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Jury Duty -.-'
- Thread starter MrCheeto
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see people say lie or do something like raciest crap argument both of which can get you in a huge amount of trouble.
If you want a very quick way to get kick off a jury selection pole and is useful in life is get a higher degree.
Engineering degrees tend to get kick out pretty quickly and people with master and Doctores tend to get kick out pretty quickly.
Reason being is Lawyers hate people with critical thinking skills because they are not likely to be able to swayed with the majority and are able to cut threw the BS.
Engineers have a lot of training in school to get critical thinking skills. People with masters + degrees tend to have good critical thinking skills so they are not liked.
Lawyers like stupid people with out degrees because they can trick them into believing BS. Their dog and pony show works better on them.
If you want a very quick way to get kick off a jury selection pole and is useful in life is get a higher degree.
Engineering degrees tend to get kick out pretty quickly and people with master and Doctores tend to get kick out pretty quickly.
Reason being is Lawyers hate people with critical thinking skills because they are not likely to be able to swayed with the majority and are able to cut threw the BS.
Engineers have a lot of training in school to get critical thinking skills. People with masters + degrees tend to have good critical thinking skills so they are not liked.
Lawyers like stupid people with out degrees because they can trick them into believing BS. Their dog and pony show works better on them.
Runaway Jury is. (Was also made into a movie for those that can't take the time to sit down and read the book.) The other one is about a rape/murder case.
Lots of unwarranted cynicism and overly broad generalizations in this thread. Believe it or not, there are some cases in which the attorneys want critical thinkers and educated people as jurors. There are cases in which there is a genuine dispute as to what the appropriate outcome should be. In those cases, the attorneys involved will want sharp, smart people hearing the case.
As an aside, in my experience, people who have served on juries tend to enjoy the experience. To the OP, I would say to go to the courthouse with an open mind, give honest responses to any questions you are asked, and you'll probably find it to be an interesting and enlightening experience.
Someone I work with is in her early 20s and has been called about 4 or 5 times by now. Yet, my dad, who is in his 60s, has never been called, and yes, he's a registered voter. I guess some have better luck with random selection than others.
<critical thinking>
Three sentences, all saying essentially the same thing.
</very critical thinking>
*touches wood* (not THAT wood rdowns )
Despite having lived at the same address for more than a decade I've not actually been summoned to be on a jury. My brother has been asked twice in the same period. Completely random selection really.
Not that I'm complaining. As a one-man business I'd worry about the lost income.
)Despite having lived at the same address for more than a decade I've not actually been summoned to be on a jury. My brother has been asked twice in the same period. Completely random selection really.
Not that I'm complaining. As a one-man business I'd worry about the lost income.
Jury Duty's great. I've only been on a jury once. The trial was for a hit and run. GUILTY! ...They're ALL guilty!
On a related note, I've allways wanted to call a Judge, "Your Majesty" during court.
On a related note, I've allways wanted to call a Judge, "Your Majesty" during court.
Be insane or of bad moral character. It's the easiest, yet least used excuse. One of the requirements of a juror is: Be of sound mind and good moral character.
You can't us the "me no speak Engrish" excuse, since your English on the forum is good enough for government work.
Anyhow, I've received dozens of jury summons over the years (3 this year alone!
). I see it as a good excuse to take a day off.
I've heard this as well, but I never heard why. Many of my co-workers get summoned, only to be sent home early. Selection onto a jury seems to be a bit rare.
Engineer - check.
Master's degree - double check.
Looks like I'll NEVER get picked for a jury.
I never understood why people are always trying to get out of jury duty; I'd LOVE to do it. I've only ever been called in one time, that was about 12 years ago, and I was never placed into a pool for questioning; I was dismissed after just a few hours of hanging around the courthouse.
I've heard this as well, but I never heard why. Many of my co-workers get summoned, only to be sent home early. Selection onto a jury seems to be a bit rare.
Engineer - check.
Master's degree - double check.
Looks like I'll NEVER get picked for a jury.
I never understood why people are always trying to get out of jury duty; I'd LOVE to do it. I've only ever been called in one time, that was about 12 years ago, and I was never placed into a pool for questioning; I was dismissed after just a few hours of hanging around the courthouse.
I did some googling on it. It is because if one side feels their case is weak they will use their no question ask throw outs to dump the engineers and professionals.
If it is middle of the road and both sides plan to play on emotions again throw out the engineers and professionals because of their critical thinking skills.
Remember it is a dog and pony show and people like engineers see threw it better to the facts hence the reason one side or the other likes to throw them out.
I've served maybe 6 or 7 times over the years. Got picked to be on a jury 3 times. Was tossed off by lawyers all three times. Seems they don't like outgoing, opinionated people on juries. Who knew?
