Jury Duty
- Thread starter cycloneworld
- Start date
Every jurisdiction is different, it is pretty easy to get a deferral in Polk County the first time, and a second time with a good reason. Probably shouldn't plan on a third time.
Polk District now calls for a week or one jury selection, whichever happens first. So, the likelihood of getting called increases since more jurists are needed for the shorter service time, but the time served is less unless one is selected for a long trial.
Regardless of what jurisdiction you live in, it's worthwhile to have her call to request one. For one, attorneys/judges may also have holiday plans, not want to have a lot of cases on the docket, hence fewer jurists needed.
That used to be the case, but Iowa now has "stand your ground" law, so one is no longer required to flee a threat, especially in one's own home. That said, one isn't allowed to be an aggressor or to raise the level. For example, if the perpetrator attempts to flee after being confronted, the threat no longer exists and the person who was being threatened can't shoot the perpetrator in the back.
That's highly simplistic, someone who wants to be prepared should find instruction classes to become educated. What seems to be legitimate self defense can still be very, very expensive. Law enforcement may not agree, and even when they do, civil cases still can follow. Don't have to lose, winning a case still entails attorney fees.
Yeah it can be difficult for sure. The case I was on was for sexual assault. Literally the only evidence was the girl's apparent demeanor to her friends a party before and after it happened. Otherwise it was he said/she said.
My personal opinion was he probably did sexually assault her, but I don't think the evidence was there to prove it. Luckily I was an alternate so got to leave after the week was up. I don't think I could have said guilty (he ended up being guilty)
I don't know. I assume so. Once they announced this policy I just stopped putting my FF account on any work travel I took so I didn't have to deal with it. They never said you have to accumulate the miles, just that you have to turn them over if you do.
I think it is an optics thing because staff who don't travel are sure that those who have to endure work travel are getting some kind of unfair perk. Gotta keep the grumblers happy...
Not me, but my father sat on the jury for T-Bone Taylor's trial back in the day. Said they brought that porch/deck into the court room to have the witness replay everything that happened with the killing of the two officers. He said they even fired a gun with blanks in there as well. Sounded pretty interesting from what he's shared with me.
I just want to thank you all for this interesting and most timely topic. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the jury summons in today's mail, my second in four years.
I did that quite a while ago (Warren County), when I was in sales, and got called at our peak busy time of year.
Buddy of mine in San Diego got called for jury duty. During a break, was in hallway reading some billboard stuff. Started chatting with a cutie, turns out to be an attorney with offices in the complex. She left, and back at the office raved to her GF about the cute guy she'd just bumped into. Her GF INSISTED she march back down there and basically ask him out. She did. The marriage ensued two years later. Two beautiful high-schoolers, gorgeous home, the works. Jury duty pays!
Maybe a stupid question but are you allowed to talk about the case outside of court, or is that only after you've been selected and trial has started?
If you're in IA pretty sure most can find out which case this is for.
No clue what the rules are before being selected. After selection you aren't allowed. I doubt I'll get selected for that trial since I have friends who are law enforcement and government attorney's. Defense will reject me as a juror pretty quickly on that.
From my experience I've learned that the jury selection process is functionally a unique and critical part of trial lawyering. Lawyers with strong evidence-based cases will look for engineers and IT people. Lawyers with weak or frivolous cases will look for sheep who can be cajoled into following an idea rather than the presented facts.
I have been through the jury selection process four or more times and have been excused every time. I think I've been excused because I was a manager in a large company, wore a suit and tie, answered questions firmly, stayed alert, and tried to project a no nonsense type of personality.
One of the cases I was on was a civil case a guy suing his former employer. After the case was decided against the person suing the wining lawyer thanked us and I asked him why he choose me and he said it was because I worked for a company who he knew had strong principles and a great work ethic and he wanted that since the man suing was basically lazy and did not want to work just live off other people.
I’m not saying you don’t have strong principles/a good work ethic, but isn’t it possible the attorney was just being nice? Especially because as a civil attorney he’s reliant on good will. It’s not like he’s going to say “oh yeah, I chose you because you’re an idiot who will believe anything I tell them.”
And I guess I’m also not surprised that the attorney for an employer would publicly say that the former employee didn’t have a case.
