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Have you ever: served on jury duty?

What was that like?

atheist 8 Apr 1
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35 comments (26 - 35)

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1

Several times. Most were civil actions. Two were criminal cases. I've also served as a professional witness and a consultant on several cases. Learned that I hate doing depositions and facing eager defense attorneys. I also learned something more people in our society here in the US should understand. Most of the time the system works well and the majority of people to whom I was exposed on both sides were sincerely pursuing their duties.

@atheist -- He is actively engaged in what appears to be an effort to make people lose all confidence in the legal system, the legislative process, and the press.

1

I served on a Grand Jury. I could have got out of it but I didn't keep the paperwork, so I figured "How long could it take". That was before I found out it was two days a week for four months. I spent the first two months as an alternate, but the next two months I was there, Monday and Friday. Very interesting.

@atheist I may have once or twice, Sometimes we took breaks between the cases.

1

I was summoned for selection at a jury trial, but I guess I looked too intelligent for the defending lawyer and was immediately dismissed !

1

No. Without getting into an argument, I don't care for our criminal justice system. The last time I got a summons my boss at work got me out of it.

1

I was on a jury for a civil case. We were told that the defendant had already been found liable, and it was our job to determine the amount of the damages to be awarded. It turned out that the defendant was found liable not based on the facts of the case, but because neither he nor his lawyer showed up to court on the day that question came before the court. Did not feel good about the process because of that.

@atheist yes, that was the assumption. But it was more complicated than that. His lawyer quit because he couldn’t afford to pay him.

@atheist you don’t get a public defender in a civil case. The guy barely spoke English and ended up representing himself. The court found against him on a technicality, not because of evidence that he was actually at fault, and we had to assign a value to the plaintiff’s loss without all of the information. It just wasn’t something I felt good about.

1

@atheist I got called one time. The guy made a plea bargin and they sent us home.

1

I was called twice but never sat on an actual jury for a trial.
They had a large auditorium where us prospective jurors would wait for our number to be called.
After a week if your number isn't called they set you free.

At the time I was working and it was a pain. Now that I have the time I think it would be interesting to be called.

1

Called maybe a half dozen times but only selected once. It wasn't bad most everyone was reasonable. On the first vote, I was one of two holdouts. I wasn't convinced of the kid's guilt plus I thought, at least we owed the kid a discussion. So we reviewed everything and after discussing it came to a unanimous decision of guilty.

1

Yes. It sucked.

@atheist Not even close.

1

No I haven't 🙂

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