound for crabs today?"

 

"Well Bob, if we don't, I'm a-dumping mine back into the water!"

 

Aarrgghh...!  

[Subdeacon Joe]

@Calamity Kris

 

Great story. And it highlights one of my gripes about our system...the massive waste of time. Asking each juror individually the same boilerplate questions, when they could be asked as a group.  The really long breaks, often lasting much longer than the stated period.

 

An 8 hour day ends up with maybe 3 hours of actual trial.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Last jury call I had, yes they knew I was a former LEO, was for a big drug bust.

They read off the arresting officers names. We were asked if we personally knew any of them.

My SIL was the Sgt and leader of the team, I knew everyone on his team.

The court room went silent, and the Judge chuckled while the DA and the defending attorney turned around staring at me.

I was released immediately .  😂🤣

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

My wife worked for a well known attorney who was one of the most intelligent men I ever knew...and he thought that my wife was the best paralegal he had ever had working for him.  I was working for myself with three partners and taking time off for jury calls was simply very expensive for me.

 

After the third call in four months I was at lunch with his office staff and mentioned this problem.  After lunch he called me into his office and asked me a few questions:  How old I was (54), do you have a very "severe-looking" suit (several...and was making good enough money that I could afford some really great custom suits), do you have any horn rimmed eyeglasses (yes - I was still wearing glasses at the time), and a few more.

 

"Okay, Tom, here's your solution."

 

He told me to get a dark gray or Navy blue  suit with very light narrow pinstripes, a plain white lightly starched shirt with a conventional collar.  If you have a matching vest, wear it.

Wear a dark red necktie with a small pattern and tie it with a double Windsor knot.   Use one of your Marine tie bars,

Wear your black cowboy boots and polish them until they glisten.

Wear an America flag lapel pin, a small one.

If you have a frat pin wear it on your shirt

Wear your Army ring, the one your kids gave you.

Wear your Gruen Curvex wristwatch and put one of your fountain pens in your pocket.

Get your hair cut shorter and have a business man's manicure.

Bring a gun magazine with you.

When you get there go like a Marine Corps walking tall, make yourself look very professional.

Check in and go sit down as far from anyone else as possible and open your magazine and read it, and sit up straight.

If you still have that little leather pocket notebook take it out just once and make a note about something you read in the magazine.

Be polite but don't talk to anyone if you can avoid it.  Smile only if necessary and stay aloof.

Don't fidgit, sit up straight, and don't make eye contact if you can avoid it.

 

I did exactly what he told me.

 

About ten minutes after I sat down a bailiff came and asked my name and walked away.  Within a few minutes he came back and said "Mister Taylor, you have been dismissed.  I'll walk you out, sir."

 

When we got out side I asked if he knew why I had been dismissed.  He grinned and said "Sir, look at yourself.  You look like Joe Conservative and no Defense Attorney in this world would want you on a jury."

 

A couple of weeks later I got a letter informing me that I was excused from any jury duty in California.  Shortly after I turned seventy I got another one saying essentially the same thing.

 

I was only in a courtroom twice again when I was called as an "expert witness" for the defense on two cases involving guns.  Both defendants were found innocent, maybe because of my testimony, but having really good lawyers didn't hurt, either.  

Edited July 18 by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[Calamity Kris]

3 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

@Calamity Kris

 

Great story. And it highlights one of my gripes about our system...the massive waste of time. Asking each juror individually the same boilerplate questions, when they could be asked as a group.  The really long breaks, often lasting much longer than the stated period.

 

An 8 hour day ends up with maybe 3 hours of actual trial.

 

That was my big gripe as well.  We didn't have to report until 2:00PM on Thursday so I went in to work on Thursday morning @ 4:30AM because we had an important deadline to meet.  So after 8 hours of work, I had to go and sit around twiddling my thumbs while all the background drama went on.  By the time they let us go at 5:30, I was exhausted, still had close to an hour drive home, and get dinner going etc. once I arrived.    That made for a super long day and I was not happy about it.

