Jury duty

--Homer [Simpson]

1. It is dull.

2. It is time consuming.

3. Chance of sequesterment, higher in NYC.

4. It is all the way in the hard to get to part of downtown NYC.

5. IT EATS UP WORK - this is the real kicker. I am in a high pressure job environment. I do not have the time to take away for jury duty.

I'm of two minds of it. I honestly do believe that if one can afford to take the time off from work that one should do it out of civic responsibility. On the other hand, it would still be a bit of a drag and I don't like the idea of being sequestered either. And smart-ass me would be squirming in my seat if one of the lawyers or the judge made an obvious bone-headed mistake (like admitting in some very inadmissible hearsay evidence).

I did jury service once with lots of women. It was hard, but so is life. Interesting too.

It was very interesting though

Why do you say that? I come in on weekends, I work til 6:30 or 7, I only take half hour lunches, I'm running around all day. When I had to leave for J.D. I had to come in on the weekend to catch up, because no one helps me out with my shit while I'm gone.

Jury Duty is better if you have wireless net access

Hi! I'm in a meeting!!!

That's for goddamn sure -- every time I've been waiting in that room (three times now) I feel my soul being sucked from my body. It's impossible to read a book comfortably there.

State employees and "homemakers and retirees" were specifically told to report.

also good cheap thai and vietnamese lunches in chinatown.

The man broke down in tears as the judge asked if his son would be proud to know how his father had responded to jury service. "Nothing's funny about this, this is a serious matter to these men," she angrily told the man who said he'd answered so irresponsibly because he didn't want to serve on the jury.

The last time I remember particularly well, in a 1950s-era courtroom in the back of the Scottish Supreme Courts building. Waiting outside the courtroom, there was the usual selection of people who either couldn't or didn't want to get out of jury service; I was sat next to a avuncular and friendly-looking old man. When we got into the courtroom, I was slightly surprised when he headed for the dock instead of the public seats. He was charged with several counts of various charges, which boiled down to a common theme of incestuous child abuse, 15 to 30 years earlier.

I was glad I wasn't selected - indeed, noone was; the prosecution still hadn't persuaded all their witnesses to testify. Every morning the judge would open proceedings, then the potential jurors would all be shepherded back out of the courtroom into the waiting area so the prosecuting advocate could argue that the trial be adjourned to the following day so he could get his witnesses ready. After three or four days of this, the judge got a bit pissed off, and told the potential jurors we could all go home.

coming soon from rockstar games

GRAND JURY DUTY

http://www.playright.dk/screens/grandtheftautovicecity_ps2_03.jpg
skate like there's no tomorrow to get to the court on time to avoid fine!

http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/article/649/649953/grand-theft-auto-liberty-city-stories-20050909060001641-001.jpg
find a good cafe to have lunch during the short lunch break!

http://ployer.com/archives/grand_theft_auto5-2-thumb.jpg
avoid temptations and bribery!

COMING SOON IN ALL GOOD VIDEO GAMES STORE

just kidding

xpost! haha

the second was last december, and i'd got a holiday booked. i wrote them a polite letter and got excused.

the third was earlier this year: i rang the "call this number the night before you're due to turn up" line and they said they didn't need me. yay.

i've got no problem doing my duty as a juror; my problem is simply with the amount of sitting-around that everyone says is involved. like jon, i work in a deadline-critical job where one person being off for one day can really fuck shit up; hell, i can't even take a holiday without arranging my own cover eight weeks in advance. but hey. i've escaped three times, so why moan?

-- I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (crump...), October 25th, 2005.

it was only once a month, for 12 months. so i oly had to go 12 times. it wasnt too bad, but it was tedious. we had to review practically every case they could hand to us, which took about 8 hours. most of them were drug (mostly crack, coke, and meth) and theft arrests, forged prescriptions, sexual assault, etc..

that's what the summons said!

Supposedly my employer (who pays you for jury duty the whole time) insists you pay them your stipend back. I say fuck that.

it is "juror appreciation week." we get pens and candy.

Yup, sounds like jury duty to me. Next time I'm up I'm bringing the iPod.

i have never been surrounded by so many sweatpants

I suppose i should wiki this, but I'm wondering... is jury duty just getting less effective in the U.S. as U.S. citizens are getting less benefits for jury duty compensation? It seems the only people who can comfortably afford being on a case are:

a) people who work for the city, state, or government
b) people who have spouses that can supplant the income in the meantime
c) retired people

There's nothing wrong with the above three groups of people, per se, but that's hardly representative of the U.S., if that's the theory behind jury duty. You know a civic duty mechanism is fucked when it's so completely reviled, and companies do as much as possible -- no, pressure their salaried workers to avoid jury duty at inopportune times for them, and hence the workers.

what's with this 2-week "telephone standby" crap in NY? will I almost certainly have to go in, as they start by saying "call in every night"?

depends on how high your number is. if you call for a few days and they never get up to your number you're off the hook.

I related my jury duty nonsense last month. I graded papers and read for a couple of hours while names were called and In Good Company played on the screen. After the last group of over 40 names, the bailiff dismissed us.

it was exactly a month ago, actually.

thx dave. i'm guessing when i call has no bearing on anything...

it is "juror appreciation week." we get pens and candy.

That is so beautifully perfect.

I don't think so. it's like, the number of people they run through in the jury pool one day determines how many more they need to call for the next day. something like that.

when I was on standby I got called in on the fourth day. a co-worker who had a higher number called in for five or six days and was excused w/o having to go in

xp

Man, my jury duty experience was sweet.

7:30am roll out of bed a half hour later than usual
7:55am drive the 3 blocks to the courthouse
8:00am sign a sheet of paper and read Guitar Player magazine for a while
8:25am watch a crappily made "Jury Duty and YOU" VHS cassette
8:40am read Guitar Player Magazine for a while
9:00am get told the trial is going to be a court trial, not a jury trail, get my $20 bill and slip of paper to give to work saying that I was doing jury duty all day so I still got paid and didn't have to show up
9:30am cracked a bottle of Cab Sauv and started choppin' veg for a bolognese sauce.

Rad day.

