Ugh. Two words not too many people like to see when they open their mailbox: JURY SUMMONS. :rolleyes:

Fine, I figure. Whatever. I'll do my duty as an American Citizen if I have to; last time I was summoned I got out of it the first day.

Not this time, I don't think. :rolleyes:

Freakin' GRAND JURY. Term of service: 1 day/week for SIXTEEN WEEKS!! Isn't 16 days over 4 months a bit excessive??? That's 16 days I cannot work (albeit, I work for myself, but still!)

Luckily, at least, it's for the County, and the court house is only a couple miles away. Had it been for the state, I'd've had to drive an hour each way to freakin' Trenton.

Anyone here ever serve on a Grand Jury? What's it like?

Oh, you mean you are going to sit up there in New Jersey with champagne coctails and make judgement of how people run their families

"Just say you're prejudiced against all races"

I loved jury duty and serving on a jury.

Don't like being on a civil case. I liked being on a criminal case much better.


Don Cardi

i guess im just weird....im 22 and finally got my first jury summons and im ecstatic! granted its only a 1 day thing but i still cant wait

everyone i talk to tho seems to think that i wont get picked based on my conservative views

I was summoned before. Luckly I was living at home in Sterling Heights during the summer and didn't have to go seeing as it was in East Lansing. A 2 hour drive each way was not what I wanted to do. I just sent them a note saying I moved.

The Doc

just curious, what would be appropriate attire to this? granted the strips in my hair and the piercings in my ears r staying in...
some people tell me jeans and an appropriate top r okay, i just feel like i should dress up a little more than that. dont mistake my feelings towards jeans tho, if im allowed to go in jeans and be comfortable all day i will

I actually find jury duty very interesting. I've only sat on three cases, two civil, and one criminal. The criminal of course was the most intense.For me, it's as though for the days and/or weeks you're on the jury, you're mind is totally wrapped up in the case. Since you can't discuss it with anyone, facts go over and over in your mind. The murder case in particular, because we were holding a life sentence in our hands. Pretty serious heavy stuff to me.

Flame Angel, I don't know if every state is different, but here in CA it states on your jury summons what is not allowed. They don't like torn jeans, shorts, tank tops and beach wear type clothing. They allow and many wear jeans though. Myself, I'll usually wear casual pants and sweater/blouse, and jeans if they are newer looking.

You may find yourself waiting a whole lot, even if you don't get on a jury. There's tons of down time. Bring something to read or crosswords or something to keep yourself busy.

TIS

Sounds exciting, Geoff.. You'll get the hang of it (that was merely a vote of confidence, I've never done it before ((sense I'm too young))). So instead, good luck!

I had to go to court today. I got into a vehicle accident the other day (I was at fault), I needed to sort that out, plus I got a speeding ticket about two weeks ago. I had already paid the ticket, but the proof of insurance is what kept me. If I wouldn't have provided insurance information today, I would have had to pay $360. My speeding ticket was 70 in a 55 and I paid $82 for that. Fortunately, nobody got anything other than a headache in that accident (Tom Hagen: "Well, that's an accident, but nobody got hurt"), so it wasn't too outragious, only $96, plus a totaled car.

I was laughing with my father (he's cool about everything), about how it will be when I go in front of the judge. I'm the Godfather 'freak' (but I prefer "man of honor") in my family and I try to prove that point whenever possible (many kids in my school think I'm a made guy). I was explaining to my dad about how I'll feel like Michael Corleone, "I find it a great dishonor for me personally to have to deny that I am a criminal".

I haven't been on a jury yet. I really want to. Geoff you stay at your house and I will be on the jury for you ok. I would love to be on a capital murder case. I remember when I was little my mother had jury duty and she had to stay in a hotel for a week. That wasn't fun being a little girl and my mommy wasn't allowed to come home. But I still want to be on a jury.

Wow. I didn't realize this was something I should be excited about!


Tony - Sorry to hear about your "car troubles". That really sucks!!

you forget jg that i am a dork i love school, im still overjoyed to be able to vote and have been looking forward to, yes i said looking forward to jury duty; however, i cant promise my feelings will b the same the day after jury duty

Be careful what you wish for.