Sadly, in my experience, much of that rings true. My last time serving, the plantiff's lawyer tried to "trick" us by asking a boat load of hypothetical questions of a key hostile witness. It almost worked. Luckily, we had specific instructions on hypotheticals from the judge which enabled us to convince enough of our fellow jurors to get a verdict.
....You can't us the "me no speak Engrish" excuse, since your English on the forum is good enough for government work.
....)
indeed, I was in a jury selection pool recently and one man tried very hard not to understand a word of english......didn't work for him tho
ever been on a jury?
I was on one several months ago and we had several enigeers, an architect, a doctor and several small business owners.......I think you got burned on your google search
to the OP;
bring a book or some magazines to read.......you spend a lot of time sitting and waiting for something to happen while you're waiting for the selection process to move forward......and there will be plenty of sitting and waiting if you get selected too
Bahahahahahahahahaha hahaha... ahah... puh HAH hahahahahahahahahaha... haha... heh... *cough* hm, well. I'm not even going to touch that one.
I don't mind doing jury duty, even though it's kind of a pain in the ass. Been called three times. Twice the lawyers reached a deal before trial, and once we sat through all the testimony and went to the deliberation room, where we were told to wait. I don't know what the other jurors were thinking, but I was ready to vote guilty. Apparently the defendant didn't think the trial went well for him either because an hour later they came in and told us that he'd changed his plea and we should go home.
I think the last time was really my last...at least until I can afford hearing aids. I'm becoming rather hard of hearing. I function well enough if I can ask someone to repeat themselves, but I think a judge would get annoyed if I did that all day in court.
I think the last time was really my last...at least until I can afford hearing aids. I'm becoming rather hard of hearing. I function well enough if I can ask someone to repeat themselves, but I think a judge would get annoyed if I did that all day in court.
Try saying that three times real fast.
That was my favourite of all his books. The movie was okay in it's own right, but can only be enjoyed when not compared to the book. Grisham's really lost his edge in recent years
/digress
Thread Revival
Had jury duty recently. Third time in 5 years but have never sat on a jury. Note, we lived in Minneapolis for 27 years and were not called once for jury duty. I wonder what is going on here in Texas.
It was a case where a black man was accused of attempted rape of another adult, don't know the ethnicity of the accuser. That's all I'll say about it. First off, the Prosecuting Attorney made an argument to explain "beyond reasonable doubt" and "attempted", what I consider a terrible argument. The police see men with masks about to enter a store with guns. Based on this they could be arrested for attempted robbery. This no less, in an open carry state. Holy crap, was the prosecutor stupid or am I? :-\
Anyway, the jury candidates were asked if we could accept testimony from one individual as enough reason to convict. Based on my background in the USN based on legitimate sexual harassment cases and false accusations, without some evidence more than testimony, I said I could not. This probably eliminated me.
I'm probably going to catch **** for this, but at this point in my life (having never sat on a jury), I've decided I'll never will. First off I don't trust the neutrality of the system. Number two, these days I don't feel qualified to judge the testimony of all witnesses. They might be honest, maybe not, they might be sociopaths, liars with straight faces. I don't want to have to rely on the skill of the defense attorney to prove that point. Although I can't envision a better system for judging guilt, with people involved, with individuals testifying, testimony is based on personal perspective which routinely can be flawed. If I have a choice, I won't be part of a system that makes mistakes and won't be part of the process of ruining an innocent person's life, although I'm not implying that is the norm. That's just how I feel.
For reference, out of the pool which was quite large, there were plenty of people who were comfortable judging someone. They asked that too. BTW, it's very easy to get off a jury. When you are asked, can you accept the standard of beyond reasonable doubt all you have to say is no, your standard is higher than that, in essence, no doubt. And/or if you say it's contrary to your morality to sit in judgment of someone else. Or if you don't support the concept of parole. Poof, you gone. But if you say that, hopefully you mean it versus using it as an excuse to skate out. One important point, in my case they started with juror number 1 and ended with number 25 to get 13 jury members. My number was much higher than that, so it never got to me, so I'll never know for sure. If you have a low number and just sit there, without voicing your thoughts either lenient or harsh, you'll find yourself on the jury.
Had jury duty recently. Third time in 5 years but have never sat on a jury. Note, we lived in Minneapolis for 27 years and were not called once for jury duty. I wonder what is going on here in Texas.
It was a case where a black man was accused of attempted rape of another adult, don't know the ethnicity of the accuser. That's all I'll say about it. First off, the Prosecuting Attorney made an argument to explain "beyond reasonable doubt" and "attempted", what I consider a terrible argument. The police see men with masks about to enter a store with guns. Based on this they could be arrested for attempted robbery. This no less, in an open carry state. Holy crap, was the prosecutor stupid or am I? :-\
Anyway, the jury candidates were asked if we could accept testimony from one individual as enough reason to convict. Based on my background in the USN based on legitimate sexual harassment cases and false accusations, without some evidence more than testimony, I said I could not. This probably eliminated me.