YOu got $20 in cash?

gotta go in Monday at 1, fuck.

i did jury duty last week. first time i've ever been called, and i voir dired and empaneled and everything. landed on a short criminal case, a guy accused of bribing three cops to try to beat a marijuana possession charge. he'd recently done time on a sex offense, so i guess even the possession would have been enough to violate parole and go back to jail, which he clearly really didn't want to do. anyway, the cops went along with him, got him to get money out of an atm and hand it to them, then arrested him for bribery. he had a nothing defense, and a pretty weak lawyer. no idea why he even pressed it to trial except i guess out of desperation. prison isn't a happy experience for a sex offender.

trial took two and a half days, we deliberated about 2 1/2 hours and said guilty guilty guilty. the guy totally slumped in his chair at the verdict, was all red-eyed and desolate. we felt bad -- he seemed more stupid than sinister, at least in this case. but the facts were the facts. it was an interesting experience overall, punctuated by stretches of boredom. i'm glad it wasn't a longer trial. and as mentioned upthread, a bonus in manhattan is chinatown lunches. that was nice. also spent a little while hanging out in columbus park and watching old chinese women play cards and old chinese men play checkers.

first time i've had to serve... pretty interesting so far, thought it was gonna be a quicky but the defendent went "5150" during the proceedings which turned into all of us getting sequestered and then brought in 1-by-1 back into the courtroom to recollect (Rashomon-esquely?) what was said during the fracas... kinda wished i had been paying more attention to the shouting rather than the tackling by the three bailiffs.

a guy accused of bribing three cops to try to beat a marijuana possession charge. he'd recently done time on a sex offense, so i guess even the possession would have been enough to violate parole and go back to jail, which he clearly really didn't want to do. anyway, the cops went along with him, got him to get money out of an atm and hand it to them, then arrested him for bribery

this stinks. guy was an idiot to attempt bribery but the cops should've just laughed at him and stuck him in the van.

Just got my notice for "standby" jury duty later this month.

I got called for jury duty earlier this summer -- the form said to call the automated instructions number the weekend before the Monday report date. Called on Saturday and it said, "don't report Monday. Call again Monday evening to see if you need to report Tuesday."

Tuesday morning about 10:30 my wife says "how did that jury thing go?" and I'm all OMG FUCK SHIT BOXCAR *(@#)(*#_!@*(. Call the chancery court office and wait on hold for about 10 minutes...lady comes back on and says "ok, the judge decided not to issue a warrant for you, but NEXT TIME YOU BETTER SHOW UP FOR JURY DUTY." Whew!

us lawyers hate getting called for this shit as much as non-lawyers do. yes, i do hate it.

aren't you exempt from jury duty by dint of being a lawyer?

that might only be a UK thing

i mean, when i lived in central NJ i NEVER got called for jury duty -- despite being a student and having lots of free time (i.e., nothing better to do) and being more civil-minded then than i am now. now, i move to hudson county and have a job and better things to do and i end getting called twice in six years?!?

xpost: no, lawyers aren't exempt from jury duty (at least not in new jersey). i wish it were so.

I got called for jury duty but in the UK solicitors are exempt, woot

it's not even that lawyers will necessarily do anything to keep other lawyers off a jury. last time, as i said earlier in the thread, i told the judge that i was going away for the 4th of July holiday -- and she dismissed me so i didn't have to sit through voir-dire.

i got out of this ... in case anyone cares. judge dismissed me when i told him i was a solo practitioner (which is true).

You masturbate?

that's closer to the truth some days than i like to admit ...

I had to go in for US District Court duty last week. They randomized us and I was #56 of 63; they got a jury empaneled long before they got to my number, so I got my 60 bucks and scooted.

http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/court-allows-questions-about-475064.html

i actually wouldn't mind being called for federal jury duty ... if i had the time to serve on a jury that is.

what kind of case was it, anyway?!?

droogs; conspiracy with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute, 3 people from Houston TX in a deal that went down just south of Memphis

I wouldn't have minded being on that jury either, but they always call me at the worst possible time workwise.

droogs

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/droogs.jpg

XD

empaneled !

Dang, district court websites are impenetrable. I can't find a reference to the case to see what the verdict was.

Both times I've had jury duty, the cases were already settled.

The second time I had to fill out a form and I had to list my hobbies!!

wonder if listing "postin on the internet" as a hobby would get me out of jury duty

Ugh. Federal jury duty on Monday. I've vacation three days later; I enclosed a copy of my reservation in the questionnaire.

i wanna get jury duty but i'm pretty sure i never will

i mean i'll never get to be on one. they only pay $15 here, too.

http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/233342.1020.A.jpg

Hey ILX lawyers, is there a site where I can plug in the name of the court and find out the results of trials held there? I'd like to know if the defendants in the trial I was called for were convicted, but I can't find results anywhere.

sucks how hard it is to find that kind of simple info, if you can't find it on the court's website maybe try to see if the prosecutor's office's site has press releases

the only central internet resource is PACER i think and you need a password and it's annoying

I'm scheduled to appear tomorrow. Ideas for excuses welcome.

Also: no iPods allowed!

federal jury duty, I should have said.

If you're being screened, just start yelling "I demand to see his birth certificate! I demand to see his birth certificate!" whatever the first question is. They'll let you go.

I lucked out on a really dull two-day drugs case last time I was called - the other jury called from our pool had a murder trial that lasted for ages and was subject of a lot of "jurors were shocked as they were shown photos of the victim" etc etc headlines in the local papers.

I've always quite wanted to do jury duty. It could be interesting and would make me feel grown-up and useful.

just had this today but was never called on. some bullshit one count of sale of a controlled substance case - defendant was black and all of the ~100 potential jurors in the room were white except for one. feel bad for the poor guy, i'm sure my town is gonna be a safer place when this guy can't feed his family because he's in jail

I'm here all day today + tomorrow.

Any NY ilxors downtown wanna grab lunch with me at 1ish?

they're not guilty btw

yeah, I doubt they'll pick me. I simultaneously feel like Americans are too litigious and that incarceration is inhumane. I also don't believe we should be jailing ppl for drug infractions, etc etc, so yeah. But I'd love to serve if none of those things disqualify me.

agree with all that

I just did mine recently in Downtown Brooklyn. I didn't make a jury and was released at the end of the day. Not bad for once every eight years.

The film they show you is totally sweet right?

they're not guilty btw

"I've been reading this FASCINATING website on jury nullification!"

I had jury duty (in DC) back in January. It was originally supposed to be grand jury duty for eight weeks, but when I said my employer wouldn't pay while I was serving, they moved me over to the petty jury pool. I wound up getting picked for a jury. I probably could have pleaded that my menstrual cramps would keep me from paying proper attention, but since the trial was expected to take no more than three days (a hit-and-run case), I sucked it up and did my duty.

Looks like I'm spending the week as a juror!

