First timer thread
- Thread starter gteeitup
- Start date
I got hit up a few weeks ago; third time overall but the first time I had to sit on a jury. Interesting but hope I never have to do that again. I did make $32 so I got that going for me.
I heard that in my Pandora queue and never knew there was a small guitar riff that was nipped-off the beginning for the single... the first 8 seconds were never on the 45 rpm.
pick-picky, those record companies!
So I lied my ass off and got immediately dismissed. Basically it was a guy who robbed a convenience store. The judge asked if I can be fair and impartial and I said "no, I've been in one when it got robbed so I am now traumatized." He said ok, you can go. Done and done.
My advice...lie lie and lie again to get off of it.
I'm glad that strategy worked for you. I tried the same thing with an armed robbery case. I was juror #7. The final two who were excused were 6 and 8. Meanwhile I'm sitting there thinking WTH just happened?
Prepare to wait a long time. And no phones allowed. Leave it at home or in the car.
So, here's my story (stories, actually). Got called for duty a few years back. No biggie, as I have never been called before and I was curious. I was the LAST one seated and they kept me. Ended up being foreman, which is not surprising to anyone who knows me. Anyway, it seemed pretty cut & dry. Guy was celebrating his 38th birthday with a party at his house. His dad, who he didn't get along with, shows up, gets drunk and they end up fighting in the yard in the dead of winter with snow on the ground. So dad leaves, comes back about 45 minutes later and son meets dad in the street with a buddy, who is trying to calm things down. Dad has his hands in his pockets, the 2 are literally 2 feet apart with the buddy between them to the side. Dad fires 3 shots from a .357 hidden in his vest pocket where his hands are. Strikes son all three times, with one hitting the buddy and passing through him into son. How no one died is beyond me, but they didn't. Dad flees and they catch him later. At NO TIME during the trial did the defense argue anything against the prosecution. Not against their assessment of what happened, not against the evidence, nothing. They never called a single witness and the dad never spoke a single word at all. We get to the chambers and elect me chair. So it's late in the day and I knew we'd be back the next day anyway, so I take a quick, informal poll of what everyone thought. I was floored. It was 6 for convicting, 6 for acquitting. There were a couple of other guys besides me who were gun owners and all of us looked at each other like we were in some bizarro world. So, I tell everyone we have to rely on the evidence, not our feelings about anyone and follow the judge's instructions. We go home and I am thinking I am in for a real shiite show with this bunch.
Well, next day comes and we start working and I take another quick poll to see if anything has changed. Thankfully, 3 had thought about it, realized they were going on emotion rather than facts and switched. It was now 9-3 guilty. One older black woman, one young black woman (who was late every day and who was told by the judge if she were late again he would lock her up and hold her in contempt) and a young white woman. By young, I mean MAYBE these 2 were 20-25 tops. So as we go through everything, the older black woman starts to come around when we read the judge's instructions. Turns out she wasn't comfortable sending an "old man" away for life (understandable), since the minimum sentence would mean he'd die in prison. We had to remind her that we were merely delivering the verdict of guilty or not and that the judge would pass sentence. That, and that we had to follow his instructions and deal with the facts and not judge based on what "might" happen. She changes her vote to guilty after that. The 2 young nit-wits just kept saying "I can't believe he actually meant to hurt his own son!". WTAH?? Dude shot his son 3 friggin' times from 2 feet away with a .357 and they don't think he meant to hurt his son? Really?
So, after several hours, we FINALLY got the young white girl to realize how damn stupid she sounded and she changed. Young black girl stuck to her guns, still not able to wrap her head around him meaning to kill his own son. I don't know whether she truly changed her mind or was just sick of being there, but she FINALLY changed her vote. I had to remind her that once we delivered the verdict they were going to ask us to state in our own words if that was our verdict and if she said no, we'd be right back in here again. She didn't, we convicted him and he finally spoke before the judge sentenced him to say he was "sorry". Didn't help.
Now, fast forward to barely a month past the minimum time you can be called again and I get my notice. This time I am not happy about it. I go in and it is for a guy who shot into a house, killing a teenage girl. Defense attorney is the same guy the previous case had, investigating officer is someone I have known all my life, and half the detectives and deputies involved are people I know. So, they start calling people up and, sure enough, they seat all but one seat and I am called. I have heard all the questions about "do you know the defendant, lawyers, investigators", etc. So, when they get past the name and other pleasantries, the DA starts asking me who I know. I tell him I can save him some time since I have heard all the questions and I point out everyone I know personally, how I served as foreman on a case before, we convicted the guy and that the defendants attorney was the same defense attorney in that case.
