Jury Duty

[Cyowa 14]

I got picked for federal, a drug case, when I was in my early 20s. I kind of feel bad about it now but my only goal at the time was to do anything I could to get out of it. I am a farmer so when I went in on the day where the jury gets picked i wore just about the hickish thing I could find and when they asked if anyone had questions I stood up and asked did the accused have the drugs on him when police arrested him? They said yes so then I asked how could he possibly be innocent? I didnt get picked for the jury.

 

[2122]

Buddy of mine got called for jury duty in San Diego many years ago. During a break, he is in hallway reading a bulletin board, ends up chatting with a gal. She was and still is an atty in the DA's office there. She goes back to her office, tells GF about cute guy she'd just chatted with, her GF demands that she march back down there and get his #. They've been happily married 25 years now.

 

[JM4CY]

I got picked for federal, a drug case, when I was in my early 20s. I kind of feel bad about it now but my only goal at the time was to do anything I could to get out of it. I am a farmer so when I went in on the day where the jury gets picked i wore just about the hickish thing I could find and when they asked if anyone had questions I stood up and asked did the accused have the drugs on him when police arrested him? They said yes so then I asked how could he possibly be innocent? I didnt get picked for the jury.

I would of done something like this.

 

[IASTATE07]

I've been selected for jury duty twice for a county I don't live in.

 

[Alswelk]

My secret weapon is to walk in with some overtly political book (like last time I had a copy of Bakunin's "God and the State") and you will get screened out IMMEDIATELY.

 

[KnappShack]

My secret weapon is to walk in with some overtly political book (like last time I had a copy of Bakunin's "God and the State") and you will get screened out IMMEDIATELY.

I tried to look edgy last time. I looked goddam edgy, but not moreso than the other weirdos who were in the holding pen.

The worst experience I've had was at a sentencing. Supporting a relative. He was trying to get custody of a child that was in foster care. He had the boy for quite some time until the court gave the boy back to his mother.

The mother then murdered the child by breaking his bones. The most graphic and chilling accounts were given.

She kept looking at my cousin and saying that he murdered the boy. "You killed him. You broke his skull. You are a murderer"

She made eye contact with me and I'm certain I looked straight into the eyes of the Devil that day.

 

[Chitowncy]

The one about the crazy lady who expressed her belief in about a hundred conspiracy theories, and was 100% a nutbar, getting selected for the jury, while I, sitting next to her, and answering questions in a calm, logical manner, got kicked to the curb? Because that's the only jury duty story I have.

Found it. For those that haven't read, enjoy. The term "unfiltered batshit" just slays me.

I was in the jury selection pool for a case where a woman was fighting a DUI charge. I made it through the first round of cuts and the prosecution was going down the line asking us questions. He came to me and asked "Do you believe that we should always assume police reports are the truth?"
I said something like "I think it's their job to record the facts of a case to the best of their ability, but there's always the chance that a mistake is made, so it's important that there's evidence to back up their account"

He asked the lady next to me the same question. She went on this diatribe about how she never trusts the police, because her son had been arrested multiple times for selling drugs, and now when she leaves her house, the police follow her in unmarked cars, and she caught a guy going through her garbage trying to find evidence to use against her son, and she saw a helicopter following her on the way to the courthouse today, and she's sure they're going through her car right now in the parking lot, so no she does NOT believe a police report. She wouldn't even believe video footage, because they can alter that, and make it look like you're doing all kinds of things that you didn't. It was a 5 minute stream of unfiltered batshit. And by the time she finished, there were wide eyes and concerned looks across the entire jury pool.

So when it came time to make the final selections, I didn't know if I would make it, but I figured for sure, the loon next to me would be shown the door.

Nope.

I got cut. She made the final jury. I have no idea what the prosecutor was thinking. There's not a chance in hell she was going to side with the police. She flat out said so.

That's quite a situation. Hah! My only thought is that typically in jury selection the prosecution has a limited number of "picks" where the prosecution can exercise it's right to remove a juror unilaterally and the defense also has a limited number of unilateral removals. Were there other crazies the prosecution had already removed from the jury pool? I can see how the defense may want this person impaneled on its jury because she seems distrusting of the police, so I can see why the defense would not strike her, but I'm curious as to the state. Interested to hear Janny's additional insight if there were other "unbalanced" jurors stricken by the prosecution.

 

[Gorm]

Getting out of Jury duty is easy, just mention the words "jury nullification" and you'll be gone very quickly.

 

[TitanClone]

Is there a way to volunteer your name to the top of the list? Have always wanted to go through the experience. Never have been called.

You don't. It's boring as hell. Was selected for a civil case around a car accident 7 or 8 years ago. 2 days sitting in an uncomfortable chair because an old lady thought she was owed $100K for injuries in a fender bender that the 2 cars were literally going 5 MPH. Worst of all the woman she was suing was dead and her 60ish year old son and attorney from the insurance company had to sit through it. It took us 10 minutes to award her $0

 

[Tailg8er]

You don't. It's boring as hell. Was selected for a civil case around a car accident 7 or 8 years ago. 2 days sitting in an uncomfortable chair because an old lady thought she was owed $100K for injuries in a fender bender that the 2 cars were literally going 5 MPH. Worst of all the woman she was suing was dead and her 60ish year old son and attorney from the insurance company had to sit through it. It took us 10 minutes to award her $0

Yeah, I wholeheartedly disagree. I've only been selected once, but I find the entire process interesting. Mine was just a run of the mill DUI case that lasted a couple days, but I 'enjoyed' (for lack of a better word) being part of the process & seeing how it all goes down. Deliberation was also interesting to hear how all these different people think (& how wrong some of them are).