My jury rendered our verdict today and complete our civic duty. This was in downtown brooklyn. Three days between opening and closing arguments and two days of deliberations. Child abuse, 16 charges total. It was hard to come to unanimous decisions on that many things, especially with no physical evidence whatsoever. The evidence was entirely testimony. It was an incredibly engaging experience, despite how exhausting and frustrating it could become. I think it was one of the most challenging things I've ever had to do. We found him guilty on four charges. I'm interested to look for sentencing information.

and by child abuse I mean sexual assault :\

Ick, thats a tough one to end up on!

I really worry abt jury duty cos I havent updated my address on the electoral roll inyears and I'm guessing thats where they pull info from. If I've been called up and never showed I'm in doo doo!

But I dont think I know more than one or 2 ppl ever whove had to do it!

I go in on March 28th. Last time I was in (2009), I got selected and then the case was settled so I got dismissed. I'm actually hoping to sit on a live case this time. It's not like I've got much else to do.

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l3rku9s4ji1qbsvbio1_500.jpg

Back to federal jury duty for me next week. Work schedule is light enough that I hope I get picked for something.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/14/facebook-juror-defendant-contempt

jesus fucking christ what is wrong with people

if it's on the internet it isn't real and there are no consequences

Checking into my jury summons in an hour. Is it ok to wear jeans to these things, or do they expect business casual?

I mean for jury service, of course ––– the only advice the summons gives on clothes is to layer and not wear sandals, shorts, tank tops, etc.

My last two (federal district court) jury summons, the mix was about 70% bus. casual/30% jeans and a nice shirt. I didn't get picked either time so I don't know if people dressed up a notch after they were empaneled.

I think I am going to wear some nice grey slacks and a blouse ––– clothes that have grandma names have to be business casual.

Continuing with the GRANDMA theme ––– do you think they will let me do my knitting while I sit around & wait?

Yeah there was a couple people knitting last time I was called in.

*gives thumbs up to my yarn*

If it's federal court, you might not get your needles past security.

Huh, thats a good point. Now I'm wondering how those people I saw were able to knit because we did have to go through some fairly heavy security. Not a federal court though.

My husband had to go in yesterday and narrowly avoided being put on a.criminal trial where the charges were forcible kidnapping, extortion, torture, torture with a deadly weapon, forcible rape (ugh what a phrase), and forcible oral copulation.

i got jury duty in september and i had a low number so they did seat me, then i got kicked out. it was going to be exciting! then i looked it up the next day and it turned out to be a guilty plea.

the court website specifically says NO knitting needles allowed

They let me take my knitting/needles in but they took away my measuring tape!

They gave it back at the end of the day, though.

Don't do this!

A former university lecturer who carried out online research about a criminal defendant while serving as a juror has been jailed for six months.

...

Dallas, who conducted her research at home, was a juror in the trial at Luton crown court in July 2011. She told members of the jury what she had found out about the defendant, Barry Medlock, who was on trial for causing grievous bodily harm. The judge had to halt the case after discovering what had occurred, though Medlock was eventually retried and found guilty.

my boss and a coworker went to a class about social networking and part of it was about jurors using facebook and twitter and the presenter (a judge) related an anecdote about a high-profile trial he had where a few jurors facebooked each other during the trial, like after going home at night, and posted about the trial on each other's walls. the trial turned into a plea midway so it wasn't fatal but one day the judge said he wanted to speak to them the next morning, so one posted "fuck the judge" on their wall. the judge found out about it and asked the juror and the juror said "oh that wasn't real, just facebook." why are people so braindead about following instructions?!

http://www.court-records.net/animation/y-edgeworth-shrug.gif

I thought I got off easy as the alternate but I got called in the next day. That day we spent *six hours* trying to explain to one juror's satisfaction what "accomplice" meant. The bailiff came in and asked us to be quieter. Also I got a crush on the bailiff, who looked kind of like a more lawyerly and svelte Andy Partridge.

I think my favorite part was at the end when the judge came in to thank us personally and have a chat where he answered all of the questions he was allowed to. He said 80 percent of criminal cases are connected to drugs in some way and I have no idea if that's true or not, but if it is, god fucking damn. He talked to us for 40 minutes and had a lot of interesting insights.

Also during deliberations I started and finished an entire hat so I can't be grateful enough that knitting was allowed. The benefit of being essentially stuck at the county courthouse with enforced 90 minutes downtime for lunch was it gave me a lot of time to ask the law librarian & others about my divorce paperwork.

Additionally I had the horrible experience of hearing my fellow jurors explain what a luxury prison is for today's criminals. They get to just work out and play on the internet! They probably get foot massages or something while they're watching satellite TV all day. Poor them; I could not keep in my stories via my friend who just finished a four year prison stint and how dehumanizing and awful it all was and quite a lengthy dissenting opinion from me about our prison system. "Well sure it might have been bad for HIM, but did you hear? Our defendant was allowed to use the telephone." And sure enough when the judge came in, half their questions were about "why are people in jail allowed to use the telephone?"

I guess I should give some context for this; I was called to be on jury for five days (one day over what they estimated). Though I am GLAD, on thinking of it, that me and my juror peers were overworried about getting right rather than "ok let's get this done in 20 minutes because there's a game tonight."

i will be joining your ranks on april 16. (i got a postponement; it was originally scheduled for a week i'll be out of town.)

Hey cool 5 weeks of jury duty awesome can't wait

I hate coming to an issue without a single good answer or solution, but you know something is pretty fucked up if everyone you know, excluding retirees and friends who get jury duty paid in full, try to do anything possible to get out of jury duty.

Every IT job I've worked, whenever someone brings up that they have to go to jury duty before a deadline, the project manager or boss acts like that person is about to die and leave this earth. This is much more a problem with corporate managers refusing to pitch in for their employees' civic duties and instead choosing to A) panic or B) say "sucks for you." Shocking, I know.

developing nation problems

just finishing this

hi from jury duty! so glad this wifi works. i'm sure i'll be checking in at various points.

facebook and twitter are blocked.

playing mahjong titans

i got a summons for this the other day but postponed it until december cuz its boring

After I did jury duty in Jan. I reread the American Splendor where Harvey does jury duty. Highly recommended for all jurors!

I've been called up for jury duty at least five times, but on every occasion wound up not being needed. I've never actually served on a jury in either a civil or criminal trial.

i didn't mind jury duty and the case i would have been on was a first degree murder. most people will get a boringer case but in baltimore there are a lot of first degree murders! i got struck (stricken?) from the box. i looked it up afterward and the guy pleaded guilty the next day. it was a beating in the stairwell of a shitty motel. it was also a retrial after an appeal and he got like 100 years in prison the first time around.

they give you just enough money for indian buffet

here they don't pay you unless you're there for a second day. i got dismissed at the end of the first day, which is FINE. an indian buffet would be sweet though.

