Jury Duty

wow todau is my lucky day, i got a summons for jury duty today. so apart from spending all my time between now and the 8th of september wondering if the pauly shore classic, or 12 angry men is the more accurate portrayal of the legal system i want to hear stories of jury duty.
who's done it, who managed to get out of it (i might write some crap on the form and hope but i'm not really looking for ways to get out of it) anyone been involved in an actually interesting case?
i only know one person that's done it, and she sat around through 4 days of the defense arsing about and was released, she never actually saw the inside of the court room, joy!

Runaway Jury is quite possibly the greatest film of our time.


(This might be a lie).

I could think of better things to win. It's like the anti-lottery. I hope my name gets passed over every time.

I had Jury Duty a few months back I think it was like 14 days I was the dude that showed up hung over or still drunk, but it's ok I was an alternate.

i was called for jurt duty once, called out of work for the week, and they never called me in.... yeah, i was kinda pissed, but i got a week off out of it

I got called for jury dudy on a crack/drug case. We had over 100 pounds of weed sitting on our table when the case was over and it smelled sooo good. I learned more about smoking crack and peperation of crack then I ever wanted to know.
We also got involved in a case of witness tampering so it got prolonged but we didnt find that out until later. it took forever and I didnt get paid for shit.

oh just so you know, i'm in the UK, according to the form i can claim compensation of up to £55 a day for the first 10 days, for loss of earnings :o

sat for 9 days on a discrimination case against a black female who worked for the MBTA Boston.....only white male on the jury....was sympathetic and agreed to the verdict but not the judgement.....the panel was mostly white college students from places like Emerson, B.U., etc......they gave her $6,000,000.....

I don't think they understood the assignment.....I was bitterly disappointed and embarassed....sending a message of guilty and awarding compensation is one thing....looking like an idiot dispenser of justice is another....it was reduced on appeal to something more reasonable......$1,800,000 or so which was fair for time lost on the job.......

just be fair and don't try to be The Punisher....

i've always wanted to jury duty, but they always kick me out

hahaha

ok i am kinda hoping i can take the piss during selection and get 'released' (ie fuck off who the fuck would want you on a jury)

I havent but my mother had to do it for an armed robbery case

I've been summoned twice, but both times I was on vacation and didn't find out about it until long afterwards. So apparently, if you simply fail to show up, nothing will happen. I dunno.

Did it a couple of years ago. It was really boring- sat on 3 cases and 2 of them got dropped 'cos we'd heard inadmissable evidence... Shame, 'cos one of them was actually quite interesting.

The 3rd case was moderately interesting, but it involved a couple of kids and it seemed like one or both of them were lying through their teeth. Reaching a verdict took most of a day and it was a lot like 12 angry men- 8 out of 12 of the jury had decided before we'd even got to discussing it and their decision was based on a technicality of something the judge had said.

For the most part I sat around from 9am till 2pm doing nothing except sweating my nuts off in a hot waiting room for about a 9 days. Not very glamourous, but at least I got some money out of it... mwahaha...

Take a magazine with you just incase.

i've only gotten summoned once for jury duty. and i didn't even have to attend, since they never called back.

I was summoned for jury duty a total of FOUR times between 1997-1998, three times by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and once by the federal court system. You see, in Massachusetts they prey on college students regardless of whether or not they are full-time MA residents. I happened to be, so that meant my name was picked off of a former and then current school address, plus my home PO box.

Since my initial summons was for my home address and home court district, and it fell during the school year, I had it re-scheduled. Further summonses I had disqualified because I had already been summoned.

Finally the day came in January of 1998. Junior year at Boston U. I had to report for jury duty. In spite of being a student, I was selected to sit on a jury for a civil case on age discrimination.

Eight day trial. Eight fucking days. However, they were half days, and after your third day of service you got paid 50 bucks a day. When you're a poor college student that's a shitload of cash. So every morning at 8 sharp I reported to the Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge. In our jury panel there was a man who looked like k.d. lang and a woman who looked like John Travolta. I wish I were making this up.

I fell asleep numerous times in the jury box one day. I think I had been out partying the night before and never went home. The only person that napped more in that courtroom than myself was the judge. Er, ah... God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

It was the most boring eight days of my life. Eventually we found that the defendant, Mass General Hospital, had not practiced age discrimination, as several of the plaintiff's co-workers had actually been promoted within the last year, some were older and had been with the company just as long as he had been.

The only comic relief in the trial was the plaintiff's bargain-basement lawyer--he wore the same suit, three days in a row. He had a rip in the seam of the ass of his pants. One of the jurors told the bailiff in the jury room on the third day. Fourth day, new suit on the laywer.

Yeah, jury duty sucks. Try and get out of it if possible.

I've gotten summoned once from hawaii but I had already moved to california, and once from california but then I lost the form so I didn't respond. I knew I wouldn't have gotten picked anyway because I would have missed school and also I am a caretaker for my grandma.

You're totally wrong. That distinction goes to ..

Jury Duty.


which I was sure was the subject of this thread. Well can we AT LEAST start talking about Biodome?


[Edited on Jul 14, 2004 by malakai]

I put the poster up here, and I swear to god I know how to use the IMG tags, but for fucks sake she just won't take.




[Edited on Jul 14, 2004 by malakai]

I commute to another county to go to university everyday, so I just checked the box on the form that said that I was living away from home to go to school and they never contacted me again.

My boyfriend has his own way of getting out of it since we really can't afford taking time off work for jury duty. On our form there is a box to check if you will be out of town during the trial and then asks what days you will be available. He checks the box and notes that he will be available on Dec 25, Jan 1, and any other legal holiday he can think of.

I get called in for jury duty all the time. Fortunately I have kids to care for, so I don't have to go. Oh, and I've been convicted of a felony.

I just got The Summons in the mail. Someone convince me it's my civic duty to go, 'cause I'm currently thinking up ways to convince them it would be a financial hardship for me to miss one day of work. Technically, it won't be that much...but it's more of an insult. You want me to take an unpaid day off of work and compensate me $11? Get lost!

I was summoned for county court, got sent into a panel for a marijuana growing case. I didn't get pulled up to the box, and was sent back to the pool. Then they told us that the only other case that day was a murder case and they're still working on selection, and they might need some more from the pool. After about 15 minutes they said it was filled out and sent us all home. I was home before lunch.

It says on the notice that I could be done the same day, but I don't even want to show up for one day. If I don't get out of it and I'm selected for a week-long trial, there's no way in hell I'll do it at that point because then it really will be a financial burden.

Prosecuter: Is he guilty?

You: He got arrested didn't he?

Dismissed.