I remember one juror was adamant the defendant was guilty - not because of any particular evidence or testimony, but because "he could tell" the defendant was lying. We ended up agreeing on a verdict of not guilty..

 

[Mr Janny]

That's quite a situation. Hah! My only thought is that typically in jury selection the prosecution has a limited number of "picks" where the prosecution can exercise it's right to remove a juror unilaterally and the defense also has a limited number of unilateral removals. Were there other crazies the prosecution had already removed from the jury pool? I can see how the defense may want this person impaneled on its jury because she seems distrusting of the police, so I can see why the defense would not strike her, but I'm curious as to the state. Interested to hear Janny's additional insight if there were other "unbalanced" jurors stricken by the prosecution.

The prosecution definitely still had strikes left, when they came to her. No idea what that attorney was thinking.

 

[Cyched]

Yeah, I wholeheartedly disagree. I've only been selected once, but I find the entire process interesting. Mine was just a run of the mill DUI case that lasted a couple days, but I 'enjoyed' (for lack of a better word) being part of the process & seeing how it all goes down. Deliberation was also interesting to hear how all these different people think (& how wrong some of them are).

I remember one juror was adamant the defendant was guilty - not because of any particular evidence or testimony, but because "he could tell" the defendant was lying. We ended up agreeing on a verdict of not guilty..

Which is another aspect of the deliberation and why cases aren’t always cut and dry - it’s pretty uncommon for a jury to be in complete alignment when they head back to the room.

The whole process of talking it out and building consensus helps you feel confident you arrived at the “right” verdict.

 

[Tailg8er]

Which is another aspect of the deliberation and why cases aren’t always cut and dry - it’s pretty uncommon for a jury to be in complete alignment when they head back to the room.

The whole process of talking it out and building consensus helps you feel confident you arrived at the “right” verdict.

Absolutely. It's also interesting the varying levels of 'stubborness' from various people. The guy I mentioned, for instance - he seemed sooo very sure the guy was guilty - BUT, it didn't take him long to change his opinion when it was clear the consensus of the rest of the jury was not guilty. You could tell the most important thing to him was getting out of there, so he was fine going with whichever option helped him accomplish that. There were a few people on my jury with that mindset.

 

[wxman1]

My mom was on one here in Linn County that was on it's second trial due to a hung jury and they ended up the same way. I believe it was an assault with a dangerous weapon type charge where a boyfriend went after the girlfriend during an argument with a knife cut some stuff up and I think got her some as well. Most of them were in agreement that he was guilty but one juror in particular was a hard no as in his mind the knife wasn't made to cause injury or kill so therefore the charge was inappropriate.

 

[LancelotClone]

The prosecution definitely still had strikes left, when they came to her. No idea what that attorney was thinking.

The most logical and likely explanation is that she wasn't anywhere near as crazy as you claim, and you weren't anywhere near as sane as you claim.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

I sat on a jury many years ago. It was 2.5 days for a robbery, possession of burglary tools and attempted murder. We all agreed quickly that there just wasn't enough evidence to even warrant the attempted murder charge.
But we did find him guilty on the other charges.

 

[CloneLawman]

The most logical and likely explanation is that she wasn't anywhere near as crazy as you claim, and you weren't anywhere near as sane as you claim.

Not sure how you could say that, not knowing the particulars of the case. Janny's description of the lady certainly doesn't sound generally like an ideal prosecution juror, but there are a great many factors that are relevant to jury selection in general and in the exercise of strikes more particularly. Take it from a former prosecutor (or don't).

 

[TitanClone]

Yeah, I wholeheartedly disagree. I've only been selected once, but I find the entire process interesting. Mine was just a run of the mill DUI case that lasted a couple days, but I 'enjoyed' (for lack of a better word) being part of the process & seeing how it all goes down. Deliberation was also interesting to hear how all these different people think (& how wrong some of them are).

I remember one juror was adamant the defendant was guilty - not because of any particular evidence or testimony, but because "he could tell" the defendant was lying. We ended up agreeing on a verdict of not guilty..

Yeah I guess a more interesting case might have given me a different opinion. But it was 2 80 year olds at a 4 way stop, 1 went a second early and bumped the others car. I was the foreman because no one wanted to be and a guy I'd made conversation with was like "TitanClone will do it." We only had 1 guy somewhat holding out but in a civil case you only need 9 out of 12 so he stopped pretty quick. $27 for 2 days of trial plus 1 day of jury selection is stupid, thank christ my work pays for jury duty without taking PTO. Also it was in Liberty, MO about 25 minutes from my apartment in downtown KC so that was annoying. Would have been a 5 minute walk to the courthouse in downtown if it was there

 

[Mr Janny]

The most logical and likely explanation is that she wasn't anywhere near as crazy as you claim, and you weren't anywhere near as sane as you claim.

Lol. Fair enough. I can't know exactly what impression she left with the prosecution, or the impression I left, for that matter, but I wasn't exaggerating when I described her answer to their question. She said every one of those things.

 

[LancelotClone]

Not sure how you could say that, not knowing the particulars of the case. Janny's description of the lady certainly doesn't sound generally like an ideal prosecution juror, but there are a great many factors that are relevant to jury selection in general and in the exercise of strikes more particularly. Take it from a former prosecutor (or don't).

Of course there are a myriad of other factors, but for one of them to outweigh someone being a "100% nutbar" and "I got cut. She made the final jury. I have no idea what the prosecutor was thinking. There's not a chance in hell she was going to side with the police. She flat out said so", it's logical and likely that Janny's evaluation of at least the lady was not correct.