Octopus Overlords

I had it once in a Cook County court. I showed up for jury selection and they didn't want me. The scars of that rejection have permanently damaged my ego. I soon after left my job and began a 4 year sojourn of introspection that led me to the realization that I probably should have worn a shirt that day.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:13 pm I only got called one time in the mid 90s. I got out of it by having my in laws who owned the kennel I ran write a letter for me stating how I had to be there each day to run it. They were elderly even then so it was all me. I didn't want to go at all. Hope I never get called. Im not sure how I could get out of it being alone now. Maybe start screaming about bees while in there.

Anyone with significant health issues can usually get out of it. Especially if you can't sit for long periods of time, have hearing loss or eyesight loss, or something else that would prevent you from paying attention during a trial.

I was called to jury duty once like 20 years ago. I was working third shift at the time and basically said "I'd love to help but the $10 a day you pay me will force me out of my home. I need to sleep during the day so I can work and collect a paycheck. I can't do this" so they let me out of it.

I haven't been contacted since.

I can think of nothing greater that you can realistically do for justice right now than being on a jury and fairly hearing each side.

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:48 pm I can think of nothing greater that you can realistically do for justice right now than being on a jury and fairly hearing each side.

Thank you.

I never can understand why those who don't have legitimate claims for getting out of jury duty try so hard to come up with reasons. The System doesn't really ask much of American citizens but many are unwilling to give anything back.

I've had to go 3 times now I think and got the notice two other times but got a last minute reprieve and didn't have to go. I have to admit calling in the day before and hearing "You do not have to report" is the sweetest sound. Especially when it's for 26th and California.

I've been called once in the 30 years I have been old enough. I was selected to a pool, went to the other courthouse, waited for 30 minutes and then went home when the case was settled last minute.

I've been called up a few times and served on a jury once, in 2017. It was a fairly novel case about a guy claiming he was fired from the Sanitation Department in retaliation for complaining about being sexually harassed. In actual fact, he was fired because he was convicted of felony fraud.

After parsing the law, we actually found in favor of the guy on one of the counts (sexual harassment law can be very granular). And then we had an interesting discussion about an appropriate monetary award. Some people wanted to give him peanuts, since he was clearly a grifter. Others wanted to give him a sizable award, since he was technically a victim of that one count, after all. We settled in middle, and gave him much, much less than he had wanted.

The only time I actually served on a jury to completion was a case where they were trying to convict someone for driving under the influence of marijuana (this was before legalization). Needless to say they picked the wrong motherf***er.

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:48 pm I can think of nothing greater that you can realistically do for justice right now than being on a jury and fairly hearing each side.

+1. I've never been called, but would appreciate the opportunity. I've been involved in a number of trials (as a witness, as the arresting individual, etc), but have never been on a jury. We complain that the system doesn't work. Juries are a chance to be the system.

Been called in many times... Once we were almost used, but at the last minute the guy took a plea-deal that mean we were no longer needed.

But then, ultimately I've actually served on two.

One was a murder trial in Chicago, where in which we convicted a man of murder, for robbing and shooting a man at 4:30 am while he waited to be picked up for his ride to the bakery where he worked.
That was like 20 years ago? Maybe more?
Lewis Cerano was the guilty man's name, IIRC.

The second time was more recently, about 3 years ago. It was an insurance case where we were saying how much $$ a man deserved for being injured in an accident that was not his fault.
I was elected to be jury foreman in that one.

Both were actually fascinating experiences, to me.

I have probably been summoned for jury duty half a dozen times. But only three times have I had to go to the courthouse, and I have never even been put on a jury pool. If the date they want you is bad in California you can ask for an extension. If you don't want to serve just tell them you will be able to serve around the Christmas holidays. Nobody wants to start a jury trial then.

Unagi wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 3:51 pm I was elected to be jury foreman in that one.

Same here! I have a PDF of the verdict sheet with my signature.

I dont like making decisions. Never have. Its why I simply let my wife do them mostly. I hate making them actually. And when I do make them in the past I always sucked at it. Ive done ok this last year but I still dont like it. I would never care to have someone else's life in my hands even if the evidence was clear.

Back in the 90s if I was in the software store and there were two games I was interested in I couldn't choose. Id be in there 2 hours. The wife would find me and tell me to pick one we'll get the other next time .Still had trouble. Sometimes she'd give up and say hell get both and lets go Im tired ...lol. But if I got just one Id usually feel like I picked the wrong one. Im not that bad now days. Still dont care for making decisions.

Wasn't sure I should write this. LOL. Have I mentioned I have a small touch of OCD with my ADD and such

I get a jury summons every two years and the last three I've had to go in for the selection process. The first time the jury was selected before I got to the questioning phase. The next time I was one seat away from being an alternate on a murder trial and back in November I was selected to be on a 6 week long civil case. It was an ordeal and after it was all said we didn't award either side any damages, which would have been in the millions of dollars. I better not get called again for a good 6 years more so.