It took the defense attorney maybe 30 seconds to "discuss" it with his client before they cut me loose.
Well, next day comes and we start working and I take another quick poll to see if anything has changed. Thankfully, 3 had thought about it, realized they were going on emotion rather than facts and switched. It was now 9-3 guilty. One older black woman, one young black woman (who was late every day and who was told by the judge if she were late again he would lock her up and hold her in contempt) and a young white woman. By young, I mean MAYBE these 2 were 20-25 tops. So as we go through everything, the older black woman starts to come around when we read the judge's instructions. Turns out she wasn't comfortable sending an "old man" away for life (understandable), since the minimum sentence would mean he'd die in prison. We had to remind her that we were merely delivering the verdict of guilty or not and that the judge would pass sentence. That, and that we had to follow his instructions and deal with the facts and not judge based on what "might" happen. She changes her vote to guilty after that. The 2 young nit-wits just kept saying "I can't believe he actually meant to hurt his own son!". WTAH?? Dude shot his son 3 friggin' times from 2 feet away with a .357 and they don't think he meant to hurt his son? Really?
So, after several hours, we FINALLY got the young white girl to realize how damn stupid she sounded and she changed. Young black girl stuck to her guns, still not able to wrap her head around him meaning to kill his own son. I don't know whether she truly changed her mind or was just sick of being there, but she FINALLY changed her vote. I had to remind her that once we delivered the verdict they were going to ask us to state in our own words if that was our verdict and if she said no, we'd be right back in here again. She didn't, we convicted him and he finally spoke before the judge sentenced him to say he was "sorry". Didn't help.
Now, fast forward to barely a month past the minimum time you can be called again and I get my notice. This time I am not happy about it. I go in and it is for a guy who shot into a house, killing a teenage girl. Defense attorney is the same guy the previous case had, investigating officer is someone I have known all my life, and half the detectives and deputies involved are people I know. So, they start calling people up and, sure enough, they seat all but one seat and I am called. I have heard all the questions about "do you know the defendant, lawyers, investigators", etc. So, when they get past the name and other pleasantries, the DA starts asking me who I know. I tell him I can save him some time since I have heard all the questions and I point out everyone I know personally, how I served as foreman on a case before, we convicted the guy and that the defendants attorney was the same defense attorney in that case.
It took the defense attorney maybe 30 seconds to "discuss" it with his client before they cut me loose.
I got called a few years back for an employee grievance case against Wal-Mart. I showed up in a suit and tie and was immediately dismissed.
Have only been called once. Originally it was right around the due date for our daughter so I was able to put it off for six months or so but eventually did have to report. Sat on a case involving two guys who stole a freaking radiator and carried it off somewhere to break it down and sell off the scrap. Security video showed them loading it in their truck and leaving. Officer testifies that the two were found in the process of breaking down the radiator. My trial was for the older of the two, whose defense was that the young guy told him he'd arranged some kind of trade for it. Jury spent several hours discussing and going back to ask the judge for clarification, etc.
It's hard to even fathom the value of the hours of time from everyone involved over a piece of scrap that may have been worth 50 bucks tops.
#Justice
It's hard to even fathom the value of the hours of time from everyone involved over a piece of scrap that may have been worth 50 bucks tops.
#Justice
You have no idea. I left thinking that THIS is why defense lawyers try to get the worst possible people from the pool seated. I told my wife when I got home that it almost worked. Defense was the one who seated the 2 young girls and they were the last 2 holdouts and had NO sensible reason for wanting to let the guy go outside of "I can't believe he would intentionally try to kill his own son".
We weren't supposed to talk about it during the trial, but when we left the first day after the first test vote, one of the other guys who was a gun owner and who, like me, saw this as pretty cut & dry, saw me on the way to the car and we couldn't believe anyone would think the guy "accidentally" fired 3 rounds into his son. One, maybe. 2, probably not. 3? Oh hell no, homey was trying to kill the dude.