I think I made $12 a day when I did jury duty.

Which, yeah, I totally blew on lunches downtown.

last time i went it was sit around all day only to be excused for *shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh* [static noise] by the judge

i have to go again tomorrow :(

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/Jury_dutyposter.jpg/220px-Jury_dutyposter.jpg

i showed up dressed like that and they excused me

wtg

hudson county, nj grand jury -- eleven Fridays of my life from November 1st onwards are now fucked.

I got requested for this. Not sure what to expect. From what I understand a lot of waiting around is involved... If I can get daily stipends to do the reading I would at a library, then hmnnn...?

Regular jury duty is mostly unfun, but necessary. Grand jury duty is a different kind of beast and I'm not sure if they still function as a useful safeguard against prosecutorial overreach. I'd be curious to hear your impressions, eisbaer, after you've sat a few times and have a good grip on it.

My cousin the lawyer sez he distrusts grand juries because the pressure of sequestration and the one-sidedness of the testimony almost always ensures indictment.

i shall report back ... i kinda know what to expect in a law-school criminal procedure class a decade ago sort of way, but like so much else i thought i knew about from law school that may be very wrong.

Monday!

pretty sure I got eliminated from a jury pool this afternoon because I told the judge and attorneys that 'in 2014 it's difficult for me to be impartial' in a case in which a man is charged with resisting arrest without violence.

Had a jury duty notice for Circuit Court starting Monday; called the hotline today and it said I was released, no need to report. Then I went out and got the mail, which included a notice that I'm on call for (federal) District Court for the entire month of February.

i got this coming up in a little over a month. haven't been called since college so i have nothing to complain about.

Received summonses for district and county court for the same day.

Got a medical excuse sent for the first and will get the second tomorrow. If either is denied, throw my cancerous ass in jail, you shitstain of a country.

impaneled. day six. that is all.

Had to wait a week in December to see if I would even be called in or not, that was a bit of a drag. Today I'm waiting to see if a coworker, who had to go in today (but just today), is seated -- if so, that'll make for a bit of a stretched schedule.

If I didn't have competing work demands, I would really like jury duty. I can't/won't say anything truly interesting, since my case is ongoing. BUT! People who bill in increments of fifteen minutes sure do find a way to kill a lot of fifteen minutes.

The advice I got for weaseling out of jury duty was "Try to sound smart, lawyers hate jurors who sound smart," so during jury selection I tried to bust out all my thesaurus words whenever called upon to answer a question. I was the first juror they chose. Turns out I suck at sounding smart, go figure.

Hope the courts see reason, Dr. Morbius.

here's a tip: all the shit people tell you about who lawyers want/don't want on a jury is wrong

Yep. I tried to be extremely forthcoming in the hopes that would get me knocked out, mentioning I had a good friend who was a cop and listing a bunch of liberal sources for where I got my news...in retrospect I guess those things probably canceled each other out.

Next time I’m just going to say I’m a prison abolitionist

Morbs, just go in and 12 Angry Men whatever case you get seated for. Just to be contrary.

had a good lol @ the jury duty notice I received in the mail yesterday

Anyone been called in for jury duty in COVID? What was your experience? Did you feel safe?

I got a standby summons for next month, at which point I will be roughly three and a half weeks past my second vaccination. Presumably I'll be as protected as I can be, but with an unvaccinated kid at home there is still that level of concern. It's the combination of being in the courthouse and the public transportation there and back (where our courthouse is located, parking is effectively impossible) that has me most nervous, having done neither (or anything even close) for over a year now, but I'm not sure how much of this is just leftover anxiety from the pandemic and I shouldn't have to worry being fully vaxxed up by that point.

Well I guess I get to find out for myself Monday. Ugh. Called the number and my last name is in the batch that has to show up in person. So annoying because I’ve actually been looking forward to getting a summons for years but of course I finally get it in a pandemic, the week of a huge, labor intensive deadline at work and starting the exact same day as my son’s first ever playoff baseball game (which I’m a coach for and which I will have to miss unless I get excused early because the courthouse is too far from his game). Obnoxious.

i'm in a virtual jury duty selection and everyone is debating whether the government should be able to make you get vaccinated. good times.

Currently in the DC court juror lounge. Hoping it'll be like the times when we were dismissed before lunch because they weren't seating any more juries that day.

I have been a registered voter for four decades and yet I have never been served on a jury or even been called in to interview. I really want to!

I've been on a jury. Lots of tedium.

I was selected for jury duty for the one I mentioned up thread. Brutal case in PG county involving the dept of education. Def not sending my kids on their buses

This time I made it to lunch without being dismissed. Hoping I'm not picked--the prospective trial looks disheartening and depressing, and I've got a lot of work right now.

And I was *not* picked for the jury. In theory I believe in the due process of law, but....

Never called up or called up and dismissed?

I've been called several times. The one time I made it to the initial selection, they found out I was a lawyer and bounced me. I doubt I'll ever get to serve.

I've never been called up because of my criminal record, sometimes being a fool pays off. It sounds absolutely tedious or at worst very distressing in the more disturbing cases. I once heard my millionaire boss talking about jury duty to another rich friend with his phone on the car speakers. "They're all fucking guilty" was his opinion.

I was called in for a cell phone driving accident case once and wasn't needed but I got to see the defense lawyer striking a couple potential jurors for possibly being Latvian "because they hate Bulgarians" (or both were some other kind of tertiary europeans I don't remember), because the defendant was Bulgarian or something

I've done it for a not too disturbing case, but the distressing thing was the absolute lack of critical thinking skills of some of my fellow jurors.

I have to go back in tomorrow morning, but it's a short walk away

Same courthouse that Huey Newton was tried

my one exp. on a jury was not that bad, actually! the other jurors were reasonable & interesting (or they were able to convincingly fake it for the 2 day duration) and thankfully the case wasn’t too too disheartening.

oh my god, this other time — i might have posted about this before — this other time i was there for jury selection with like 50 fellow schmoes, we were all under oath and one of the attorneys asks do any of you use marijuana, raise your hand. and everyone is silent and half of us shifting uncomfortably bcuz it’s been legal in this state for a decade+ but is still federally a no-no and we’re all sat in front of lawyers & a judge & a big fuckoff american flag. the judge stepped in & had him rephrase the question to something less incriminating, which was nice.

another tyme we were each called upon to name 3 radio stations we listen to, and a lot of peeps said npr. this one lawyer then asks — smugly, like a real-life asshole, not like he’s just gathering info! — how many of us have actually *donated* to npr, and the resultant uncomfortable silence made him even more smug, that prick. tho i did admire his integrity in not tamping down his assitude for the prospective jury and having such confidence in his case’s winnableness that he didn’t even try to cozen us. (he won, too. 🤮)

they haven’t called me in for a few years; maybe i’ve served my time. maybe i am freeeeeee

Sigh I've been called up. Just after new year.

