I have done jury duty one time. It was an experience that I'll never forget! How the case made it to State Supreme Court, I'll never know!

It was a prisoner in the state prisoner who was defending himself (his own lawyer) because the guards had 'roughed him up' -- he was suing them! There was videotape of it (something I wish I had never had to view!) and it showed exactly why they had to go into defense mode with him. He was posturing and doing things to scare the guards into thinking that he might hurt *them*... clear self-defense for them. He was such a cocky young man (the prisoner).

There was ONE man on the jury that felt that he had to play devil's advocate. The rest of us felt that it was cut and dry and we convinced the one man within an hour or so, deliberated for about as long, and found the guards 'not guilty'.

Such a waste of all of our time and the prisoner fellow was rewarded by being able to leave prison and get attention from the jury and ??? Really made me angry.

Do you have any jury duty stories to share?

No stories for jury duty here. I was always the court reporter. I could write a book about that! (I think a court reporter has already done that, though).

It is amazing the cases that make it to an actual jury trial/court hearing.

I'm glad, though, you did your duty as a citizen and didn't try to get out of jury duty like a lot of people do. However, I think jurors should be paid more than they're being paid. Everyone is making money during those trials except for the jurors (IMO, the most important people in the room). That's an injustice in itself!!

Believe or not I have always wanted to do jury duty. I have never been called. My husband was called once and he sat in a room all day with a bunch of other people until he got sent home. And he received a check in the mail a few days later for like $13 or something like that.

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they called me once luckily I didnt have to go cause they wasnt going to pay for child care since I'm the sahm, dh is the only income and they wasnt going to pay us enough to cover what he'd miss if he had to stay home so I could go. I guess I might be a good pick though I skip through the news and only read a few articles alot mostly from other countries.

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I have been lucky enough to be on jury duty 4 times in the last 8 yrs. its a real pain in the butt./I dont want to do it again .

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I've never done jury duty. I have been called for it a couple of times but I've always had a child at home. My son will be going to Kindergarten next year so I might be able to do it the next time. I never hear anything good about it, though, so I don't know that I'd look forward to it. I probably wouldn't be a very good candidate because I'm a pretty emotional person...lol
I have a friend who was called not long ago and she was a mess over the whole thing. It was big court case and they were going to have to sequester the jurors for at least several weeks and she would just cry because she couldn't imagine having to be away from her family like that. She didn't end up getting picked but it was a long process getting to that point.

peapie

I was just called recently for the first time and had to be excused because the case was a local murder trial and I have been an acquintance of the accused murderer's parents for many years. Not close friends but it is a small community.

It is probably for the best as I had some prejudices that would have made my judgement suspect.
The accused was found guilty of 1st degree murder with special circumstances.
Hopefully by an unbiased jury.

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It's about learning to dance in the rain.

I personally think everybody should serve on jury duty at least once. I'm shocked by the number of people who try to get out of it. I served once and after 3 days the case was dismissed because one of the lawyers got sick.

Haven't done it yet. Was sent a postcard about 18 years ago, but it was on the first day of college classes, so I didn't have to attend. I do think it would be interesting. My MIL served once and she was sequestered for a while. Someone actually followed her home from court and waited while she packed her bags. How weird would that be?

I was only called once and that was about 36 years ago. We were living in Houston, had a 20 month old, and we were leaving in less than a month to move to California and I was 7 months pregnant also. That was easy to get out of, although I've always wondered why I never got called again. Never got called in California. Been in the St. Louis area since 1975 and have never been called here. I have always been registered to vote. Now I don't think I could do it. Getting too old, need a lot of bathroom breaks, bad hip, etc. From all the complaints, I guess I should consider myself lucky but still and all, I'm kind of sorry to have missed it.

doesnt matter if your registered to vote anymore I dont think. Some states/counties pull from DL list, and others not just voters lists.

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I'm fairly sure that the voters here are pulled from voter registration lists.

They do pull form DL records in NC as I got called and was not registered to vote and had to ask how they got the information. I was not able to go as we had a trio planned that was planned for 8 months and paid for while I was suppose to go for jury duty.

hashbug

Last month, I sat in the jury box during selection. It was a murder case (rare in our county) I sat there for 3 days before I was replaced. Dismissed potential jurors are never told the reason for dismissal. I was sad and a little hurt to be dismissed as I had found the whole procedure interesting.

Jury duty pulled from voters list or DL list yes, i wasnt a voter when i was called up

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I pulled Jury duty a long time ago (1974) on a merder trial in supreme court. At that time we reported on a monday. There was 150 of us and we sat around for 4 days until they had a pool and I was one of 14 out of 150 picked. I couldnt do it because I worked at the time in the state mental hospital and he was one of my patients who was claiming insanity.

He knew I was called for his trial and told me not to say I knew him ( I dont think so he went into a bar and told people he was going home and shoot his wife and that is what he did) He ended up in prison but married one of the girls I worked with. I was sorry I could not do it because it was a high profile case(rich) He only got 5 years. I also got called for a property case that was boring. I was not a registered voter for both. This was in Mass and since Ive been in New Hampshire I havent been called.