Like I said, though, the 2 young girls were pretty dense and the young black girl was late EVERY SINGLE DAY and held up court for 20-40 minutes. She offered no reason why she was late either. She didn't have kids, wasn't married and didn't live that far away. She was just slack. When she finally showed up the day both sides closed their case, the judge told her in open court if she was late the next day he was going to march her to the jail and hold her in contempt. We had an alternate, so we could've proceeded, but she got the message. Of course she showed up right at the time court was to begin, but at least she was there.
@JuleZ '02 HEEL - I heard about a guys who got called who showed up in NRA t-shirts, "I support the Thin Blue Line" type t-shirts and one who wore a tie-dyed shirt with a big peace sign on it. Needless to say, none were called.
Been asked to serve on jury duty twice; was selected once. I just assumed the sooner you serve, the less likely you'll get called later in the couple weeks (or in the future ?) so I'd just put up with it and be done with it.
Nothing nearly as exciting as LittleJon's case above. Some lady got rear-ended in an auto crash, and seemed fine after the crash, but somehow weirdly she felt a lot worse, more injured by the crash, 3-4 years later, coincidentally at exactly the time she said she needed money to put her kid through college. What a weird coincidence of timing. Russian lady - broken English - not the brightest bulb on the tree.
The judge was pretty cool at taking us back and letting us view his chambers, and talking about the case with us. He talked about how inefficient the whole system was - with so much money and people's time being tied up / used in frivolous cases, that should never be heard, and so many more that should be settled out of court by a neutral arbitrator.
But in US anyway, there is no real risk or cost for the plaintiff and his/her lawyer to bring any suit regardless of merit. It'd be a nice change to have the plaintiff have to cover ALL court costs, if their side loses the case. That would give them incentive to only choose cases they thought they had a chance at winning. As is - what is the deterrent for any lawyer to bring any case against anyone, and especially chase after those with deepest pockets?
Nothing nearly as exciting as LittleJon's case above. Some lady got rear-ended in an auto crash, and seemed fine after the crash, but somehow weirdly she felt a lot worse, more injured by the crash, 3-4 years later, coincidentally at exactly the time she said she needed money to put her kid through college. What a weird coincidence of timing. Russian lady - broken English - not the brightest bulb on the tree.
The judge was pretty cool at taking us back and letting us view his chambers, and talking about the case with us. He talked about how inefficient the whole system was - with so much money and people's time being tied up / used in frivolous cases, that should never be heard, and so many more that should be settled out of court by a neutral arbitrator.
But in US anyway, there is no real risk or cost for the plaintiff and his/her lawyer to bring any suit regardless of merit. It'd be a nice change to have the plaintiff have to cover ALL court costs, if their side loses the case. That would give them incentive to only choose cases they thought they had a chance at winning. As is - what is the deterrent for any lawyer to bring any case against anyone, and especially chase after those with deepest pockets?
sitting here in the pool room with about a hundred others...htf does this work now?
will we be interviewed again?
will we be interviewed again?
Normally you put your quarters on the edge of the table to indicate you want to play the winner.
My buddy steve was a repo man for a trailer home dealer. He was sent to repo a home and took the wrong one. He says it was the dealers fault they blamed him. Anyway The people got their home back in a few days but they sued the dealer for $20k for their trouble. Noone showed to rep the dealer except their lawyer and my buddy and he got put on the stand by the lawyer unprepared. On cross examination He threw the dealer in the river and the people got triple damages.
So flash forward to his next job. Hes working in the kitchen at montreat anderson retreat in black mtn. Its mothers day and hundreds get food poisoning and makes the national news. I’m watching the news and they go to interview people but everyone in the kitchen runs off...except one person...my buddy steve. Hes stirring a big vat of apples and grinning ear to ear as the news crew walks in. They ask him if he wants to talk and he walks over to the reporter. She asks what went on today and he says “i dont know but i told them the ham smelled funny” and laughs. Turns out it was the ham.
So flash forward to his next job. Hes working in the kitchen at montreat anderson retreat in black mtn. Its mothers day and hundreds get food poisoning and makes the national news. I’m watching the news and they go to interview people but everyone in the kitchen runs off...except one person...my buddy steve. Hes stirring a big vat of apples and grinning ear to ear as the news crew walks in. They ask him if he wants to talk and he walks over to the reporter. She asks what went on today and he says “i dont know but i told them the ham smelled funny” and laughs. Turns out it was the ham.