You can Oy claim 65 quid per day for the first 10 days. Doubles after. This is shit.

*only

You might get lucky. I went in 2 or 3 days early this year and didn’t get picked. They just sent me home and said I’d done my bit.
& I think you’d have to be actively unlucky to get a 10 day plus trial (and you can make the case that you just can’t do it I think)
Also you barely need an excuse if you want to move it to a more convenient time (but get it out of the way I guess if there’s no particular issue)

my jury duty a few months ago was expected to last fifteen days, a total nightmare when I had only started a new job a few weeks before it. Luckily for me the case disintegrated within an hour of starting after the witness refused to testify against the accused. I won't get called up again for five years now, which is a relief... but at the same time I do like the idea of doing my civic duty - especially after seeing some of the people who could have been on that jury beside me and hearing some of their regressive attitudes towards women, I like to think I could have made a difference.

"(but get it out of the way I guess if there’s no particular issue)"

Beyond "will they allow me to post" there isn't one really.

It's a nice idea. I am not up for over 10 days of it but I guess it's out of my control.

You might get lucky. I went in 2 or 3 days early this year and didn’t get picked. They just sent me home and said I’d done my bit

ive never been called, guess the judges read my posts and cant handle the truth

I’m not a US citizen, I don’t have a driver’s license and I’m obviously not enrolled to vote, but I somehow ended up being summoned for jury duty a few weeks ago 🤷‍♀️

This system in this country is really fucked up and the conditions of being on a jury don’t lend themselves to creating a pool of jurors from any and all demographics. My husb was summoned around the same time as me (thinking there was some glitch and that’s how I also ended up getting summoned), and it was going to be for a month long trial - but his job will only cover 5 days of paid leave for it. So he was able claim financial hardship and got excused. But like how many people can afford to not work for a month? Or months, in some cases. Esp when a lot of places don’t offer any paid leave at all.

Weirdly I got summoned for US jury duty and UK at almost the same time, when I was back in the UK. IIRC there was no way for me to let them know I didn't live there any more but there were threats of huge fines if I didn't show up.

i have been summoned twice and while i am keen to do my civic duty, being self employed means jury duty has the potential to be financially ruinous. both times i just completely ignored the summons and never heard any more about it.

xpost what address would they have found you at to arrest you?

I dunno, I didn't want them harrassing my old landlady tho.

if you turn up on the first morning wearing a BRING BACK HANGING T-shirt maybe they'll send you home

or an anarchy symbol, either way

🤗🤗🤗

I'm double insulated from jury service. I'm a f/t carer and have a criminal record 😎

first time i’ve been called and had to go— truly hoping i can just tell them that i don’t trust police or the justice system and get out of it early, frankly this is ruining my week, which just began

it's how I got out of a criminal trial in 2014 -- I got called after Ferguson.

I've been on juries twice, and while it's definitely a pain in the ass schedule-wise, I highly recommend it as an experience. I found both of them eye-opening in various ways. One thing that came across clearly in both cases (which were very different situations) is that no matter how much "back the blue" bullshit you hear out there, your average American is super suspicious of cops and doesn't like them much. That was a factor in deliberations in both cases.

I served on a jury once 15 or 20 years ago. It was sometimes boring, kinda frustrating, but ultimately a good experience and I would go back and do it again if called. Haven't been asked back since then, and frankly, I'm a little jealous anytime I hear about a friend or colleague getting called up.

I'm wondering now if my 1997 arrest for a nickel bag of pot is having some negative influence (the early 2000s jury duty was while living in a different state).

I don't understand people who bristle at the idea or purposefully shirk it. I knew a lawyer who said that the only people who serve on juries are those too dumb to get out of it. I once had a supposedly liberal acquaintance say "Oh, I would just go in and tell them that I'm prejudiced against black people" or something like that. NO! DON'T DO THAT! WHAT THE FUCK? It's some kind of brain worm, but it affects people across the aisles.

tbc I didn't drop the line cynically, it just came out in a moment of anger. I served once: a civil trial determining damages after a candy company employee hit a woman's car with his truck.

but, to quote stirmonster upthread, serving for a potentially extended period can be ruinous for many people.

Fuck this

I once had a judge ask everyone "If this is going to present a hardship to anyone, please raise your hand." About a dozen went up, mine included.. and he dismissed us all. (It was a capital murder trial, expected to take two weeks, and I didn't have a job at that time that paid anything for jury duty.)

When I appeared last year, the judge said there was no way in hell that anyone was going to be excused for financial reasons, but I got dropped after a couple days for reasons unknown.. probably because I wrote that I had been a victim of violent crime, and that kept coming up. (The defendant was found guilty of robbing and murdering his cousin, and attempted murder of his cousin's girlfriend, who was the only witness.)

This more recent call-up, people kept saying shit like "But I have a vacation all booked and paid for!" and the Judge was almost livid.. "You received this summons MONTHS ago... you had plenty of time to file for a deferral, and you chose NOT to!" He was kind of a hardass but it was pretty funny

I don’t work a job that has “regular” hours, which I do for a reason— I’m mostly just pissed because I could have done a lot with this day, which will be the last truly nice day here for a week, and instead I’m rotting in this hall of no-justice.

I served on a jury once 15 or 20 years ago. It was sometimes boring, kinda frustrating, but ultimately a good experience and I would go back and do it again if called. Haven't been asked back since then, and frankly, I'm a little jealous anytime I hear about a friend or colleague getting called up.

I'm wondering now if my 1997 arrest for a nickel bag of pot is having some negative influence (the early 2000s jury duty was while living in a different state).

I don't understand people who bristle at the idea or purposefully shirk it. I knew a lawyer who said that the only people who serve on juries are those too dumb to get out of it. I once had a supposedly liberal acquaintance say "Oh, I would just go in and tell them that I'm prejudiced against black people" or something like that. NO! DON'T DO THAT! WHAT THE FUCK? It's some kind of brain worm, but it affects people across the aisles.

You'd think someone with a healthy skepticism of the police and prosecutors would see the benefit of taking part in a jury that requires unanimity about the outcome of the trial. Your presence on a sitting jury would create a failsafe against a wrongful conviction. The real problem is that you'd likely be eliminated during the jury selection process.

