Stories About Jury Selection/Jury Service/Jury Experiences

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
141

It’s funny, the things that can happen in trials that grab a jury’s attention.

I recall a civil trial where two young lawyers were battling it out. The plaintiff’'s attorney was a local fellow. It was his first jury trial, and he was understandably nervous throughout.

The defense attorney was a preening young buck from out of town. He was slightly more experienced. But where he had it all over the plaintiff’s lawyer was in his attention to snazzy dressing.

Each day, the plaintiff’s attorney would turn up in a slightly worn, rather rumpled suit. The defense attorney had a vast collection of expensive suits, each day a different look. He strutted into the courtroom like a conquering hero. He didn’t have a great case IMHO, but he acted like he did.

The day of closing arguments arrived. Our collective staff’s eyebrows lifted as the plaintiff’s attorney strolled in wearing in a brand spanking new suit, very swanky! You could tell his confidence was bolstered by his new threads.

His opening argument began on a tentative note, but as he warmed to his subject, he became much more animated. He paced and pointed, raising his voice at key moments. The jury was completely riveted.

Suddenly, I noticed why: a large tag had worked its way loose from its hiding place up the sleeve of his pointing arm and was dancing prominently from the end of his cuff. The defense lawyer was laughing quietly but uncontrollably. The plaintiff’s lawyer noticed at last. He stuttered a couple times, then reached up and yanked the tag from his sleeve, hardly missing a beat. His argument was well made and he didn’t let the distraction throw him off his game. He was awfully red, though.

He won his case in the end, though I doubt the win was based on his closing arguments. The tag was just too distracting.

We never let him live it down.

142

Huh. I was alternate #3 for a civil trial. I knew I was an alternate from the beginning. Alternates 1 and 2 ended up placed on the jury, but I never was.

It was a civil trial where a woman, acting as her own attorney, was suing her prior attorney. At the end of the trial, we were told to continue not talking about the trial until a verdict had been reached. They called me a day or two later to let me know that there was a verdict and what the verdict was. I agreed with it.

If you’re not called by the court, how do you know when you can talk about the trial?

143

There’s a school of thought in some courts that by not selecting who the alternates are until the conclusion of the trial, everyone will pay better attention to the case. In the court where I worked, alternates knew they were alternates from the outset.

One of my tasks was to call the alternate jurors as soon as the case was in recess to let them know they were done with their service. In high profile cases, this was especially important. Didn’t want them learning about it on the news.

144

Juries will pick you up when you fall, but knock you down if they think you’re flying too high.

I’m blessed with few of the attributes of a successful orator, and I just try to be myself in court. Usually they like me well enough. And hopefully trust me to be straight with them.

145

I got a summons and I have to show up Monday at 8:15am. No offense but I hope that I don’t end up with a good story for you all.

I was visiting a good friend and his wife last night and mentioned it to them. My friend’s wife told me that she served on a capital murder case around twenty years back. A man doused his girlfriend with gasoline when she was in bed and lit her on fire and she died. They sentenced him to death. I can’t even imagine. I had heard that once you’re on a trial like that you’re exempt from future service but she still gets called.

146

Not automatically excused, but during jury selection they’ll ask if you’ve served previously, and if you bring that up and say it would affect your ability to serve now, you’d likely be excused if it’s a criminal trial. For a civil suit, less likely to get you out of serving.

147

I’ve been called several times, but I only served on a jury once, as an alternate.

Story One

It was a civil case, one that probably would’ve been settled years before had the defendant been mentally stable. I’m guessing it was a contingency case that had been an albatross on the neck of the law firm that agreed to take it.

The plaintiff was a formerly homeless man that had been attacked outside of a Salvation Army run homeless shelter after he was turned away for intoxication. He was suing the Salvation Army.

The trial was a lot of “hurry up and wait” because no one was sure if the key witness, the security guard who had been the first on the scene after the attack, was going to show up. He ultimately didn’t, but the judge wanted to give the defense every opportunity to get him there. We even got a free lunch delivered to the jury room, a privilege normally reserved for deliberating jurors, so we could be pulled back in if the witness showed up during lunch.

The judge seemed like a nice guy, and went off the record several times to explain the the history of some of the rules and procedures. When it was determined that the witness was a no show, the defense lawyer answered questions by reading from his deposition- the judge went off the record briefly to tell us how difficult that was and to urge our patience.

This was in Queens, and the jury was very diverse. When we were talking in the jury room and having the “where are you and your family from” conversation, I told them that all my parents and grandparents had been born in the US, my fellow jurors seemed fascinated by this.

Both lawyers were very young. I suspect, that due to the slam dunk nature of the case, that both law firms had sent in newbies in order to give them practice. We did find out, when it was all over, that it was the defense lawyers first trial.