I don't think they'd take me being disabled and a single home. I have pets and property to take care of.

I only served once, on a week-long sex discrimination case. Verizon definitely treated the woman like dirt, but successfully proved that they treat all of their employees like dirt. Based on the evidence she presented, she'd have had a better case for age discrimination.

More recently, I was called and seated, but they couldn't muster a full jury because too many people in the pool said that they couldn't judge a drunk driving case fairly.

Serving on a jury is our duty as citizens, and one that we should be honored to fulfill. Which doesn't mean I'm sitting here with my hand raised going "pick me! pick me!"

I don't like the process of going in to the courthouse to wait for half the day in case they need jurors. It seems wasteful and antiquated. On the other hand I have no problem sitting on an actual jury.

I've also been part of a grand jury. It was interesting but ultimately very odd. After three days they told us not to come back. We'd been seated in late June and now it was July which meant that the county had to use the new census data. Our jury pool had not met the racial breakdowns of the county in the new census so we had to be thrown out.

AWS260 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 6:54 pm

Unagi wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 3:51 pm I was elected to be jury foreman in that one.

Same here! I have a PDF of the verdict sheet with my signature.

I watched 12 angry men the night after I got the assignment.
I felt kinda silly.

Madmarcus wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:00 pm I don't like the process of going in to the courthouse to wait for half the day in case they need jurors. It seems wasteful and antiquated. On the other hand I have no problem sitting on an actual jury.

The problem is that these things often go right down to the wire with each side in a case playing chicken. You've had a court date scheduled for months with ongoing negotiations between the parties and lots of trial prep going on. Neither side wants to blink, and so the state has to prepare for a trial, which means having jurors available. Then at the last minute the parties agree to settle. Sucks, but there's not much that can be done about it.

I last got summoned to court to be in a group which decided which cases had enough evidence to go to a grand jury.
It was like a 2 week long deal. That was many years ago and I haven't received anything since. I figured they know I did my time.

I served once on a jury because neither side wanted to risk using their last challenge late in the day. Plaintiff couldn't object because my wife had been in a personal injury lawsuit; defendant couldn't object because I represented property owning trusts.

The personal injury case involved a large man who fell down the stairs of his apartment, and claimed bad maintenance. He had photos showing damage to the stair step that wasn't fixed after the accident. The maintenance guy was the landlord's brother and kept looking for approval during his testimony. The landlord's testimony showed him to be an arrogant asshole. Guy looked like Santa, acted like Satan. The jury hated him, and went to many strange places in their arguments for the poorly proved damages. The jury's damages discussion used strange logic but the number ended up being reasonable. Not pretty, but justice enough.

I almost served on a second jury. The judge wanted to place me to make a public point despite some issues in the case overlapping my background. The problem was the judge's rule of "no cell phones in court for any reason" and being forced in chambers to remind the judge that it was a reasonable accommodation for a recess to answer a medical call from the school about my diabetic daughters. Apparently that wasn't the right answer.

I was sent a letter to be on a Jury duty back when I had enlisted in the Navy, but not shipped out. Right around when Desert Storm was starting to look like it wouild happen. Showed up at the court house, showed my paperwork, and they told me to leave. The second time was for Federal Jury Duty downtown, which was well outside my normal commute(back then, now I work out of an office down there sometimes.), but had to sit for three days as they selected the Jury. The Third day, I was in the elevator with some court offical, and was told to go home in the elevator after I heard the guy escorting me get called and say that they would use the current person as alternate two instead of me. Glad I didn't get selected to be an alternate, that would have stunk, sit through everything and then not get to say my opinion, so not my personality.

But I will say, that did kind of show me some of the darker side of the politics associated with selecting a jury. They selected the stay at home mom, who couldn't follow instructions and fill out the paper work correctly. I remember sitting in the jury room and them calling people back that were selected, and we were all talking and she was asking what took us all so long to fill out the forms. Whjen we told her they were double sided, as we had been instructed, she laughed and said she only did the first side of the first page..sigh..

But it was some business case for fraud or something, so who knows if it didn't get setteled outside of court, but three days in the selection pool, and getting to see the inside of the federal court rooms, and see all the cool toys that they had. White noise machine so you could not hear what was being said by the people in the witness stand and the judge, etc.. And sitting in a witness chair to answer questions was crazy, I can see why people are intimiddated by that process.

But never been called back, and that was almost 10 years ago for Federal and almost 30 for the local.

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:48 pm I can think of nothing greater that you can realistically do for justice right now than being on a jury and fairly hearing each side.

Absolutely this. If I ever need a jury trial, I don't want to get only those who couldn't think of a way to get out.

AWS260 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 6:54 pm

Unagi wrote: ↑Thu Jun 04, 2020 3:51 pm I was elected to be jury foreman in that one.

Same here! I have a PDF of the verdict sheet with my signature.

Excited to be in this club! Was voted in mainly because I sat at the head of the table.