I got a call-up in 2021 where I actually had to go to another town (county seat supreme court) and sit around reading old home & garden magazines for five hours on two separate days when they finally came in and sent us home because the litigants had decided to settle (some kind of tenant/landlord dispute) and I was like 'why the FUCK didn't you settle before they called up a hundred bored people to travel all the way out here to sit around looking at our phones for hours on end?'

Everyone was pissed but also relieved to be sent home

https://www.theonion.com/more-ethical-mouse-trap-convicts-rodents-of-capital-off-1850213823

I have now been in this building (with a half hour break) since 8am, I have not been interviewed and they’re now assembling the second jury. You can’t leave, there’s no food, the chairs are shit, and the judge openly told everyone that we “cannot judge police as a whole because of a few bad apples.”

Again, fuck this shit.

“cannot judge police as a whole because of a few bad apples.”

I mean technically, I agree: I do not judge the carceral state as a whole based on a few bad apples

I do

I mean, no// I judge the carceral state as a whole// oh whatever i’m so blind with fury that i can’t even think or read with any amount of clarity

tbc: I meant my objection isn't premised on the existence of *some* bad cops, it's that the entire system is so thoroughly racist and corrupt there are no "good apples" to be found

xp no worries and sorry!

I've had to this three times; the least bad one was when I brought a copy of Dhalgren and managed to read a few hundred pages of it while idling away in a waiting room for 7 hours

This more recent call-up, people kept saying shit like "But I have a vacation all booked and paid for!" and the Judge was almost livid.. "You received this summons MONTHS ago... you had plenty of time to file for a deferral, and you chose NOT to!" He was kind of a hardass but it was pretty funny

This was my judge the last time I got called up, he had zero patience for anyone even hinting at an excuse and pretty much yelled at any potential juror that even started to maybe hint at an excuse. Hardships? Don't care, do your duty Don't trust the police? Don't care, do your duty. Obvs I'm sure the attorney had thoughts about some of these answers, but the judge was absolutely not going to dismiss anyone if he could help it.

I used to be very pro 'we need non-assholes to be on juries.' On balance, I suppose I'd still prefer juries to be composed of strident police abolitionists nullifying the hell out of everything, but I find the "duty" rhetoric quite hollow now. Or at any rate, it sucks that determining guilt & punishment are the most direct forms of democratic citizenship in the US. We can't be trusted to directly vote for president, but we can weigh in on executing people

I'm hopeful the judge in my case was an outlier, but he was a dick - at one point a pregnant woman half-jokingly pointed at her stomach as a reason to be excused and he suddenly put on a friendly voice, "congratulations, that's wonderful, how far along are you?". When she answered, "five months", he snapped back to asshole mode and said, "this case will not take more than three days, you're fine to serve, sit down".

My dad hung a jury on a case where an inmate was charged with assaulting guards. Most of the jury were willing to go along with the narrative, but my dad a.) thought the guards had instigated the incident, b.) were lying about it, and c.) had no real solid evidence of what had happened. He held out through multiple rounds of deliberation and finally they just called it hung. I don't know whether or not the state brought the case again, but I mean, if my dad hadn't been on that jury the guy definitely would have been convicted. So, it is a situation where there's the potential to make an incremental difference.

that's interesting it was even brought to trial.. I would assume they'd just throw someone in the Hole and let them rot for awhile

I assume they were wanting to add to his sentence.

but, to quote stirmonster upthread, serving for a potentially extended period can be ruinous for many people.

weirdly i just got summoned ayet another time a couple of weeks ago. i'm going to ignore it again and will report back if i hear anything more. it does seem here in Scotland they don't follow up, but in other countries the experience may vary!

i wouldn't want to try that here. just got a grand jury notice. one of the questionnaire questions is "do you want to serve". i wouldn't mind, but $15/day for a month is absurd. i'll look at our MOU and see if the county kicks in anything. otherwise no freakin' way

I served on a grand jury- a decade ago, time flies! I was the assistant foreperson, which meant that I sat up front and read the charges when it came time to do so and vote. There was a time when I could imitate the bailiff and most of the assistant DAs. My jury room got along pretty well and I thought it was a good experience but my job paid my regular salary while I was there so I might have felt differently if that was not the case.

It is baffling to me that grand juries are considered legitimate

Ham sandwich?

hi!

You and 11 others judging cocktails.

Line'em up!

Free! The judge, without giving reasons, dismissed us, thanked us rather courteously for our service.

Me an hour before the dismissal:

https://i.imgur.com/AB6419Y.jpg

Pretty sure masking would result in auto-dismissal around here.

two fucking weeks! and it's a 75 minute drive each way!

75 minutes?? what the hell

Good show imo

I also got called for jury duty. I was called in for a civil case in Brooklyn over a decade ago and I was there only through the early afternoon. This time it was for a criminal case in a different borough and it was a grueling night and day difference - once again, I wasn't selected, but it was a tedious, long drawn-out process lasting from Friday through Wednesday. Even worse was they awkwardly grilled everyone in front of the entire courtroom - in the civil case, the lawyers took everyone out one by one into the hallway and spoke to them in private, so you felt freer to talk. At least the commute wasn't long.

yup this is a federal criminal case and I think the idea was to bring out of towners because this story apparently was on the local news a bunch and if you'd heard of it you were disqualified. unfortunately I get all my news from ILX so I was kind of screwed there.

it's actually a federal case against an ILXOR.

RICO in fact

I got a jury duty summons this summer that showed up in the mail three days after I was supposed to go in.

LOL, nice.

Also, one tip I learned from jury duty (which may not work for everyone) - quite a few people in my group got dismissed within the first 10-15 minutes of being in front of the judge because they already booked travel plans in the coming week or two, when the trial was going to happen. (I should add, we blew most of the day bored out of our minds in the waiting room, so at best they left the courthouse close to 4pm.) The judge basically asked this question to everyone after we were sworn in, so it was the easiest argument any juror could make to get dismissed without getting any pushback. "I already have a flight booked to ____ and will be gone for a week." Granted, it may not be practical to just book such a flight simply because you see you have jury duty, but it's a nice trick if that option is somehow available to you (maybe there's a trip you were going to take anyway or maybe it can be for business). Since it's November, a lot of people had extended holiday travel for either the middle or the end of the month.