In the jury room, some of us were giggling over the resemblance of the young prosecution lawyer to George Bush and we started calling him Baby Bush. I think one of the other jurors reported us, she was a grad student with an SJW vibe. I remember she was reading a book with the title C🌼NT, although she may have thought it would be a prop to help her avoid serving. The bailiff told her the judge was aware of her concerns but no action was taken.

The big question of fact in the case was who was responsible for security on the grounds of the shelter. The defendant claimed it was the NYPD, and that their guards only occasionally patrolled the outside of the building to check for vandalism to the structure.

Given that the police responded less than 2 minutes after the attack, I found that believable. After the police responded, they drove around the neighborhood with the homeless guy,found and arrested his attacker, retrieved his stolen phone and took him to the hospital - where he was treated for his wounds. The hospital’s social workers contacted family and convinced one of to take the guy in, so by the next morning he wasn’t homeless. The biggest takeaway I got from the case was that “the system” worked that night.

I was not a juror so I did not deliberate, the judge suggested that us two alternates stick so we could see the process through to the end, we did our own shadow deliberation and determined that the defendant had no case. The real jury deliberated for about 40 minutes, which was a half hour longer than anyone expected, and came to the same conclusion. Apparently the young grad student “ wanted to give him something” and even though the rules of the civil case didn’t require a unanimous verdict, they spent some time changing her mind so they could deliver a unanimous verdict.

Story Two, happening now.

I got called for federal jury duty three weeks ago for a six week call-in term.
I’m fine with serving, especially since I’m retired, but I leave for a planned vacation tomorrow.

So when I got the summons, after I filled out the questionnaire on the website, I looked up the not very easy to find instruction for requesting a postponement and followed then to the letter, sending everything by e-mail to the address on the website. This was Monday afternoon. By Friday, crickets. They said to give them 5 business days but I had a payment due on my trip, so I wanted to get it nailed down.

I went searching for a phone number, I found one in this little brochure -printed in 2 pt type -that came with the summons. This brochure also had instructions for requesting deferment, with a different e-mail address than the one on the website. I freaked out a little and resent everything to the new email. Then I began calling. I left a message. Crickets.

On Tuesday I called and someone picked up the phone, nice person. I told her about the requests I’d sent so she started looking through the e-mail accounts and found them……I got the impression that this was the first time they seen them and that they don’t check the e-mails regularly. She told me it wouldn’t be a problem, while they may not officially reschedule they see that I wouldn’t get called until after my vacation.

But it wasn’t until late Friday, the first day I was supposed to call in, that I got an official notice that they had pushed the term forward two weeks. And I was still getting text and robocalls all weekend reminding me to call in.

So I’ll do some sort of federal jury duty in the next month or do, but I’m not impressed with the way they run the operation. And I’m hoping they don’t call me the day after I get back from vacation, but I’ve decided if they do I’ll just get a hotel near the courthouse and go directly there. I’m about 40 miles from the courthouse (10 miles further and they’d pay for the hotel), but it beats driving past it on Sunday night, only to get up early Monday and head back in that direction.

148

Good stories. Re the above, I’d only mention that these budgets are cut and cut and cut. Each year, staff are asked to do more with less.

We often get the public service we’re willing to pay for.

I’m sorry your plans were so unsettled as a result. I wouldn’t be happy, either. And glad you’re still willing to serve when you get back!

149

BTW, looking at a map of the federal districts, most of them are quite large. District 9 is perhaps the most extreme, covering Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, California, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, etc. Are people only called to serve in a court that’s a reasonably short driving distance from home, or, for example, could an Alaska resident be called to serve on a jury for a trial in Phoenix?

150

You’re confusing Circuits and Districts. The 9th Circuit is quite large, but that’s a grouping for the Circuit Court of Appeals. The trial courts (Districts) are equal to or less than the size of a state. Washington, for example, as two, the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington. California has four. Within districts there are Divisions. Tacoma and Seattle divisions, for the Western District of Washington.

Still, you could live in Bellingham and be called to jury duty in Seattle. They would put you in a hotel.

151

Just had to go in for JD two weeks ago. Went to the courthouse, checked in, sat through the orientation video and the instructional speech, then the room was split into two groups for presumably two scheduled trials that day. Sat there and played games on my phone until about 1130 when they announced to my group that our defendant had accepted a plea and we could all leave. I was actually a little disappointed. I was happy to go home, but I kind of enjoyed my previous experience serving on a jury.

A few years back I went in and was selected for a jury. 4 days, B&E, guy absolutely did it, but the prosecutor had a super weak case. I couldn’t believe it when she said, “The State rests its case.” I was like “Really?! You had really shitty home security video and not much else.” Even the police officers who testified couldn’t fully back up her case. They had a heck of a case against his alleged accomplice, but very little direct evidence against him. Not guilty.

