I was summoned for jury duty this week. When I called the number last night, it told me to call back at 11:00 today, and to be prepared to report to the court house on short notice. Because I have a fairly low number, I was certain I’d have to go in this afternoon. But when I called today I learned that my group number has been canceled, and that completes my jury duty for at least the next two years!
I don’t think I’ve ever been not had to go in even once! (Last time I served, I spent most of the day in voir dire, only to be rejected at the last minute)
This works out well for me. Normally I don’t mind doing my jury duty at all (in fact, sometimes it can be really interesting!), but Wiley has two appointments this week…an incision check with his regular vet and an evaluation for physical therapy…and those were going to be hard to reschedule.
Usually I show up and don’t get picked, so it’s 1/2 day off work. I don’t mind too much, I take the bus downtown and read a book while waiting.
Once I was picked but the defendant settled before we had to do anything.
Another time I was picked and we had to come to a verdict. It was tough and I was glad to see folks thought things through. However, we had two folks with completely different opinions on the verdict so we locked. I actually was glad, because the lawyers chatted with us later and gave us more info and I realized I probably voted the wrong way.
One time I went through voir dir for a Nigerian wire fraud case, I wished I had been picked for that, it sounded interesting.
I’ve been picked for a jury twice (out of 3 times being summoned).
The latest was a municipal court trial of a homeless man on charges of indecent exposure. (He got into an argument with a couple of guys and decided to insult them by waggling his willie at them… in front of witnesses. Guilty.)
The other time I ended up on a jury (first time I was ever summoned) was a Superior Court case: 2nd degree murder. Now that was a gruesome, but fascinating, two weeks. (Dude strangled his ex-girlfriend, then dumped her body in a ditch. Later, he confessed to the police… on tape. Guilty.)
I can’t figure out why, but I have never been summoned to do jury duty. I’ve been a registered (Independent) voter since my 18th birthday, and still they haven’t called on me to do my civic duty.
Not that I’m compaining, of course, but still, I find it weird.
Sometimes it just works that way. We lived in NC for 10 years, were registered voters, and yet my husband was never summoned, and I was only summoned once, for federal court (I had to get a deferment, because I was a nursing mother at the time).
The first time we lived in California I was summoned and appeared on two panels. That was back when jury duty meant spending the entire week at the courthouse, maybe getting called and maybe not, so I was really glad to have those two cases! One was a drunk driving charge and the other was a man who was arrested for soliciting for prostitution and challenged it on entrapment grounds (THAT one was really interesting!)
Usually I just look at jury duty as a time to relax and read and maybe, if I’m lucky, to get to sit in on an interesting case or two, but this week really would have been a challenge.
I have an uncle who likes to bring a couple of outdated law books to hold while he’s waiting to be picked. I’ve never been summoned, but there’s time yet.
Tom will probably never wind up serving, from doing Court Watch he knows all the judges, all the prosecuting attorneys, and most of the defense attorneys.
I’ve been called in several times but never had to serve. On one occasion a jury wasn’t needed because the defendant finally elected to have a trial in front of a judge only. It could have been interesting. She was accused of sexual assault. She attacked another woman with a vibrator. I learned all that later from secret sources.
On another occasion on which I wasn’t there a man was accused of exposing himself to a young woman. She was not able to accurately desribe the object which was alleged to have been exposed. This was important because there was apparantly some sort of peculiarity. The case was dismissed because of lack of “hard evidence.” Learned from the same secret source.
i’ve never been called and would gladly perform my civic duty on even the most mundane of cases. now my mom gets called all the time for juries and coroner inquests. in the state my mom lives, jurors are allowed to ask questions.
once she was a juror in a case involving two gangs who got into a knife fight at a bar. here was my mom’s question: now boyzzzzzzzzz, what were you doing at a bar? gosh that woman can be clueless.
one time my parents car got stolen. they just keep the keys above the visor but the theives didn’t notice so they busted the steering column. a couple of weeks later, the car was found. my mom wasn’t so upset that they broke the steering column because that could be fixed. she was absolutely livid that they smoked in the car and she can’t get the smell out. she kept saying, "didn’t they see the “thank you for not smoking” sign on the dashboard.
Long ago, I experienced a severe brain injury. Life ain’t been the same, since… And, over the years I was called to jury duty a couple of times…till they discovered that I was perhaps not exactly what they were looking for…and excused me from duty.
They, of course, didn’t know that I am highly capable of being judgemental…as some around here can attest…and would make a swell jurer were I to find my way to the courthouse. (“Direction” issue…)
So enjoy the fun, all who are called…some of us probably won’t have the chance.
I’ve only been called once to date, and that was about 15 years ago. I was a still a substitute mail carrier then and the regular carrier I subbed for was ALSO called. The postmaster put a call into the judge and told him “you can have one of them, but not both!”. I’m happy to say the regular carrier went and I got two weeks of work while he was on jury duty.
