I answered my first juror questionnaire online a few months ago and last month I received a summons. I am to report to the courthouse for the juror pool Monday morning.
I had jury duty a couple years ago. Showed up an hour late, they didn’t care. Had an hour and a half for lunch, came back and was sent home another half hour later. Home by 3, paid day off work. Not so bad.
I’ve been many many times. But only last year did I go through a trial.
It was kind of fun in an odd way.
I’ve been called to sit around many times, but only made it to jury selection once.
One of the lawyers asked the room if any of us could define the word “conjecture.”
I raised my hand, gave a textbook definition, and was immediately cut from the jury pool.
All in all, a mildly depressing but not horrible way to fulfill my civic duties.
I got my first summons for the 16th for the grand jury.
They called me for it last year but I filed for an exemption being as I had JUST started my very first corporate job. They granted it but now I have to go. The form says I have to check online the night before after 5pm and I may not have to go in but they may call me again for another session.
Honestly I really do not want to go mainly because I have to drive and park downtown in rush hour and I don’t feel like I am ‘serious’ enough to do it?
Gratz! Make sure to turn off your cellphone or beeper or even to leave them home.
Judges don’t like Mr Ringtone. Ever.
I am currently serving as a grand juror. My term began on Feb 1 and will last until Feb 28, every day Mon-Fri. It’s only 3 hours per day, and in the morning so I only miss one hour of work per day. I’m enjoying it so far, though this week does seem like it’s been going on forever.
Yeah, I’ve only been called once. They sat jurors 1-12 in the jury box. I was #32. The lawyers started in on the jury in the box then the early numbers 13-24.
Hearing some of the responses was frightening. I damn near had to sew my own mouth shut to avoid talking myself INTO a seat on the jury. I may have stood up if it was a huge case, but it was just some personal injury settlement.
If you have a beloved brass-with-walnut-inlay-handled butterfly knife, leave it home. Even if you don’t think of it as a weapon, the nice men from the sheriff’s department will confiscate it right out of the pass-around bin at the metal detector and no, they won’t give it back.
Ask me how I know.
:grumble:
Congratulations, citizen. May you serve your country with honor and dignity by stamping out the villainous scourge that plague our fair land.
Henry Fonda got away with it.
I was called for duty in the local JP court. I walked in, handed them my letter, was told the case had been settled and I was free to go, and walked right out. I spent maybe two minutes in there and got a day’s jury pay (big honkin’ six clams). The nice thing is that I probably won’t get another summons for at least three more years now.
Henry Fonda has my butterfly knife? Bastard.
Phone would definitely stay home; the summons says they’re not even allowed in the courthouse.
Just checked my email and found a notice from yesterday saying that all cases scheduled for Monday have been resolved. The notice also says to check the juror website after 5PM Monday to see if I need to report Tuesday instead.
I was put on the schedule for today, my last day due to no trials starting on Fridays. Forgot to check the website yesterday; was up at 4 am to take a leak and remembered that I hadn’t checked. Good thing I did! They had emailed my home account about 12 hours earlier; I forwarded the notice to my boss, took a shower, and went back to bed for a couple hours.
Got to juror orientation 15 minutes early. Turned out I had been a possible juror for a criminal case but, before the lawyers came to vet us, the jury coordinator announced there was a continuance. Got my $30 and went home. No more jury duty for me until at least 10 Feb 2014.
I’ve previously related here my story about being an alternate on a Federal jury in the mid-1980s, so will not repeat that.
But just this week I got on my first jury since then, in state court for what turned out to be a very simple and quick case: One defendant, charges being possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of narcotics paraphernalia.
It was quick because the only witness for the defense was the defendant himself, and he was totally non-credible. He was clearly making up his story as he was talking, and contradicted himself multiple times; what a mess. And during cross examination he actually admitted to having a crack pipe on him when he was arrested for being in possession of the stolen car he was found by police sitting in the driver’s seat of.
So, it was a reasonably quick process for us to find him guilty of both charges.
During talk among the jury while waiting to go back to the courtroom to deliver the verdicts, it was brought up and acknowledged by everyone that if the defendant had NOT testified, it would have been much more difficult and time consuming to come to verdicts.
So, in all the trial lasted just two days, including jury selection.
He would have, had it not been for those meddling kids!
I checked and I have to go tomorrow 
Hopefully though I do not get picked to sit for the grand jury. Apparently it is 2 days twice a month for a year! It may sound whiny (because it is :p) but that is a LOT of work for me to miss and a LOT of driving/stress. Civic duty blah blah yeah I know it’s contradictory for me to complain but this sucks.
The courthouse is in downtown St. Louis, somewhere I only go for baseball games because it stinks (to me, I hate driving down there, I get lost easily). And I start my new position in a week, have a lot of training and am coming into a severely understaffed department etc…blah blah rant rant.
Wish I could have just gotten hit with the regular petit jury service - that courthouse is at least in an area of town I know, closer, more comfortable with, and they won’t keep making me come back forever if they pick me.
Wow! Grand jury duty in St. Louis is a total 48 days!? :eek: That **is **a lot! The grand jury here in New York County is a period of either 4 weeks (Mon-Fri so only 20 days total) for 3 hours each day, or for two weeks of full days (10am-5pm.)
Yeah, Grand Jury here is two days a week for two months. It’s better than ordinary jury duty–the rules of evidence are different than “real” court, so you get to hear the juicy details. Also, you can drink coffee and eat bagels and doughnuts, at least the grand jury I was on.