12 Mildly Disgrunted People

Sadly, my sense of civic duty manages to barely outweigh my self-interest.

Most of the inconvenience is in having to go down initially, at all, and that ship's already sailed.

Part of me (the part that has already been on two juries) would love to see you serve on a jury. Frankly, the jury of our peers is usually riddled with idiots who can't hold together a logical thought, let alone determine someone's innocence or guilt using the rules given to them by the judge. I know you'd be a fabulous, clear-thinking juror.

I mean, if *I* could convince 11 other people to my way of thinking (back when you were a toddler), you could do that far better than I ever could!

I mean, once you're already down there (the inconvenience of driving, parking, getting settled in, etc.), the worst part is over. (Well, unless you're with 11 other idiots, like I was that first time.)

Bring something to read. (Do you have to go downtown, or somewhere else?)

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I've done it once before (described in the first post in the thread). It was quite an experience. And yeah, I have to go downtown. I'm bringing a laptop, phone, and probably a book or something.

The worst part of your day will be parking downtown and getting in the building then.

I asked, just in case you were called for, like, a federal jury or a grand jury, which might have had a totally different location.

I've only been called to jury duty once. An attempted murder case that was, thankfully, pleaded out before the trial began.

Most memorable part of the whole thing was the man who clearly wanted to be dismissed from the jury pool----showed up in ripped up pants, outlandish shirt, and literally a small pile of dirt on his shoulder.

What I'm saying is: have you considered showing up with a small pile of dirt on your shoulder?

Or pretended to be prejudiced against your own ethnicity, like Peter Griffin?:

This, too is my experience of recent jury duty.

I was a juror on a case of alleged sexual assault of a disabled person. And my experience was:

50% fascinated by getting to see the UK judicial process play out
50% utterly dismayed, angry, disillusioned and crestfallen at how my fellow members of society seem unable to follow a few clear guidlines written on a piece of paper.

Don't suppose you know what episode of FG that is from?

So, here we all sit, waiting for Yoda to update us on the day's events....

I think it's from this one: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Sings_and_Swings

epic thanks

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The entire jury panel was dismissed at the end of the day. Possibly a plea? I don't know. But we went through the whole thing: impaneled most of us, interviewed several dozen (including me), then they stop at 4:00 and announce we're all down. Could've only been a couple of different things.

It was for a homicide, too, was gonna be five days next week.

If you went to the end of the day, then yeah, could've been a plea deal for sure. But I THINK the way jury selection works around here, it could also have just meant they couldn't get finished or didn't find folks they were wild about that day. So if there was no plea, they'd continue again today with new folks (since you don't have to keep coming back if you weren't chosen on day one).

I was gonna say you dodged a bullet, but since the case involves homicide, well... No, I'll allow it. A pun is a pun.

Were they selecting for only that one trial all day? Sounds like it could've been a big case, especially since they told you to expect five days! Both of my jury trials lasted one day (the courtroom part). I was the idiot who dragged that first jury out into a third day, and my second one went into a second day but mostly because there was a lot more courtroom time on day one.

Right, my first thought was they didn't get enough, but it seems weird to think that they have to get all 14 people in one day or they start over. I would've assumed they'd just 'keep' people and finish up the next morning. And yes, a big case. They said if we got selected it wouldn't start the next day (like it did the first time I was on a jury), but next week, and would probably go five full days.

During the process a few people were taken aside but in at least one case this looked like someone being dismissed very clearly/early. There was a little spiel the defense attorney read about the different types of charge possible in a homicide, and I believe he only read that to people who made it to the end of voir dire without any obvious red flags.

I'll say this much: since both attorneys have to agree on a candidate, some might NOT want someone who seems logical, very intelligent, and very articulate. (Yes, I mean you.) It really depends on the strength of their case on either side. Do they want the usual easily swayed sheep? Maybe so. Do they want someone who can see through courtroom theatrics and who will nitpick every litlte thing they see and hear? Maybe NOT.

It's such a song and dance between the prosecutor and the defense, and I found even that part interesting. So did you get past the first "room" they call you away from then? The one time of three that I didn't get seated on a jury, I didn't even get called out of the big, main room. They were choosing for three smallish cases that day. Two settled while we were there, and they chose the third without getting to me for even the first interview.

Yeah, I was interviewed during voir dire. It was in the same room but a little set apart so you could hear some of what was said but not most (depending on volume). When they impaneled from the main jury pool I was called 13th, which is pretty early, so I figured if the trial went ahead there was a pretty high chance I'd get picked. And maybe I would've if not for whatever happened (still presuming a plea, but there are some other less likely explanations that fit what happened).