Three times for you in 14 years, not once for me.
I don’t know how justice ever gets done. Wait, I do - plea bargains. I took a tour of the Phoenix courthouse and sat in open court. All pleas and motions.
No wonder a trial like Jodi Arias’ makes such a big splash. It rarely happens!
Now that I’m retired I’ve been expecting a summons, but nothing so far (I used to get them pretty regularly before).
Only time I actually had to serve was on a shoplifting case. Defendant had a highly responsible job that he would have lost if convicted, and the only “evidence” was that the label on a package of meat didn’t match its contents (the loss prevention employee admitted that he hadn’t seen the defendant switch them). Took longer to select a foreman than to acquit.
Actually, there was a fourth that I hadn’t mentioned. COVID measures were in place, which meant that the jury pool was split between two rooms; my pool was put in the gallery of an unused courtroom and the bench was behind a sheet of plexiglass.
Four times and I have yet to serve on any case.
I don’t know how potential jurors are selected here (Ontario), but I’ve only been called once, and that was almost 50 years ago. I was asked what I did for a living and was dismissed by the judge when I said I was a civil servant. I expect that one of the lawyers objected but wasn’t paying attention to them. No idea what the case was about. Jury duty was paid leave for us, so no financial hit and it would have been interesting to have been on the jury.
A couple of years ago, I got summoned for jury duty at the county court. Wasn’t selected. This coming week, I’m selected for jury duty for federal court which is a whole different pool. Hopefully I won’t actually get the message to come in since it’s an hour haul into Chicago from the outer suburbs.
I just got done with jury duty for the first time. Two weeks of calling in each evening to see if I’d be needed the next day. I went in a total of four days, was put into the jury pools for two cases, but rejected by one side or the other both times.
Very interesting to me was how willing the judge was to accommodate me. He had announced how long the trial was expected to run and how long it could run if certain things happened, then asked if anyone needed to be excused. I went forward with that group and explained that a very important professional gig would begin around the end of that time frame.
He said I could be excused. I stuttered a bit and said I didn’t necessarily want to be excused, but I was asking for advice. What were the chances the trial and my gig would conflict? He naturally said he couldn’t be certain. But then he offered to make me an alternate instead of a primary juror.
I was surprised he would work with a potential juror to that extent.
Another kinda pleasant surprise: The first time we went into the courtroom, the jurors (with the exception of my neurotic self) all sat down as soon as they reached their seats. I noticed that the lawyers and courtroom staff remained standing till the judge sat down.
I asked about this later, and was told that the courtroom was standing to show respect, not for the judge, but for us the jury.
Wow!
Typically, it’s at random, from voters’ lists. I was called maybe 35 years ago, when I lived in Ontario, and that was how it was explained to me. Nowadays, it may be different, but I see no reason why it would be.
Interestingly, Ontario called me again. The notice showed up at my Calgary address, about a week after I had moved to Alberta. I replied in writing, saying that I had left Ontario, and now resided in Alberta at [my Calgary address], but if they wanted to pay my travel expenses, I’d be happy to show up for the time and date on the notice. Unsurprisingly, I never heard from them again.
and cigarette lighters
That’s because the jury and the judge together form the court, and counsel all stand until all of the court is seated.
I’ve been called a handful of times; always for cases where all or part of the proceedings will be in English (the majority language here in Québec is French). Clearly I’m on a list somewhere (I assume tied to school records, but I don’t know).
I’ve never been selected to serve as juries were always picked before my turn came up.
As Québec doesn’t use common law for civil matters, jury duty is always for federal crimes. In all cases where i was called , when the basic facts of the case were explained (enough to identify potential conflicts of interest like “hey I went to school with that guy!”) it was murder cases.
As I understand it, there’s an opportunity to explain to the judge why you want to be excused (other than the default cases that are listed on the forms) but I don’t recall if the lawyers are there for that part (I have been excused twice: once for being a student and the other because of a family health crisis that was happening). In the room with the lawyers and where the selection happens, I recall being told that the only questions they’d ask were for you to state your name and occupation. No details about employer, just generic answers like “teacher, engineer”. The lawyers from both sides had a certain number of rejections they could use, but that’s all the information they had and once they’d used all their refusals they just had to accept the next people on the jury.