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I've never been called up to jury duty. We live in a very small town where very little happens it seems. My dad was called to jury duty a long time ago when a classmate's father of mine had stolen money from a church but had paid it back with interest before he was indicted. I've always kind of wondered what it was like in a way.

I was called a year ago, and was excused because I teach a grade involved in state testing. Was called again last summer, and was out of town because my grandmother was sick. Called again in October, and was excused again because of the grade I teach (I was going to have to miss several weeks of school because it was a pool of people who would have to serve on random days for a long period for local court cases).

The lady told me that I would need to serve this summer. I don't mind- but it stinks that I can't get paid due to being a state employee.

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I got called twice. The first time, I got mail shortly before the scheduled date and was told I didn't need to show up after all. The second time, I went and sat in a room until about 2:00. They entertained us slightly with videos about the justice system. When the judge called us all in to dismiss us, he said, "You don't need to go to work, if anyone asks, I'll tell them you were here all day." LOL!

I have been called many times...served 3 times. It is so weird that I have been called so many times. Where I lived before I was called 3 times in 10 years (served twice) but since I moved to my current city I have been called 9 times in ten years (actually served once, but had to sit through the excusing process 5 times (including just being told upon arrival that the case had either been cancelled or settled before court). Our county says we are called randomly, but I think not. My husband has also been called 8 times in the last 10 years--never had to serve. I do not mind serving, because I would want someone like me to serve if I ever had to have a jury for any reason, but then I talk to people I work with or live by and most have never even been called. Something seems "off" to me. Whenever I question it to the jury commissioner though, I continue to get the "it's all random" response.....

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I have been called three times.First time I was 18 and going to college in CO. I was moving to CA 2 days after I received the notice so I didn't have to serve. The second and third time I wasn't needed. In CO, you are assigned a number and you call a phone number the day before you are due to show up. You get a recording saying the numbers needed to show up, otherwise, you do not need to serve. It would be interesting to serve. I am a self employed WAHM though and DH couldn't get time off. If I got chosen, I would have to be allowed to leave so I could get my kids from school. I know a lady that took her two babies (twins) with her to the courtroom because they wouldn't excuse her. She got to leave shortly thereafter LOL

DH has never been called and he's 2 years older than me

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I was called several months ago and I was chosen as the alternate. It turned out to be a child molestation case. After 3 days of testimony, I was excused because they didn't need me. My DH asked me what I thought about the case and I told him that I believed the guy was guilty. It was a grandfather that had been accused of molesting his granddaughter from the ages of 6 to 8. The daughter did not disclose the molestation until she was 12 and by the time it went to trial she was 13. She testified against her grandfather and it was basically, he said and she said. The girl's father did testify that he saw his father expose himself to his daughter when she was 4. The defense tried to show that the son had a grudge against his father. I was called by the prosecutor's office several weeks later and they told me that he had been found "not guilty" and asked how they could have presented the case better, what additional witnesses I would have like to have seen called, etc. They also told me that the grandfather had admitted to the abuse, but that the confession could not be brought up during the trial. They also said that he had admitted to abusing his wife's biological daughter . The whole thing really upset me when I found out about the admission and the "not guilty" verdict. That poor little girl had to testify against her own grandfather and they let him off.

I was on a Federal jury last year. I was delighted to be chosen. I have always wondered about how the court system worked. I didn't know that cases could be tried without 12 jurors! The number of jurors depends upon the type of case and the judge. I heard a discrimination case. It was fascinating to hear how the law came into being and how it is applied in our present society. The plaintiffs won hands down after 5 days of testimony. We also fell under a test program where the jurors were allowed to submit questions to the judge and he, if he thought the question had merit, would ask the person testifying. We met with the judge after the case was over. He answered a lot of our questions and he asked us about how we had made our decisions. He even gave a Federal court mug as a souvenir!! I would sign up for another case if I could. I really enjoyed it.

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Lyn Clarke

In the past 11 years (since we moved to our current house), I have received nine jury summons -- my DH has only received one! My last summons was for last week. Fortunately, they didn't need jurors that day so I was excused and cannot serve for 12 months.

I understand that it is my civic duty, but getting 9 summons in the last 11 years is a bit much. And I wouldn't mind serving at the courthouse near my house, but my summons are usually for the courthouse 20 miles away. And they wouldn't let you choose the courthouse. I tried.

I did serve on a jury 20 years ago when I lived in San Francisco. It was a armed robbery case and we came to a decision (guilty) in less than an hour. It was interesting being on a jury. I just hate receiving almost yearly summons.

My DH and I get jury summons every year. I find it very stressful. I do not want to be on any muderer or rape cases

I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to serve on a jury!
Unfortunately, I am friends or know most of the local law enforcement, I work in an industry that has a lot of litigation--thus I know a lot of attorneys. I have never been called...DH was called once one week before we moved across the country! He was excused! LOL

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