The Jury Duty Experience

pandora

I like hearing all the stories

I too was picked one time. It was a rape case of an underage girl. I was happy about getting chosen but a little worried about it being a rape case, I think she was 14. Very early on in the trial, can't remember if it was the prosecutor or the defense lawyer or a witness but one of them said something that we pretty much knew immediately wasn't something we should have heard. We all looked at each other like oops :? they hurried us back in the jury room, had us sit for what seemed forever then said we were dismissed. I think he plead to a lessor charge or something. I was a little relieved but also disappointed to have made it that far. I hope I get chosen again in my lifetime. I think it a pretty cool experience.

uninnocent-

i was picked and sat on a first-degree murder trial for two months last autumn. it was definitely an experience that i wouldn't trade in for anything. yeah, it was gruesome and played with emotions, but it definitely helped define who i've been since.

pandora

uninnocent- wrote:

i was picked and sat on a first-degree murder trial for two months last autumn. it was definitely an experience that i wouldn't trade in for anything. yeah, it was gruesome and played with emotions, but it definitely helped define who i've been since.

Wow that would be a life changing experience. A long commitment that must be all encompassing and then you can not even talk to anyone about it while you are living through it all. And you have someone's future in your hands also. It seems you look at the experience in a very positive way, that is good.

uninnocent-

pandora wrote:

uninnocent- wrote:

i was picked and sat on a first-degree murder trial for two months last autumn. it was definitely an experience that i wouldn't trade in for anything. yeah, it was gruesome and played with emotions, but it definitely helped define who i've been since.

Wow that would be a life changing experience. A long commitment that must be all encompassing and then you can not even talk to anyone about it while you are living through it all. And you have someone's future in your hands also. It seems you look at the experience in a very positive way, that is good.

...AND my girlfriend of 6 years broke up with me halfway through the trial, and i couldn't even talk about that with the people that i was seeing day-in and day-out.

i still can't even talk about a lot of what happened as canadian law tells us that we cannot share what occurred in the jury room. it was definitely one of the most bittersweet experiences in my life, but i'm glad i went through it all.

pandora

uninnocent- wrote:

pandora wrote:

uninnocent- wrote:

i was picked and sat on a first-degree murder trial for two months last autumn. it was definitely an experience that i wouldn't trade in for anything. yeah, it was gruesome and played with emotions, but it definitely helped define who i've been since.

Wow that would be a life changing experience. A long commitment that must be all encompassing and then you can not even talk to anyone about it while you are living through it all. And you have someone's future in your hands also. It seems you look at the experience in a very positive way, that is good.

...AND my girlfriend of 6 years broke up with me halfway through the trial, and i couldn't even talk about that with the people that i was seeing day-in and day-out.

i still can't even talk about a lot of what happened as canadian law tells us that we cannot share what occurred in the jury room. it was definitely one of the most bittersweet experiences in my life, but i'm glad i went through it all.

Oh that's terrible, I can see it was a growing experience, all you went through. You are a much stronger person now but that must have been heartbreaking to go through day by day.

81

i was picked once, spent a day downtown, got into the court room in the alternat pool. wasn't needed, went back to work.

one girl in my office is currently on a grand jury and has to work one day a week for a quarter of the year. sucks big time for her since my company doesn't pay for jury duty

uninnocent-

pandora wrote:

Oh that's terrible, I can see it was a growing experience, all you went through. You are a much stronger person now but that must have been heartbreaking to go through day by day.

yeah, thankfully my trusty ipod got me through the rough parts. but yeah, i could have gotten a much more difficult case to stomach. murder is one thing, but if it had involved a child or had been something gruesome my experience might not have been so enlightening.

catefrances

theyre not too keen on empanelling a breast feeding mother either.

BinauralJam

catefrances wrote:

theyre not too keen on empanelling a breast feeding mother either.

there's an angle i can use.

autumn

I have been summoned for jury duty numerous times. I usually make it to the voire dire, and they boot me on something. One time it was a patent infringement case and my father is a research and development chemist with multiple patents, so I was out. Another time it was a burglary with sexual assault of a female clerk, the defense booted my ass out when they saw me rolling my eyes over their questions.
Last I year I was chosen for federal jury duty, it was heroin trafficking. I ended up being the foreperson for the trail. It lasted a little over a week, but was very interesting. We convicted on 2 of 3 counts. He was definitely guilty of all 3, but they only proved 2. The superior court judge met with us after and answered all of our questions after the verdict. He was great and took our feedback and criticisms to the attorneys. He agreed that the prosecution dropped the ball on the third count. The funny thing was while I was serving as foreperson for federal jury duty, the state sent me a summons to appear in petit jury duty. Fortunately, I had a good "excuse"!

Vart

I just got a notice a couple of days ago. It's for trial jury starting on the 13th of Sept. I have to call the weekend before to see if I have to go. I've never been on a jury before. The first time I got a notice I was in college so I didn't have to go. The second time I got a notice in the county where I grew up, but I was no longer living there so I didn't have to go. I've lived in my current county for about 9yrs and I knew I was going to be getting that notice at any time. Since I've never been on a jury before I am somewhat interested to see how the whole process works.

comebackgirl

I've been called 3 times...but never even got called up to the court room to be interviewed for the jury...just sat downstairs the whole time and read. All 3 times I was released before noon (once they let us out at 10:30) and got a full day off work. Looking forward to getting called again

LikeAnOcean

I did.. It was a 3 week injury trial.. It was interesting and an experience I will never forget, but I wanted to kill the lawyers.. Seriously, there were lawyers who were going to sue if other lawyers lost.. they were lined up.

The best part was becoming friends with people you'd never normally be paired up with in life. The black guy from the ghetto, the Indian convenience store owner, old retired city bus driver.. In those three weeks I became close with people I'd never otherwise be paired up with in real life and you get to debate, and find out how much you really do have in common... plus I got to take the train to the Daily center in downtown Chicago every day.. it was quite an experience, minus the lawyers.

pandora

LikeAnOcean wrote:

I did.. It was a 3 week injury trial.. It was interesting and an experience I will never forget, but I wanted to kill the lawyers.. Seriously, there were lawyers who were going to sue if other lawyers lost.. they were lined up.

The best part was becoming friends with people you'd never normally be paired up with in life. The black guy from the ghetto, the Indian convenience store owner, old retired city bus driver.. In those three weeks I became close with people I'd never otherwise be paired up with in real life and you get to debate, and find out how much you really do have in common... plus I got to take the train to the Daily center in downtown Chicago every day.. it was quite an experience, minus the lawyers.

That is a cool point you brought up about becoming friends with people you would not normally have. I was only on my jury for such a short time but the dynamics in the jury room, I felt I would really get to know all the different people and was looking forward to that.
I'm real shy though, don't think I said but a few words. There were some very take charge people on our jury and some you could tell that didn't want to be there, others that were light and funny.
I guess like everything in life it's what you make of it and what you take away.

JB thinks he may have goofed up for his jury selection, but they have him going back to the courtroom this am. He was requestioned by the lawyers and also by the judge, really put on the spot and kept after everyone else had left, so somebody wants him, my guess the prosecutor.
I think he would like to be chosen now.