Since the last time this thread went by, I’ve had two brushes with the Jury duty. The first was as a Pettit juror, and I made it into the box in a rape trial. Was not looking forward to that. The morning where we were selecting the final juror, the defendant pled guilty. I was enthusiastic about having to determine whether this dude was guilty of “criminal cunnilingus”. Wasn’t aware that was a crime you could be charged with.

The second time was as a Grand Juror for the county. That was a four month ordeal, every Monday. Most of those were pretty straightforward, and resulted in indictments. We had one case where we really couldn’t tell whether or not a crime even took place. That took several weeks to resolve.

The worst part of that was the old hippy dude that thought that the prosecutor had to prove beyond any doubt that the accused was guilty. He was constantly trying to create alternate theories to absolve the accused. He and I went at it a few times when I ran out of patience.

I think I have another year before they can summon me again.

(I'll necro this thread since I believe it was the original of a few similar ones.)

I reported for jury duty this morning at Federal Court.

I was named for the first seating and thought I had gotten lucky: the judge announced right away that it would likely be a quick trial, as it was a civil case with a citizen suing a debt-collection corporation, and there were only two witnesses testifying.

I was not picked for the jury itself, but in retrospect I think that might have been a good thing. I took an immediate dislike to the debt company's representatives, both of whom could have been sent from Central Casting as "mean-spirited corporate lawyers." They wore expensive three-piece suits with flashy watches and cufflinks, and they scowled at everyone in the room. (The plaintiff, meanwhile, was a humble lady identified as a nurse who worked with advanced cancer patients.)

I know nothing of the details of the case, and I hope they empaneled a truly impartial jury, but in my heart I know I would have enjoyed sticking it to those bloodsucking corporate fucks.

RunningMn9 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 13, 2020 7:01 pm The second time was as a Grand Juror for the county. That was a four month ordeal, every Monday. Most of those were pretty straightforward, and resulted in indictments. We had one case where we really couldn’t tell whether or not a crime even took place. That took several weeks to resolve.

You got off easy!

My wife was on a grand jury that met every Thursday and Friday for a year and a half.

I have jury duty this Thursday. It's my fourth call-up. As a socially isolated person this causes me great anxiety, and showing up functional anywhere at 8 a.m. is going to be a huge challenge. The penalty for not showing up is a $2,000 fine, and I considered paying it. But yesterday I made a trial run to the courthouse to scope out the route, parking, potential lunch venues, etc., and doing that ratcheted my anxiety down a notch. I think I can handle this.

I was seated at all three of my previous call-ups so I expect it to happen again. Only one of those appearances led to an actual trial.

I'm a few weeks shy of my 67th birthday, and they can't call you again for three years, and you're exempt at age 70, so this will almost surely be the last time I have to do it.

I've been called a few times, but the only time I've ever been empaneled was about a year ago.

This was a criminal case involving some nasty details. After sitting around most of the morning on Day 1, I was called in for Voir Dire (where the judge and the lawyers for both sides vet and select jurors for the final jury) in the afternoon. I was selected and told to report again the following day.

On Day 2, we selected jurors sat around and made small talk all morning. At noon we were released for an hour for lunch, and then we all reported back. About an hour later--and just minutes before we were to line up to enter the court for the trial to begin--we were told that the defendant had reached a plea agreement and that the trial did not need to proceed.

My understanding is that most criminal trials go this way.

My first jury was a civil trial in which a woman sued a company (Verizon IIRC, but Wife remembers it as being Sprint) for sex discrimination. Against our wishes we had to rule for the defendant because they proved that they treat all of their employees like shit. We also agreed that if she'd sued for age discrimination she would have won. The judge congratulated us on reaching a decision, as the case had ended in a hung jury previously.

My second time, the case was settled moments after we were seated. As you noted, this is common.

The third time, the lawyers rejected so many jurors that they couldn't fill the panel, so they sent everybody home. That one was a drunk driving case and a lot of people have strong opinions that won't let them be impartial.

Anyhoo, I ended up in that jury box all three times.

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 6:28 pmMy wife was on a grand jury that met every Thursday and Friday for a year and a half.

At what level? State and Federal are significantly more involved than what I had to do.

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 6:20 pm "mean-spirited corporate lawyers."

Hey! We have feelings, you know.

(Sure, they're mostly feelings about taking advantage of the average person, but they're feelings nonetheless.)

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 9:06 am

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Mar 18, 2024 6:20 pm "mean-spirited corporate lawyers."

Hey! We have feelings, you know.

I've heard you all can be quite sensitive, especially the few days after you've shed your skin.

Anyone who has jury duty should show up in a white powdered wig to confuse the defendant.

hepcat wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 12:54 pm Anyone who has jury duty should show up on a white powdered wig to confuse the defendant.

Like, sitting on it?

Yeeeesssss.... ?

Better wear white pants then.

A merkin counts, right?

hepcat wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 1:35 pm Yeeeesssss.... ?