@gteeitup - what state / city are you in? It's probably too late for you to look into this, at this point, but....
in Minnesota (Minneapolis / St. Paul) after you show up in person to the pool the first day, every following day you can get a number to call into each morning to see if you have to go to the courthouse to be selected. That way people here can still go to work or stay home or whatever - if the system knows they will not be called in on that day. Maybe something to check out.
The only time I was ever called for jury duty was a little over thirty years ago. I was called to serve the first week in July, which I later found out that, and the first week in January are not the weeks you would want to be called for jury duty in Gaston County. When I arrived to the courthouse on the Monday morning, I went to a room where all of the others were. After about ten minutes or so, the representative from the clerk of court called out about 12 numbers, of which mine was one of them. We were led to a courtroom where a judge was seated and we were informed that we had been selected to serve on the Grand Jury, which would require us to meet for one or two days a month (depending on the case load) for a year. We were also required to make a surprise visit to the county jail once every six months to determine that it met state standards. One woman was able to get herself excused because she presented a doctor's excuse claiming that her back wouldn't allow her to sit for long periods of time. The judge rejected any claims that serving would interfere with work no matter how important the person's job was. He said he didn't care if you were a surgeon, CEO, waitress or ditch digger. It didn't matter. The total number that was on the grand jury was 23 with either 11 or 12 rotating off every six months.
The purpose of the grand jury was not to take part in trials to determine guilt. We were there to hear evidence as presented by witnesses (usually law enforcement or prosecutors) to determine if a criminal indictment was justified. We were allowed to question the witnesses as we saw fit. We would then vote either for or against. It didn't have to be unanimous to indict, but at least two-thirds in favor. I don't think we ever found that the evidence presented to us was insufficient so as to keep a case from being tried.
Although I did find this process interesting, at the same time I found it to be very disgusting with all of the evil and wrong doing that went on. We would hear about all of the rapes, the child molesting, the robberies, the assaults, everything in detail. It really opened my eyes to the fact that there are some bad people in this world. Oddly enough, during my time serving on the grand jury, we only heard evidence for one murder case, and this person was charged with second degree murder.
Concerning one of our surprise visits to the county jail, we had elected a hot looking young girl with long blonde hair as our foreperson for that six month period. As she led us on our tour of the jailhouse, I thought the inmates were going to go crazy. As she walked by the jail cells they would reach out through the bars trying cop a feel, only to be smacked with a billy club by one of the deputies.
If there is a silver lining to serving on the grand jury, you are never called again for jury duty as long as you continue to reside in the same county.
The purpose of the grand jury was not to take part in trials to determine guilt. We were there to hear evidence as presented by witnesses (usually law enforcement or prosecutors) to determine if a criminal indictment was justified. We were allowed to question the witnesses as we saw fit. We would then vote either for or against. It didn't have to be unanimous to indict, but at least two-thirds in favor. I don't think we ever found that the evidence presented to us was insufficient so as to keep a case from being tried.
Although I did find this process interesting, at the same time I found it to be very disgusting with all of the evil and wrong doing that went on. We would hear about all of the rapes, the child molesting, the robberies, the assaults, everything in detail. It really opened my eyes to the fact that there are some bad people in this world. Oddly enough, during my time serving on the grand jury, we only heard evidence for one murder case, and this person was charged with second degree murder.
Concerning one of our surprise visits to the county jail, we had elected a hot looking young girl with long blonde hair as our foreperson for that six month period. As she led us on our tour of the jailhouse, I thought the inmates were going to go crazy. As she walked by the jail cells they would reach out through the bars trying cop a feel, only to be smacked with a billy club by one of the deputies.
If there is a silver lining to serving on the grand jury, you are never called again for jury duty as long as you continue to reside in the same county.
we get the number here in cola, sc...i was selected today after calling the number last night and it’s a criminal case, hopefully finishing up by friday.
so, the system itself, at least the investigation side from officer all the way up, freakin sucks...as a former investigator(not criminal), i’d be ashamed of what this dept has going...and the defense attorney is about as bad as you can imagine...repeating hearsay questions is completely inept, even the same question no less.
thanks everyone for all the indulgence with this.
Educational and entertaining poast, a rarity around here. Good to see you, buddy.
Interesting post. Thanks for sharing. The part I included above made me think of a scene down in the hole / dungeon from the movie Silence of the Lambs.
Thanks for the kind comment, my friend. You deserve kudos, also for keeping this board interesting and fun with your poasts and threads.
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