Afterwards, before we were dismissed, the judge came into the jury room and talked to us, and she completely agreed with us: prosecutor didn’t make her case. However I’m pretty sure the guy wasn’t just walking free that day. Based on testimony from one of the police detectives, e.g. he was known on sight to the police, was under long-term surveillance, etc., the guy was clearly on the hook for more than just this one offense.

152

The last time I did jury duty in Federal court, they explained that each court has to call jurors equally from the entire district, even if there are multiple federal courts within the district.

There is a federal court in the city I live in, but was called by one in another city. I’m not far enough away to qualify for a free hotel, but they do pay a mileage allowance based your distance from the courthouse, plus $50 a day.

153

It might vary, but here in Washington, they definitely take jurors by geographic location. In the Western District, Tacoma gets from Vancouver WA up through the Olympia Peninsula. Seattle gets jurors from King County, and everythig north to the Canadian boarder.

154

I have been called several times for a regular jury but only once had to go in for selection and then didn’t get picked. But it was interested listening to the lawyers ask questions of the prospective jurors. The trial would have been an involuntary manslaughter case. One question was always “Are you married?” and once a guy answered “This time or cumulative?” If a woman was married she was asked if she prefered to be addressed as Mrs. or Ms. One woman, in a flat tone of voice, looked over her glasses and said, “It’s Dr.!”

155

People in Santa Barbara who get called for Federal duty have to go to downtown Los Angeles. To drive there puts you through some of the most hellacious traffic in the US and can take anywhere from almost two hours to over four hours depending. You can take Amtrak but it’s not that convenient. They will put you up in a hotel. The one time I got a Federal notice, by the grace of the gods I had done local service within a year and it exempted me. One of my local friends was on a Federal grand jury and had to be on call every Wednesday for a year and a half.

156

The insurance company sent a team of articulate, immaculately dressed attorneys. The local business owner had hired a lawyer who seemed barely competent.

The insurance company did not want to pay the business owner’s claim (over $100,000) because the coverage did not apply to professional roofers. The business owner cleaned gravel roofs with huge industrial vacuums. The insurance company said, “You work on roofs, hence you’re a professional roofer.”

I didn’t find that persuasive, but the business owner’s lawyer couldn’t clearly refute it. However, on the second day of the trial, an insurance lawyer projected a page of policy details, with one paragraph high-lighted in yellow, which supported their claims. BUT, a paragraph near the bottom said, “‘Roofer’ is a technical definition and applies only to workers meeting the description set out in Clause 14.8, subsection 9.”

I muttered, “What the fuck? Am I the only person seeing this?”

In the jury room, it turned out that another juror had spotted it, but the rest of the jurors paid no attention to us, they just wanted to take a quick test vote. We voted and everyone favored the business owner, and that was that. After the verdict, the business owner had tears in his eyes and tried to thank the jury.

The guy’s lawyer should have discovered that part of the policy, but didn’t. The insurance company’s legal team were idiots to show the jury that document — unless one of them felt guilty and decided to sabotage their own case.

157

Could be the insurance lawyers figured the jury wouldn’t want to wade into the stultifying legalese of the insurance policy far enough to spot that. After all, how many normal people ever actually read policy language?

158

Maybe the insurance lawyers either didn’t know that was there, or thought it should be interpreted differently. It’s not appropriate for an insurer to reject a valid claim, and they can pay massive fines when found to have done so.

159

I’ll never know the exact details of the policy and the motivations of the insurance lawyers. However their simple contention that “If you’re working on a roof professionally then you’re a professional roofer” was clearly bogus, as well as unconvincing to the jury.

And not that it matters, but I think the business was vacuuming off the roof gravel prior to demolition, or prior to another company installing a new roof.

160

In past twelve years, got called 3 times. The 1st one was for a tenant that was facing eviction. The Landlord actually had to file a suit against renter who hadn’t paid. Because the renter didn’t show up on the court date, the county could do official eviction notice for landlord. So no court trial. The judge was very patient and I appreciated he explained what happened and why we didn’t need a jury.

The next one was from 6yrs ago and it lasted all week. I was stunned I was selected since I didn’t say a word when they were selecting jurors. They did ask q’s about if you have trouble understand English or how you felt about the court system. It was ok but I was out of work for a week.

THe one from last yr, I recall my boss being irritated I was called up to Jury summons so I had to take the day off. It was a 50-50 chance and the trial was a felony trial. I was shocked and relieved my was not picked. As an aside I realized why my Boss was miffed. She had NEVER done Jury Duty. She graduated at age 24 from college so she was exempt all those years. Then had her first child at 25 and her last child at 36 and now in her 40s she has little kids under age , so she’s exempt. I recall the Jury Clerk scolding at how small the applicant pool was for Jury Duty in my county, and she says there is now a push for even parents with young children not to be exempt.