 

The hallway outside the courtroom was very narrow so obtaining seating on the benches close to the courtroom door was difficult at best.  Some people saw me with a cane and offered their seat to me.  Others did not.  It was very difficult to stand for over an hour at times.  

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

My only jury experience was living in a small town. I was walking downtown around noon before going to work at 3pm. A Deputy approached me and asked if I was a resident of the county. I answered yes and was directed to go to the courthouse at 1pm. They had gone through the jury pool and needed more. They never got to me but they were asking if people knew any of the participants. I recognized one of the attorneys because my wife was playing the flute in a local production of "Charlie Brown". The attorney played Charlie.

[Stump Water]

My one time was over 30 years ago.  Criminal trial.  Dentist accused of "taking liberties" with female patients under anesthesia.  When it was my time to be interviewed...

 

Defense Atty: "Do you know the defendant?"

Me: "No."

Defense Atty: (feigned surprise) "The defendant lives in the same town you do, and you don't know him!?"

Me: "What part of 'no' don't you understand?"

 

I was dismissed.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

I've posted this before, (just back on July 9th), but since we're sharing, I once got off of a Murder trial. It was so high profile that they had all prospective Jurors fill out a 3 or 4 page questionnaire before they ever started actual interviews. One of the questions was about hobbies or groups you were associated with. I answered that I was a member of the NRA, GOA, the Single Action Shooting Society, and a faithful listener of Rush Limbaugh. Never heard back from them.  

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

My last jury experience, about ten years ago, pretty much soured me on the system.  I was summoned and somewhat surprisingly, selected.  The trial was for a "gentleman" (he was not) charged with a severe felony - rape.  We were told to expect the trial to take most of a week.  It lasted a month.

 

To put it bluntly, the experience was less than enjoyable.  But for the victim, it was obviously horrific.  Demeaning, humiliating, and worse.  Probably worse than the original crime.

 

Well, we found him guilty on most counts.  A date was scheduled for sentencing.  But then, the now-convicted  defendent hired a new lawyer, and requested a new trial based on a claim of inadequate representation for his first.  Amazingly, his request was granted - by the same judge who'd heard the case.

 

The victim understandably refused to participate in another trial.  Game over.

 

What a farce.      

 

 

 

 

     

Edited July 18 by Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967

[Seldom Seen #16162]

My turn was a civil lawsuit. Rural fire department was helping a farmer with a controlled burn which is common on Kansas. Wind shifted and fire jumped the fence into a large pasture of tall grass causing a huge grass fire that took several hours to put out. A neighbor had some trees burn and was suing the fire department for $1,500. Yep $1,500. His attorney even brought in a expert witness that was teacher or something at a college that was 2-3 hour drive away. I don't remember how much the witness was paid. Got to figure lawyer and expert witness fee was well pver$1,500. 

 

First few people.questioned obviously didn't want jury duty so they said they couldn't find someone guilty so the jury the rest of us stuck on the jury. The other jurors were frightening.

 

The worst one was a school teacher. When we walked into the room she said she didn't know why she was on the jury because her husband was a fireman and firemen never make mistakes. That split the jury 50/50. We spent two days in pointless "deliberations" and the case ended in a huge jury.

 

As gun owner this was a very disturbing case. The school teacher refused to be objective. Her position was firefighters never make mistakes. With someone or someone's that are anti gun they would come into the room with the attitude all guns are bad meaning they are going to ignore the defense arguments and facts. Just guns are bad therefore since the defendant had a gun they did a bad thing. The best outcome would be a hung jury.

 

I am on the list to be called for jury duty in October. My answers will depend on the case. I am not going to sit through another few burned tree case.