On my last jury duty I got on a very twisted case that involved a stolen police revolver, a broken into gun case, an empty gun, a round of ammunition, a glove, a sneaker, and an attempted murder charge.

The accused was a 21 year male. Without getting into the details of the case, after hearing two weeks of testimony from detectives. policemen and forensic specialists, when we were finally sent to deliberate, we deliberated for 2 days. Then it came down to a 9 guilty, 3 not guilty vote. I was very serious in making a decision because I did not want to err in my jusdgement and send this 21 year old to jail for 10+ years. So I tried to be very careful in listening to all the testimony and reading my notes.
Well 3 of us decided that we wanted a certain detective's testimony read back to us. So we made the request and that testimony was read back for us. After hearing the piece of testimony that the 3 of us were looking for, we could do nothing but agree with the other 9 jurors and find him guilty.

I remember when the foreman of my jury announced that he was guilty, I felt so sick inside. That night, after the case was over, I could not sleep, going over all that I heard in that courtroom trying to convince myself that I had made a legal and just decision in finding him guilty based on the testimony and the evidence.

The next morning the verdict was printed, along with a story, in our local newspaper. It turns out that this person had a rap sheet a mile long for committing crimes since he was 10 years old! Armed robbery, assault, drug possession, dealing, possession of a weapon, etc. ( under the law this could not be brought up during the trial, so we never knew this )He was in and out of juvenile detention in his younger years, and also did a stint in a regular prison.

When we read stories in the papers, hear stories on the news, and hear that a jury aquitted someone, etc., it is very easy to pass judgement and say, "How the hell did they let him off, or how the hell did they convict him?"

But when you are sitting in that jury box, and you are serious about what you are doing, then it is a whole different world. Because you must follow the law, and only the law. You cannot go with your personal feelings. You can only go by the evidence presented during the trial, the testimony and what the law says. And when you deliberate, the words BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT take on a whole new meaning and understanding.

Again, I love serving on a jury, and would like to get back on a criminal case, but it's no cake walk. You really need to be serious, especially on a criminal case.


Don Cardi

Maybe one of these days I'll get picked. At least I'm hoping.

Geoff - as a way to hopefully avoid being choose. Tell them you have an old friend whom you fear will wipe out the restore partition on his computer - thus not allowing him to make fantasy basketball, and football picks and worse yet waiver moves for hockey. You need to remain available for the 5 hours post working of restoring the system.

I bet that will allow you to go. Either they agree or just because they think you are crazy .... :p

Working at a school, the District encourages jury duty. Forget about trying to get out of it. My district lets you serve (with regular pay) for 3 days or a year or whatever.

Although I've only served on 3 trials, the jury selection process can be interesting. You can usually tell right away when someone is trying to get out of it. I'm sure the judge and lawyers have a good handle on who's conning them and who's not. One lady asked to be excused because she didn't know if she could be fair. Ha ha. The judge says, "you mean without even hearing the case, you are not sure if you can be fair?" She embarrassingly said, "Well, I can try". He didn't excuse her and she was selected. However, when he asked to raise hands if you felt you couldn't serve, another guy raises his and and says "I don't believe in jury trials". That was it. Lawyers conversed with the judge and he was excused.

Then, as DC can probably tell you, you never know what kind of people and/or what opinions they have on the case until you get to that deliberation room. You tend to have an opinion and/or leaning one way or another by the end of the trial, and wonder if you'll be the only one or if they'll all agree with you. But that's the purpose to "discuss" and look it over and base your judgement on the evidence.

On one of the civil cases I was on, there was a cash settlement, as opposed to a guilty/innocent verdict. There were several figures we could go for in the settlement. We all cast a paper vote and counted them. All but one juror voted for the same amount. That juror was in tears, thought it was too low, no one else did, we discussed it more, and she ended up asking the baliff if she could speak to the judge. :rolleyes: She came back in and said that the judge can NOT change, override or alter the decision that the majority of the jurors made (these cases are majority not unanamous). To be honest this was some years ago, we may have chosen another figure, but didn't go with the max like she wanted. She wasn't happy.