I got a letter I was meant to respond to months ago which I haven’t. See what happens

When i had jury duty a few months ago anyone claiming any kind of hardship got a total grilling by the judge. He wanted every little detail about their excuse for not being there, exactly when their flights would be etc. A couple of people with legit reasons to be absent made their case at length but then noone else tried it as it was clear that anything more frivolous wasn't going to fly.

eric otm

xp it really is the luck of the draw with judges. NY state's website says you need to be able to show proof, and since we're all sworn under oath beforehand, it's a really, really bad idea to lie, but I've heard different experiences with judges where you have one who will say "can you show proof of this?" and others who clearly just want to keep things moving and just say "we'll make a note of that" then dismiss the juror after conferring with the attorneys later on.

I got called once maybe 10 years ago but my mom was really sick at the time and I was kind of on standby in case anything happened to her. I told them that and they didn't ask anything else.

When one of the lawyers asked if any of us had any thoughts on being there I raised my hand and, being honest, said I had no interest in serving, that I felt bad about being away from my (then new) job, and that I was just watching the clock and waiting to get away. I didn't get picked.

I remember reading years ago about a judge who held a potential juror in contempt because it was clear he was just saying anything to get out of jury duty. That made me paranoid about saying the wrong thing, but at this point, I think it really just depends on the judge.

I was honest to the court and said "I'm not comfortable making any promises." The guy to my left (I'm guessing a college student) immediately said, "YEAH YEAH! I'm, uh, not comfortable making any promises too." It was so blatantly obvious he was parroting my answer to get out of jury duty that I wanted to look at him and be like "seriously dude?" That was literally the ONLY thing he ever said during the whole selection process that might've raised a flag, and sure enough he wasn't picked. Like it was easy for him but somehow I felt like everything I was saying was getting grilled or pushed back.

The lawyer followed up by asking, were i to be picked, if i would be able to focus on the case. I said yeah probably but those had been my honest thoughts about it.

well thank god that's over, wound up getting a federal sex trafficking case and that shit was brutal. also I genuinely think the defense might've hired the single worst attorney on the entire planet. that said I don't think even Johnnie Cochran could've helped this dude

Would never occur to me to “try to get out of” jury duty, it’s important for people who aren’t 1000 years old to serve on juries

idk I most definitely did not want to do it. it basically left my wife alone with most of the kid duties for a while and also I work an office job so its not like someone is "covering for me", I have to work twice as hard for the next couple weeks which'll cut down on my ILX posting time

Thing is, even when you're willing, serving on a jury can be enormously stressful. For the criminal case, it was stressful for me just to be up there in front of the accused for a variety of reasons - I didn't even want to make eye contact with the guy the entire time. I understand the logic of making yourself known to the defendant, but it's kind of unnerving that a potential criminal knows your name and neighborhood and all this information the court may pry out of you (and IIRC your identity becomes public record once the trial is finished). By the same token, it's mentally a lot to have a deciding vote on whether someone should go to jail, and people do second guess their verdicts later - I live in a state that notoriously had many questionable death row verdicts overturned, and I'm not sure if I can look myself in the mirror everyday if I knew someone's life was ruined because of me, even if the evidence was actually tainted and my verdict was technically honest and made in good faith. I realize jury duty is important, that we should have intelligent people trying their best to find a just outcome, but I'm not sure I'd have the stomach for it.

*lived in a state

still never even reached the early group stage (proof if proof be that the legal profession reads my posts)

(self-evidently the correct metric *sigh*)

I’ve never been to even the selection stage. I’ve had two postcards twenty years apart saying “call on this date”, called and was immediately told I wasn’t needed.

there's definitely something awkward about the whole experience. I mean you're kind of the centerpiece of the entire thing - every argument made, every piece of evidence, every witness who comes in (some of whom had to fly in from across the country!) is all done to persuade you and the other jurors. but you don't know these people, you're not allowed to research who they are, you can't even talk to anyone (including the other jurors!) about the case until the very end

I guess I was lucky in that this case was basically a slam dunk. but yeah it was still stressful because, despite the fact that he was clearly a violent psycho whose attorney was constantly incriminating him further, he still was on trial for some very specific things, and there were definitely certain doubts and technicalities there. we all agreed the dude needed to be locked up (as much as I hate to say that) but yeah that is a very weighty decision. it feels kinda gross knowing you played a part in that.

I received my second-ever jury duty summons recently. Supposed to be on deck the first week of December.

I'm guessing it'll go like the last time I got the notice. I called the info line and they only wanted people numbered 1 - 100, and I had a much higher number. My number this time is over 400.

Mom got out of criminal jury duty a decade ago by telling the judge she refused to sit in a courtroom with a guilty man staring at her. I think what led to her dismissal was using "guilty" instead of "accused."

Eek I'm on deck for a nasty sounding criminal trial. I don't have any real legally valid reasons as a "hardship". I answered the questionnaire and I think I only marked a few small things that are going to raise eyebrows. I have to go back in in another week and a half unless I get a call beforehand. If I get selected, it'll run through the beginning of February.

...and I did serve, for 6 and a half weeks (Fridays and Christmas week off). The rules of evidence are very tedious, but the other jurors were all super cool.

good to hear about the jurors

I got a text message two days before I was supposed to report in December saying my service was over. Guess that my number being over 400 and the number of jurors they expected to need meant I was once again unneeded surplus

prosecutors be readin ILX

6 1/2 weeks!! god damn!!

prosecutors be readin ILX

Went today and it was a real nail biter whether I’d be selected. Perhaps unconsciously I asked a question that flustered them in the interview round, so they chose someone else

Ooh, what was the question?

I asked where the settlement money was coming from

Interesting!

I got a nice thank you letter from the judge today.

BTW one thing that totally worked as a way to get out of jury duty for a few people for this criminal trial: Apparently there's a whole bunch of police body cam videos online, a lot related to officer-involved shootings. Just say "I watch these a lot...it's better than Cops!"

I think it’s shameful to try to get out of duty if you’re otherwise able. Really shows that you prioritize yourself and aren’t willing to pitch in

xp Yeah I got the impression they don't want people who have distinctly pro- (they asked if anyone knew or were related to anyone in the police) or anti-cop views (there were questions related to trusting the police).

Interesting experience these last few days. Had to postpone a jury dury summons from last fall until the end of March, waited to see if I'd get called up and dutifully was; the judge came in to the assembly room and mentioned it was a criminal case -- murder, in fact, with a case that was projected to take something like two and a half weeks. A lot of folks pled hardship, but I'm covered by work and so dutifully filled out the questionnaire and was told to return this past Monday, which I did. Courtroom seats all filled up with potential jurors, they do an initial seating of twelve plus six alternates and I'm one of the twelve, making it the first time directly seated for me on a jury since 1996 or so. (I was able to plead hardship then -- I was very much a poor grad student!) Voir dire began Monday with the defense, the prosecutor concluded it yesterday morning, peremptory challenges began and after the judge let go of two alternates, the prosecutor started with me, and that was that.

