Jury Duty

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Danelle O'Shea

Joined
Mar 22, 2001
Messages
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I just finished three days of jury duty in a sexual assault on a child trial. Grueling! Definitely the most intense emotional experience I've had in a long time, maybe ever.

Does anyone else have any horror stories to tell about jury duty?

(I wrote a long winded post about the whole ordeal here, if you're that interested.)
 
Thats gotta be a hard thing to sit through.. I know how graphic the details get...

Not done any myself, but a friend of mine recently did Jury service on a GBH charge for a man who smashed a pint glass in his wifes face and completely lacerated her to ribbons...

Thing is, on the facts of the case, they could only agree to ABH, despite her horrific injuries, everyone wanted him to get charged for GBH, but the circumstances and evidence provided wasn't enough to prove beyond a doubt that it was Grevious Bodily Harm...

Its then that after their decision was passed to the judge that the court show the jury the list of any previous offences, which in this mans case, was absolutely huge... all of which had been assaults on women he'd been living with over the last 15 years...


Because of his previous, the judge gave him a year...


Absolutely sickening :mad:
 
Being in law enforcement, I'm pretty much immune, but my wife has served twice as an alternate.
She actually enjoyed the experience, and regretted that she didn't get to participate in the verdict.
 
I'm a lawyer, so I've always wanted to be on jury duty. I think it would help a lot with knowing what the jury really thinks. I've never even been called into it though.

My wife has been on three jury duties. One for federal court, one for county civil court and once for state criminal court.
 
I was called to jury once. Had to get up early, skip morning classes (I was a student at the time) and travel to the courthouse. Where I waited for a bit, then was told "thanks for showing up, go home, have a nice day". I have no idea why.

Here are the two "horror stories".
1. I was not able to carry a knife that day :eek: It felt so weird, like I left my wallet or pants at home.
2. None of my friends understood why I wanted to go. They told me that since I was a student I could just get out of it. Even one of my freaking professors told me that I should just not be bothered with jury duty! I was so ticked off! Its called jury DUTY for a reason! In the end I didn't have to serve, but I think its the thought that matters.
My thanks to everyone who has actually gotten the chance to serve on a jury and taken the effort to make the justice system work as well as it does.
 
A friend of mine had to go for jury duty for a child murder trial. The child was murdered after being molested. :(

My jury duty consisted of sitting in the Bel Air MD courthouse for most of the morning, reading a collection of short stories, and waiting for my name to come up. I was about 19 and didn't realize that you shouldn't stand there and listen to lawyers talking with their clients in hushed tones. I didn't hear anything but one of the lawyers came over to bs with me for a couple minutes. I also learned that courthouse vending machines are expensive and don't dole out your food. I finally was told to go home, my civic duty was up. I, being a no nothing teen, told the bailiff that I would be out of the country when my time came up for jury duty again. He knew what was up, and told me they'd find me.
 
Mine wasn't horrible at all. Just some creep who recklessly chased his ex-gf down the highway (in cars.) Since she was on the phone with 911, we had a recording of her while it was happening - screaming, trying to get away, being run off the road, etc.

Guilty, assault with a deadly weapon. (The car.)
 
I have always wanted to serve, but I always get excused because of the F.D.

I have been called 4 times for county service, and most recently, for federal service this last December.

After I filled out my forms for federal duty, I received a letter back stating that I would remain 'on call' for the month of December, but I would not be serving on a Jury due to my F.D. exemption.

Damn. I was hoping to send some dope dealer up the river.
 
I've only been on jury duty once and was empaneled for a drunk driving case. The guy pled out right before the trial began so we only had to sit through about 5 minutes of the judge's dry musings about jury duty.

Thanks for doing your civic duty.
 
I think jury duty is one of those things that people who have never experienced are a little excited about. They think it will be a heated, passionate trial like on TV, and that the jurors will all be able to work together to solve the case. People who have experienced it (most of the time) don't have such an interesting case if they even get picked at all, so they think it's a PITA. I'd like to give it try!

Good work, Danelle!
 
I've been called to jury duty twice, but never had to serve. Once, when I was very young, I was excused during the picking process and the second time, the defendant didn't show up for trial. Great decision on his part, huh?

I read your description of the trial, Danelle. It was fascinating. It's hard to believe that anyone could be cold hearted enough to ruin someone's life and put them in prison for many years, all without any compassion, I suppose. The young man you mention as the accused still has many problems, even though he's been found not guilty. His reputation is surely soiled, if not ruined, as his family will never trust him again, at least not the same way as before. Think of all the hard feelings and how many people still ask themselves if he really did it. Some people who never go to the trouble of finding out all the facts might think you jurors made a mistake. Also, this guy lost his home because of this accusation. I hope he has some legal recourse to obtain just compensation for his loss.

It's unbelievable that someone's life could be trashed just so a young idiot can be "made" into a gang. But, looking at the news of the recent past, think of what has happened to those Lacrosse players at Duke University. Because of one promiscuous and drunken prostitute and the political ambitions of a morally comprimised prosecutor, their lives were held in limbo for at least a year and it has cost their families a small fortune in defence fees to fight the accusations. I guess this could be considered another form of violence.
 
Twice for me too. The first time I spent four hours in a waiting room with other jurors and then we were told to go home. The second time I got as far as being interviewed by the defendants lawyer and got called back the next day for the trial. Before being called into the court room, the whole thing was over with a guilty plea. Oh well...:jerkit:
 
I went in just this past Monday. Was an aggrivated assult with a gun. But,,,I was the 56th of 65 jurist So didnt get selected... I wanted to sit on that one too.... Last one I got to sit on was a drug dealing charge. Defendant lawyer manipulated jurist to where there was one black (woman) amont the rest white, hisp, and asian. The defendant was black. Black woman hung the jury with a not guilty.

Turns out she thought he would get off with a hung jury. She didn't understand that he would be retried.... She was pissed when that was pointed out by the judge. Afterwards, was raising hell in the hall. She actually almost started a fight with one of the asian ladies till a couple of us guys stepped up to her. she decided to leave. We escorted some of the ladies to their cars.

Takes all kinds....
 
I have always been able to get out of jury duty. Being self employed I can not aford to be out of work for up to two weeks. $28 a day does not quite cover my expenses.
 
After a couple of times of being called for jury duty, being "empaneled" but not selected I got to chatting with some friends. Their comment: "You're too smart!" Ok, I am a high school valedictorian, an MIT graduate plus a graduate engineering degree from Purdue. So what? Does this mean that I am unable to evaluate testimony? My friends tell me that the lawyers are looking for folks they can manipulate, not someone who might be able to think. If so, this is a sad situation.

One of the cases for which I was called involved a child who apparently ran into the path of a car and was seriously and permanently disabled - a very sad case. Noting that I have seven kids. the defense attorney quizzed me about "Did I have rules regarding our kids behavior." My response was something like, "We focused on expectation of behavior rather than rules." I was dismissed.

This "lowest common denominator" mentality is troubling to me.
 
For child molestation and possession of kiddie porn... We found him guilty for two out of three counts... and then found out this was his third conviction! Seems the Prosecutor can't tell ya about past convictions as it "clouds yer judgement!" :mad:
 
I was called twice. I once make it to the selection process but was dismissed because of a family LEO member. A couple charged with cocaine possession. Probably a good thing I wasn't selected, they looked guilty as sin..
 
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