TIS

You said a Grand Jury, JG, which is, of course, quite different.

You listen to evidence presented by a D.A., and vote whether or not to indict. The standards of proof are practically non-existent and, in fact, grand juries are usually regarded as rubber stamps for prosecutors..

How does the old saying go? "A good D.A. could get a ham sandwich indicted?"

More people on a Grand Jury than a regular one, and you'll probably get to hear multiple cases, too.

That's right, 23 of us. I sure hope we won't need a consensus or that 16 weeks will be 16 years! And yeah, probably new cases each week. Joy! :rolleyes: Oh yeah, I forgot, I'm supposed to be excited by this! Woohoo!!

Just let us know if you indict any ham sandwiches.

And, hey.....maybe you'll meet a nice girl.

You know, thrown together for 16 weeks, working together for truth and justice.....

....and the American way!

And I hope you're right... there better be some 18 year olds on that jury!

Ham sandwich? Did someone say, "order in the court"??

What do they pay ya for Grand Jury?

It doesn't say on the summons... isn't it something motivating like $5 or $10/day or something? :rolleyes:

it's untaxed I believe so you beat the system :rolleyes:

Be careful what you wish for.

On my last jury duty I got on a very twisted case that involved a stolen police revolver, a broken into gun case, an empty gun, a round of ammunition, a glove, a sneaker, and an attempted murder charge...

...Again, I love serving on a jury, and would like to get back on a criminal case, but it's no cake walk. You really need to be serious, especially on a criminal case.


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]That's a brilliant post. I'm often one of the "How the hell did they let him off, or how the hell did they convict him?"
people.

Wow. I know in the UK you can claim for expenses. If you were employed would you get the time off paid? Maybe by being self employed you can claim some kind of compensation for loss of work. I bet there's some literature on the web about it.

I can't seem to find any specific info (at least not yet). When I worked for Catholic Charities, their policy was to pay you, but, you had to give them the $ you earned from jury duty. I'm not sure how an entry-level job would handle it - I doubt they'd pay you if you weren't working, but they do have to give you the time off. As for the self-employed, I have no idea. They probably figure it's only 1 day/week, so "no big deal."

As a one-man self-employed operation, I'm pretty sure you can opt out on that basis if you want to.

Ham sandwich? Did someone say, "order in the court"?? [/b][/quote]
I'll take a tongue sandwich and a medium pepsi.

see thatz the spirit :p

I've never served on a grand jury and could not afford to be off for that long.

I have been caled for jury duty once and found it a fascinating thing. In Louisiana you serve for a week, and some people are picked on the first day and some sit in the waiting area and play cards or read for the whole week without being picked. I was picked on the first day for a civil case involving a car accident and we were to assign blame percentages and determine a settlement. The jury was really a cross-section of society, from me, a printer by trade, to a retired lady to a president of a trucking company, and various others in between. The plaintif wanted hundreds of thousands of dolars in damages based on an injury to her wrist. She based it on no longer being able to water ski and being unable to sew clothes for her children. Her children testified and they were grown adults. I found it hard to agree with the damages sought, but we all thought she should get something because she was the victim in the wreck. We settled on a figure of around 60,000 dollars, a year of her income and a litle more, but the retired lady wanted to give her much more. There was some arguing about this, but she had to come around eventually. I found it to be an excercise in democracy.

I was employed then by a small family run printing shop (I was the only non family member but was the pressman/printer) and they really needed me back, so on Wednesday my boss went to a lawyer friend of his who got me off since I had served for a case.

I have a friend who served on a capital case, a heinous crime of murder and the defendant was quite guilty and deserving of the death penalty. He was in law school and obviously knew the weight of voting for a death sentence. The jury he was on did so, and it was the right thing to do, but when they finished he came over to talk about it with some of us and was in tears telling us about how it really feels to sentence someone to death.

Best wishes to you J Geoff, however it works out for you.