I kinda half figured either the prosecutor or the defense wouldn't want me on for a variety of reasons, I was plenty tart in my questionnaire regarding larger issues re law enforcement, expectations therein, how crime and homelessness are considered in the city, etc, but I had no way of knowing, and I certainly wasn't trying to get thrown off or anything -- just saying what I felt. A defense lawyer did pointedly ask me a certain question at one point that I am half guessing could have been a factor down the road -- now that I think about it, both lawyers did (two defendants) -- though it could have just been part of them generally sounding out all of us seated. Prosecutor didn't ask me anything specifically but maybe he figured he didn't need to. Self-defense and what that meant came up a LOT in voir dire.

Generally I was impressed by the low-key steadiness of everything -- I liked the judge, conducted everything calmly, and I got a sense he enjoys talking to jurors at the start of proceedings just to find out what they all do (we actually had a bunch of lawyers in our initial bunch -- that led to a couple of very interesting exchanges during voir dire, as you might guess -- and the judge mentioned a case once where he had four flight attendants from the same airline in the jury, truly bizarre). My fellow jurors were an interesting mix, from what I could sense, and we definitely all had different life experiences and perspectives based on their answers to the judge, which I appreciated. The lawyers all did their jobs with differences in attitude and approach but all professional from my sense of it, and it was interesting seeing when and how objections were lodged without always knowing why (some sustained, some overruled, not many overall), as well as sidebars etc.

Once I was out I looked up the case out of curiosity -- if you want to know more, feel free. I honestly wish my now ex-fellow jurors the best in deciding it, I would have done my best but am glad not to have to weigh in on it further. I think a long boring civil case where it's just two people arguing about money would suit me best if I ever am actually seated.

(This makes, overall, my fifth time I've been summoned. First time was that 1996 one I pled hardship about, second was literally settled as our group waited outside the courtroom for initial seating, third time I hung around the assembly room with everyone all day and was never selected. Those were all OC -- up here in SF, fourth time I was never asked to come in, just was on a waiting list that week, and fifth time was this time. If nothing else, a range of experiences now with it, even if I've never formally sat on a full case.)

can you get arrested for no-showing jury duty?

fined but not arrested I think, contempt of court

I guess there has to be some procedure in place if you don't show up, but I think it varies from place to place in terms of what enforcement is. When the first very large group gathered a couple of weeks back, you had to check in directly or scan your summons's barcode; for these last couple of days, roll call was specific down the line and double-checked if someone didn't initially respond.

wow Ned that's further than I've ever gotten in the process!

I also had jury duty recently, the last time was at least 10-15 years ago (where I made it into the general pool of a civil case but was dismissed). The most interesting thing I learned this time around was that the more people show up, the more pools they can fill, and the less cases go to trial as a result of last-minute plea bargaining when the parties learn that a jury is ready to go.

the less cases go to trial as a result of last-minute plea bargaining when the parties learn that a jury is ready to go

Yes this was definitely a factor in that second experience I mentioned in my shorter followup. I remember we were in the hallway as mentioned, and I kinda think the door might have been open at one point -- I saw someone, I'm guessing a defendant (I don't recall if it was a civil or criminal case) with a slightly morose look listening to something someone seated with him was saying, and I'd guess that was the lawyer. When the clerk came out and announced we weren't needed and the case was over, we were pleasantly surprised, but I remember someone -- possibly the clerk in response to a similar question, possibly someone else with a comment -- explaining what you just mentioned, that often when it comes to crunch time and they realize 'yep, there's a jury, it's about to happen,' cases get resolved and settled. (Thinking of Fox News/Dominion the other year as a good high profile example, but I gather it just happens a heck of a lot in general. Which is fine!)

I didn't know we had a jury duty thread! I just got called up as a standby for the first time in ... 20 years? It's in May, and about an hour away, which is a PIA but I can deal. No idea what the case is yet, but I'm curious. It's up in Skokie.

The last time I was called up to be a standby I didn't even make it as far as an interview to be a standby, it filled well before my turn. But I recall the judge being really frustrated by the ridiculous lengths people were going to to avoid getting picked. One person said that because their car was broken into decades earlier she could not be impartial. Another said that despite living in the city for 20 years they did not know English. At least one guy that tried to get out of the criminal trial, the judge all but threatened to assign him to a (likely much longer) civil trial.

My wife was on a jury for a murder trial some years back. It was pretty cut and dry so didn't drag on. As I remember it, it was a fight over maybe $20. An upstairs neighbor owed a downstairs neighbor $20, the downstairs neighbor confronted him, he went back upstairs, got his gun, then walked downstairs and shot his downstairs neighbor. That'll do it.

that was a part of what made the one I was on so depressing, the guy on trial for mine was charged (and convicted) of sex trafficking, he abused the hell out of these women and scarred them all for life and at the end of the day only made like four grand total. not that it would've made things better if he'd gotten rich, it just underscores how senseless the whole thing was. he would've done much better for himself just working at a Burger King.

Again! I believe my eighth time receiving a summons, all but one of them I've been required to report. As I am this time, at the courthouse that is a two hour drive from my house.

Also apparently this particular courthouse, 26th & California, is rather notorious for more gruesome cases.

two hour drive? That's a hardship right there

It’s because I live on the far north end of the city and this one is on the south side of the city and there is absolutely no fast way to get there since you have to drive straight through the city in rush hour. Only 15 miles away, but 1 hour and 50 minutes to get there.

I always get kicked off juries when they ask 'Have you ever been the victim of a violent crime?'
I wish they would just put that on my juror record so I don't have to go back in

I've never actually served on a jury, mostly just sat around reading old magazines

Last time I got called, the judge said, “this is Chicago, everyone has been the victim of a crime here. If we let that get you out of jury duty, we’d never have a jury again”.

it's generally not the judge, but the defense attorneys... they have pretty wide latitude in selection

Best part: in the waiting area a woman four seats away sneezes, we say "Bless you," she says in Spanish, "Imagine! Being here while I have COVID!" Ten of us got up at once and changed seats.

When the clerk came out and announced we weren't needed and the case was over, we were pleasantly surprised, but I remember someone -- possibly the clerk in response to a similar question, possibly someone else with a comment -- explaining what you just mentioned, that often when it comes to crunch time and they realize 'yep, there's a jury, it's about to happen,' cases get resolved and settled.

This morning was the third time a scenario exactly like this happened to me.

Sounds about right!