 

Edited July 18 by Seldom Seen #16162

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Maybe 30 years ago, I was called.   We were welcomed and it was explained to us it was one day or one trial.  That's the rule in Massachusetts.   Wait here till you are called in to see if you'll be seated on a jury.   At noon they told us to go to lunch and be back by 1:15.  At about 1:30, someone came out and said no juries being seated today.   Thank you all for coming.  Go home.  You can not be called again for 5 years.  

I have duty again next Tuesday.  But I am to call on Monday to see if I need to report or not.

Jury selection is one of the few things Massachusetts does right.

[watab kid]

16 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

A good story, Kris!

 

FWIW, ol' Hardpan don' do Jury Doody no mo'.  I had a summons about three years ago, and had a trip planned for the date I was to appear.  So, I filled out the request to re-schedule that accompanied the summons - and one of the questions asked was age.  I entered my age... and never heard from them again.  It seems that if you ask for a reschedule and are age 70 or over, you're permanently removed from the eligible pool.  Although in a discussion with our DA, she told me that I could request to be added back in - "We need people like you!"  Uh... just never seemed to get around to it.  I think I've served enough.

 

Many years ago, while living in San Francisco, I received a summons from the Federal Court.  So, on the appointed day and time I presented myself.  Over a hundred of us were in the room, and we were told that we were all candidates for a Federal Grand Jury.  Oh, wow!  This could be cool!

 

So, after interviewing at least 75 of us, I was literally the last person selected for the actual jury - then four alternates were also picked.  And then came the "Yikes!" moment:  We were advised that we were going to investigate a single case - antitrust!  Can you say "Boring?"  And the proceeding was expected to last SIX MONTHS!!

 

Fortunately, we only met the last week of every month - the U S Attorney's had a lot of work the other three weeks.  Anyway, at the end of our six month endenturement, one of the Attorney's stood and read us a bunch of legal stuff that said that they had the right to extend our service - and we were going to be there ANOTHER SIX MONTHS!  

 

And of course, at the end of that period, once again... "We have the right to extend your service an additional six months and we are doing so."

 

But to top it off - at the end of a year and a half, the U S Attorney's said that they had "determined that there was not enough evidence for them to request any indictments"; we were thanked and dismissed.

 

For better or worse, I lost my job.  Missing almost an entire week every month was hard for my employer to accept, so they simply eliminated my position - no recourse, but I was welcome to apply for unemployment.

 

Oh... the "case?"  Simple, hard-working commercial fishermen were being investigated for "price fixing!"  And in the end, it was literally nothing more than these poor dudes passing in the coffee shop before heading out each day before dawn: 

 

"Hey, Ralph - think we'll get at least seventy-five cents a pound for crabs today?"

 

"Well Bob, if we don't, I'm a-dumping mine back into the water!"

 

Aarrgghh...!  

 

 

huh - well over 70 so maybe thayts why ive not been called upon in the last few years 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

Now that I'm retired, I wouldn't mind being called for Jury Duty.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

1 hour ago, watab kid said:

 

huh - well over 70 so maybe thayts why ive not been called upon in the last few years 

 

We "seasoned citizens" tend to have worldly views not much in synch with them modern upstarts.  Like an appreciation of concepts like responsibility and ethics and morals and such.  🙄

[Irish Pat]

my dad was the bailiff for years and I am buddy with all the courthouse bunch. Judge Boyd reminded that two things everyone needs that no one wants is 6 pallbearers and 12 jurors

[Irish Pat]

I was in the juror pool once and went mainly to hang out knowing I would not get seated. The DA was putting a bunch of idiots on the jury.  I told him as such and I would volunteer to be on the jury. He said, “Pat, I don’t want people like you with brains that might become a Runaway Jury like in  the Grisham novels. I want a bunch I can tell them what to do!”

 

[watab kid]

17 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

 

We "seasoned citizens" tend to have worldly views not much in synch with them modern upstarts.  Like an appreciation of concepts like responsibility and ethics and morals and such.  🙄

yup , and a tsd outspoken about our views and opinions too , i call it curmudgeonly