You were allowed to bring in smartphones? They are not allowed in NYC courts. I had to secure mine in a locker the last time I was called for jury duty.
Yes. Obviously they can’t be out while court is in session and they better be turned off but they can be in your pocket.
When I served on a jury, it was 2009, so just as smartphones were taking off. I was still using a non-smart flip-phone back then, and while they prohibited us from making calls or taking photos while in the courtroom or the jury room, they didn’t make us turn phones off, just made us silence them.
Thinking about this more, I think I misremembered. They let us keep our phones, but they had to be turned off in the courtroom. We were allowed to use them while we were in the jury room, though told (of course) to not discuss the case with anyone.
It was almost an Alice’s Restaurant type of event. I seem to get called for it a lot but have never made it all the way onto a jury.
They have you call a recorded message the night before. Usually, the message says that they don’t need you. This time, the message says that I needed to go in. There were eighty some odd people in the room. They read off a list of about 75 names. My name, along with half a dozen others was not on the list. They told us we could go home. After about 30 minutes, we were done. I took one of the little slips that said I had been there.
Almost, but not quite, a year later, I received another notice for jury duty, this time from the federal court. In the letter, it said that I could be excused if I had served jury duty for another court within the past year. They wanted documentation, so I sent a copy of the little slip from that earlier time. It worked. I was excused.
Nobody wanted to be the foreman, so I came up with a way to choose. Basically drawing straws. Everyone thought that was so smart they all deceided I was gonna be the foreman. :le sigh:
Another time the trial involved a gun. A rifle. The cop on the stand painted the entire room a number of times with the gun. You. Do. Not. Do. That. Idiot.
Then, since the rifle was evidence, a bailif brought the rifle into the jury room and laid it on our table pointing directly at someones chest. You. Do. Not. Do. That. Idiot.
I gently picked up the rifle, asked if any one wanted to look at it. No one did I placed in the corner of the room where it was not pointed at anyone. Was made foreman for that trial too.
Just chiming in to say what an interesting thread this is — thanks to all.
@aurora_maire — your “Jane Toe” story is hilarious! Sounds like a sitcom plot.
That’s the case with my county these days. Brought mine with me the last time I went in; gave me something to do while waiting.
They weren’t allowed the first time I went in so I brought a book.
I’ve only been called twice. Once for a district I had just moved from, so I was no longer eligible. The other time was during a period I was crazy busy at work, so I was frustrated to have to do it. I was really hoping I wouldn’t be selected.
Then we were all given a pep talk by the judge and shown a video about how our country asks very little of us, and this is an important civic duty. It changed my attitude, got me inspired and proud to have the chance to serve my country by being on a jury…
…and then I was deemed part of the overflow and was cut loose 
I must have received 4-5 jury summonses while I had my Green Card. I dutifully checked the “not a US citizen” box, signed it, and mailed it back. They must have taken my name off of their lists. Once I got my citizenship I never received another.
1st or 2nd degree?
I served almost exactly twenty years ago and obviously we weren’t allowed to read any news articles about the trial, but I wanted to capture whatever the newspapers said each day. So I would look at the newspapers’ websites, find the articles about the case and then copy and paste the text, while not actually reading them. (I wanted to be able to read the articles later.)
I have lived in 4 counties in my state. I have never served on a jury and have only received a few notices. There used to be a law where certain professions were exempt from jury duty. That law changed before I became a cop.
In county A I received one notice when I was in another state going to college. I received another one when I was in the Army stationed in Germany. My parents filled out the paperwork explaining the issue. Never got any other notices.
County B sent me a jury notice after I had moved to county C. It was sent directly to the current address which was clearly not in county B. Sent back the notice with a curt note stating that. Never heard from them again.
County C sent me a notice for grand jury duty pretty soon after I moved there. I filled out the form and got a phone call right away. When they saw I was a police officer they immediately took me off grand jury. They were afraid I would have to recuse myself too often. I was told they would instead put me on a petite jury. I called the number the day before and the message said I didn’t have to report. I lived in that county for about 20’years and never got another notice.
As I said earlier, after moving to county D 4 months ago I got a jury summons in the mail. I’ll see what happens at the end of March. I doubt I will be picked for a criminal trial. 25 years as a full time cop and now working part time often as court security will make me unattractive to a defense attorney. There is always the chance of getting on a civil trial. I will answer all questions truthfully and not try to get out of it. But I’m really hoping I don’t have to go. I’ve been in a lot of courtrooms. I find the whole process incredibly tedious.
I’ll have to fill my pockets with 5 hour energy bottles to stay awake.
That was a fear of mine when I served on a criminal trial jury; falling asleep in the jury box. (Another concern was how to dress; I knew I’d be sitting in a chilly room for a long time, so I think I wore sweaters.)
It was two counts of first-degree murder, life sentences without possibility of parole (plus several other minor charges).
The Minnesota Supreme Court does a traveling circuit once a year, and a few years after the trial they heard the mandatory appeal of the case in a town about an hours drive from me. I went to listen, and I pleased to hear the sentences were upheld.
(I misstated the ages of the sons; they were 13 and 10, not 10 and 7.)
There’s an episode of Interrogation Raw from A&E, available on Hulu, that covers the murder. I don’t really want to watch it.
I made it as far as jury selection years ago - an armed robbery case.
The defense dismissed me - not for cause, but apparently for being in a demographic likely to look unfavorably on his client.
Or maybe it was my “Hang 'Em High” t-shirt.
I’ve been on two. The first was for a civil case where a woman was suing BART for some sort of accident in the elevator. The BART attorney quizzed the candidates. Her attorney never asked a question. We were told to come back in the morning, and when we did, the case was settled. My guess is that her attorney told her to take the settlement, but she was holding out for a jury that would stick it to the man and give her lots of money. We didn’t meet her specifies, and she gave up.
The second was a minor assault case where a man hit his wife. I was foreman because I asked who wanted to be foreman and everyone pointed at me. It was not exactly a high stakes case, and we found him guilty in two votes. I talked to the prosecutor afterwards, and found that they gave the case to basically an intern for practice, so I figure we made the right decision. The judge told us that by California law we could not profit from being on the jury by writing something or selling our story, but he basically laughed and said good luck at profiting on this case.
I was in the pool for some murder cases but never even made it to be examined.
I’ve sat through voir dire twice, and avoided having to show up three or four times. At my location, they line you up by your selection number and you have to enter, sit, and leave in that order. I was first in line and therefore, after not being one of the selected, the last to leave the courtroom. I looked back at the newly minted jurors and they all looked at me like they were the last puppy in the store.
How did he make it past voir dire?
Either nobody asked him, or he lied about it, I don’t remember. My brother was a superior court judge, and I told him about it when I got home. He said the judge would likely have admonished him and kicked him out of the courthouse. Since everyone else agreed she was innocent based on what the prosecutor said, I saw no reason to delay the trial and keep the other jurors from going home. If I had to do it over, I would let the judge know immediately and damn the consequences.