Not surprising. What IS surprising is the revelation that members of the jury pool were shown what I (as a layman) would expect to qualify as evidence, not only before opening arguments, but before jury selection.
It’s been many years since I have been put on jury duty. Like 12-15 years. I’m not avoiding it I just never received notice. The chances of being picked for a criminal trial are basically zero but I could get picked for a civil trial.
I once got picked for the county grand jury but as soon as they got the questionaire back they couldn’t take me off fast enough.
As far as I am aware, the rule everywhere is: you are entitled to an exemption from jury duty if you are over the age of 70, but you do not have to claim the exemption if you don’t want to. My father was on a civil jury well after he was 70, because he’s a busybody who likes to meddle in other people’s business.
Bless Your Heart! 
I’ll just assume you are unfamiliar with the vast entertainment opportunities of Rural Nevada. 
No coincidence that there are two shortcuts to completely avoid my county seat entirely, from all three direction you could approach it.
I was on a jury twice.
The first time, I was an alternate on a murder trial. One guy shot another in the eye and killed him. They were arguing over $10. This trial featured a court translator; he translated ebonics into plain English. I learned that a “hoopty” was a beat up old car.
The second time, I was the foreperson on a civil trial. Something about refinancing a mortgage. We found for the plaintiffs, but awarded them much less than the amount they were suing for. I got to read our decision out loud, which was kind of cool.
I enjoyed jury duty. We were very near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and there was a great used-book store near the courthouse.
My husband recently had to do the call in for his specified week. He never had to go, and in fact, the last two days he was told no jurors were needed.
The trick is to say you’re prejudiced against no races.
I served a few years ago on a trial that lasted 2 weeks. Worker’s comp claim fraud. We had to sit thru hours of sub rosa video of this person doing normal, daily activities, with and without the cane ht doctor prescribed. Actually, it was DAYS of watching video. It sucked. I was the foreman, and the thing ended-up as a mistrial. Evidently, they tried to prosecute this person before for the same thing, and that was also a mistrial. Waste of time.
I was called-in again last year and my number was called right away; I was in seat #2 in the jury box. It was a murder trial with racial overtones that was expected to last 6+ weeks, and I was there on a Monday right after a significant announcement in a controversial encounter between a black person and police. The judge asked each juror the same question: “Do you think the justice system can be color-blind, and anyone can get a fair trial in this country?”. I said one word - “No”, and he did not ask for an explanation. The rest of the jurors ranged in answering from Yes to No to explaining why they thought the way they do (and I weep at some of the discussion). I was relieved to be excused near the end of the first day.
I am not sure why anyone would want to be on a jury, but that’s just me. I can tell from the rest of the prospective jurors in the gallery, and there were a lot of them, some of them coveted a spot in the jury box. Perhaps too much binge-watching of crime dramas. I would not mind a week or two trial, but 6+ weeks was going to be a serious problem for me at work (which is not an acceptable excuse), and I walked out glad I was not selected for that one.
Directly related to Jury Selection;
If you have not seen the movie, I suggest you do, some good cheap laughs.
When I served on a grand jury, one of the cases involved the lawyer showing us graphic photos of pre-pubescent child porn. Graphic. 
After being in the courtroom for too many court cases I don’t understand either. It’s mostly boring. I would be worried that I couldn’t keep my eyes open.
Having said that I still think everyone should go and not purposely try to get out of it. Otherwise our justice system rests on the backs of those too stupid to get out of jury duty.
The only time I was on a jury was as an alternate. I didn’t even get to sit in the jury box; I got a folding chair off to the side. There were three days of testimony. As soon as the closing arguments were finished, the judge looked at me and said, “You can go.”
Kind of frustrating. I never got to find out how the trial ended!
To be fair, our Justice system rests on the backs of those too stupid to be caught.
I was chosen for jury duty, spent the first day sitting there, the next they let us go home at noon. Call in next couple of days. Finally had us come in. Sit for a jury selection.
Guy was being charged with assault and making terroristic threats. Against the cops who had showed up. His attorney asked people if they would have any problem with him having zero witnesses in his own defense and 16 witnesses against him.
Amazingly, every single person they asked said ‘no problem!’ and they selected the number they needed before they got to me.
Probably just as well, because I would have said that I couldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt on something like that.
45+ years of eligibility and I was only called once. The charge was fraud against a program run by the federal government department I worked for, the defence challenged as soon as they learned my profession, and I was told I could go home.
Yes, some of us do want to participate in our legal system. My last call up was January of this year. There were thirty of us and two complete clowns wasted our time by very obviously trying to get out of it. At the end of the day, they could not get enough people out of the pool to seat a jury. So the labor hours all of us lost at our jobs plus the cost of the county attorneys and the defendant’s lawyers and the bailiffs and the judge and the courtroom itself-- all completely wasted for the six hours we were there.
They might have rescheduled. The charges might have been dropped. The victim of this domestic violence case did not get justice. The plaintiff did not get the opportunity to clear his name.
Maybe it’s not very nice of me, but i hope every jury dodger has to face the frustration of not having his day in court because the group being empanelled were “smart enough” to get out of serving. Or that they lost because only the stupid people were chosen.
If you’re not willing to serve on a jury, you have no sympathy from me if you or your family is ever denied justice. None.
Just once in my life, just for the experience.
The secret is to tell them you’re prejudice against all races.
You should have called the court’s clerk (or, in this day and age, looked online at the case docket).
The vast, vast majority of criminal cases will result in a plea. And, if it’s your first time doing something wrong, and if nobody got seriously hurt, you aren’t likely to do jail time.
That being said, criminal cases will generally go to trial for 1 of 3 reasons:
-
There is a legitimate question in the prosecution’s story, and the defense believes that there is a basis to question the evidence. That is the most fun type of case, because it’s a genuine mystery. I’m very impressed with the ability of juries to come to the most realistic conclusion about what actually happened.
-
The evidence is so overwhelming, and the crime so serious, that the prosecutor has no incentive to make an offer other than “plead guilty”. At that point, there is nothing to lose by going to trial, even if the defense goes to trial knowing that they will almost certainly lose, since there is always uncertainty when the case is before a jury.
(There is sometimes talk of what is called a “trial tax”, which is the increased sentence a judge would impose if a person takes a really bad case to trial, instead of confessing in a plea offering. The defense position is that a person has a constitutional right to force the state to prove its charges, and there shouldn’t be a penalty for that, but judge’s almost always have some degree of discretion when deciding the amount of penalty, and ‘level of remorse’ is usually part of the calculus).
- The defense believes that the judge made some mistake in allowing in evidence, and they plan to appeal. Prior to the case coming before the jury, there are usually pretrial arguments about what is admissible. If you, as a juror, are getting access to some damning confession, or audio recording, or discovered item, the defendant might be planning on arguing later that you should have never been able to consider it. (Usually, this aspect coincides with #2; even if there is an appellate issue, a win is never a guarantee, and a good plea offer usually overcomes all other considerations).
…
So, as you can see, if you are sitting in a criminal case, you are as likely (maybe more so) to see a case of obvious guilt than a really dubious one.
Interesting. I’ve wanted to find my way on a jury for years just so I could experience the workings of a trial from “the other side.” I’ve only been called twice; only impaneled once. I’ve never gotten to be an actual juror.