Served on a civil case. Trial over in a week. Plaintiff’s evidence was woefully deficient. A couple of hours for deliberation. Found for the defendant completely and unanimously.
Reported and went to voir dire. Case about an auto accident. We didn’t get any details, but the insurance company was apparently suing an uninsured motorist because the ins. co. lawyer was there along with the insured man. Oddly, the judge required lawyers to submit interview questions to him and he asked them. All the jurors were asked if they’d been involved in an auto accident and if it was resolved satisfactorily. I told them I had been in a fender-bender (resolved through insurance). I was excused.
I got my first and only summons for jury duty right at the age of 18, and got picked.
Defendant was a man accused of leaving a strip joint late at night to try and jack a car from a dealership. Guilty. He had a screwdriver in his possession, and got caught on thermal imaging camera. Then the judge asked us to convict him as a “third-strike” offender, which merely required us to verify that he’d been dinged twice before.
Line of the day in the jury room: “Is that a screwdriver in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
Line of the day in court, said by the defense attorney: "No one ever accused my client of being smart.’
I was quite keen to be on a jury. On the day I turned up there were enough people present for 3 or 4 juries and I feared I may miss out. The attendant running things said that there were so many cases to be heard that day that they probably would need 5 or more juries and they wished they had called in more prospective jurors. After about half a day we were all sent home - not one case was ready to proceed to trial.
Called 3 times in 15 years. Same local county jurisdiction. Never been called by any other place I’ve lived. The first 2 times just called in and didn’t have to report. 3rd time got to Voir Dire. Civil case, some guy vs state workers comp board. I had a previous workers comp claim and was dismissed.
Wife has been subpoenaed 3 times by Federal District in 10 years but never had to show up. I think they don’t want to deal with folks who have to travel 4 hours and put them up in a hotel just to go through the vetting.
In DC you get jury duty every two years like clockwork and there is also federal court and grand juries. I got picked for the jury for a lawsuit involving a violation of the Americans With Disability Act, the plaintiff was acting as his own lawyer with no degree beyond a high school diploma and won.
I’ve got the notice five or six times, but only actually have been to the courthouse twice. Other times I got the prerecorded call the morning of or the night before saying I would not be needed.
One time I waited around all day, went from room to room with a pool of 160 people, as various juries were selected. I was #145. The last juror picked was #139. At 4pm the ones not picked were dismissed. Some were criminal trials, some were civil.
The other time my number was higher and I was dismissed by the defense attorney because I was a manager at a large grocery chain, and the charges were robbery of a supermarket and assault of the store detective. I went to the back of the queue and waited another five hours before being dismissed.
I answered with the first option. I got as far as jury selection once, but a jury was seated before the attorney’s got around to asking me the questions.
But I did serve on a federal grand jury. That’s not at all the same thing though, no pressure of guilt or innocence, we just decided if there would be a trial.
I attended the trial of a friend, for a very serious charge against them. Luckily they got probation. What surprised me most was how boring the process of deciding someone’s life could be, the repetitive nature of the questioning. No snappy dialogue like in movies or on television.
I first got called two years ago and was even seated to be on the jury before one of the lawyers asked to have me replaced and the judge obliged. I assume it was because it was a personal injury case and I was the only non-minority male on the jury at the time. Personal injury attorneys generally do not like my demographic and they are probably right to feel that way because I don’t like personal injury attorneys and most of their clients either.
I’ve gotten several summons for standby jury duty, and either one or two where I actually had to come in the courthouse. I’ve never actually served. In the last one I got to voir dire and got kicked off the jury for who knows what reason. Only two got kicked off, and I was one of them, even though I didn’t say anything I thought would get me booted. All I’ve got is that I did work for a criminal defense attorney for awhile, and also that I did know a victim of sexual assault (which is what the trial was about), although about 80% of the jury pool in my section said the same.