I'm probably going to catch **** for this, but at this point in my life (having never sat on a jury), I've decided I'll never will. First off I don't trust the neutrality of the system. Number two, these days I don't feel qualified to judge the testimony of all witnesses. They might be honest, maybe not, they might be sociopaths, liars with straight faces. I don't want to have to rely on the skill of the defense attorney to prove that point. Although I can't envision a better system for judging guilt, with people involved, with individuals testifying, testimony is based on personal perspective which routinely can be flawed. If I have a choice, I won't be part of a system that makes mistakes and won't be part of the process of ruining an innocent person's life, although I'm not implying that is the norm. That's just how I feel.
For reference, out of the pool which was quite large, there were plenty of people who were comfortable judging someone. They asked that too. BTW, it's very easy to get off a jury. When you are asked, can you accept the standard of beyond reasonable doubt all you have to say is no, your standard is higher than that, in essence, no doubt. And/or if you say it's contrary to your morality to sit in judgment of someone else. Or if you don't support the concept of parole. Poof, you gone. But if you say that, hopefully you mean it versus using it as an excuse to skate out. One important point, in my case they started with juror number 1 and ended with number 25 to get 13 jury members. My number was much higher than that, so it never got to me, so I'll never know for sure. If you have a low number and just sit there, without voicing your thoughts either lenient or harsh, you'll find yourself on the jury.
We have them here too, my mother has had to go twice. Some times you don't even get selected. I had to go once, but i had the doctor write me a medical certificate to get out of it.
I just tell them I'm an atheist on anti-anxiety meds and usually gets me out of it. Jurys consist of lowest common denominator citizens, designed by both the defense and prosecution to be that way, and I want no part of it.
I've been called 4 times for jury duty and was seated on a jury 2 of those times. One was a criminal trial which I hated with a passion and I have vowed to never be seated again for one. I'll just plead that I would be too biased to serve on a jury if it's a criminal trial, which probably will get me out of serving. The civil trial was OK and it was kind of fun walking around Downtown Detroit during lunch break. I was also nice to meet other jurors and most of them were professional workers with good paying jobs.
My first jury summons was a pretty funny one, I was 19 and I was going on vacation in a couple of weeks, so I really didn't want to be seated. Well, when I first was led into the courtroom the judge explained the seating process and one of the things she said was "Going on vacation was no excuse of getting out of serving". I thought to myself "Great, just my luck my jury number will be called". Sure enough my number was called and I was potential juror number 9. It was a civil trial and the case involved a lady police officer suing the Detroit Police Department for sexaul harrasment. Anyways, they got down to picking the jury, so the lawyers were asking jurors questions. They were asking the juror in front of me a bunch of questions then there was silence. The judge then asked the lady's lawyers if they wanted to excuse any juror and they said they would like to dismiss juror number 9. That was me! (Each side had 2 non-challenges where they didn't have to ask any questions to a juror and I was one of them.) I was so excited to be called that I bolted up from my seat and started to leave, when all of a sudden I heard "Where do you think you're going Mr. Pepp? I haven't dismissed you yet!" I quickly said "I'm sorry your honor, I didn't mean to do that" Then she gave me a quick lecture on courtroom etiquette and finally dismissed me. As the bailiff was opening the door, he quietly said while laughing "In my 30+ years I have never seen a juror get out of his/her seat as fast as you did."
My first jury summons was a pretty funny one, I was 19 and I was going on vacation in a couple of weeks, so I really didn't want to be seated. Well, when I first was led into the courtroom the judge explained the seating process and one of the things she said was "Going on vacation was no excuse of getting out of serving". I thought to myself "Great, just my luck my jury number will be called". Sure enough my number was called and I was potential juror number 9. It was a civil trial and the case involved a lady police officer suing the Detroit Police Department for sexaul harrasment. Anyways, they got down to picking the jury, so the lawyers were asking jurors questions. They were asking the juror in front of me a bunch of questions then there was silence. The judge then asked the lady's lawyers if they wanted to excuse any juror and they said they would like to dismiss juror number 9. That was me! (Each side had 2 non-challenges where they didn't have to ask any questions to a juror and I was one of them.) I was so excited to be called that I bolted up from my seat and started to leave, when all of a sudden I heard "Where do you think you're going Mr. Pepp? I haven't dismissed you yet!" I quickly said "I'm sorry your honor, I didn't mean to do that" Then she gave me a quick lecture on courtroom etiquette and finally dismissed me. As the bailiff was opening the door, he quietly said while laughing "In my 30+ years I have never seen a juror get out of his/her seat as fast as you did."
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