Octopus Overlords

LordMortis wrote:Murphy Hall of Justice...

Meanwhile, in the Murphy Hall of Justice, the Superfriends were hard at work!

my first jury experience was that I missed the first day. I had the week mixed up, and luckily I checked the following day to confirm the days and that's when I realized I had missed the first day. Thankfully they were nice and let me continue as if I didn't miss a day.

stessier wrote:

Canuck wrote:Justice is a minimum wage job?

Nope. Federal minimum wage is $7.25. So you could be getting a raise depending on your state.

Minimum wage is $8 in MA...pretty good money if you can get it. Plus jurors get free lunch, and they only actually work a few hours a day, and there's no heavy lifting. I would totally make a profession of it if I could.

I got it too, but California's cheap. Nothing for us.

stessier wrote:

Canuck wrote:Justice is a minimum wage job?

Nope. Federal minimum wage is $7.25. So you could be getting a raise depending on your state.

Interesting. When I served in KY, it was something like $25/day.

Dallas County Jury Services
Payment and Certificates of Service

Jurors will be reimbursed $6.00 for the first day of jury service, $34.00 for each day of service thereafter. Payment is mailed once your jury duty is complete, unless you chose to donate your jury pay. Please allow 10 days to 2 weeks to receive your pay.

I can finally take that trip to Vegas!

It's good to know that at least you get the option of being informed whether you have been chosen or not. It helps you from having your time totally wasted in waiting in a courtroom.

jorgea wrote:It's good to know that at least you get the option of being informed whether you have been chosen or not. It helps you from having your time totally wasted in waiting in a courtroom.

They tried not telling people at all, but after a while they'd starve to death and the bodies would get all stinky.

Argh! Showed up, dozed off, called name, went to the wrong room (too many similar names), went to the right room, got in JUST as my name's called, then was told to come back tomorrow as today's afternoon session is just to get rid of those with "travel hardships".

I'm out, done. Case was "resolved" before they needed to seat any jurors. Wasted two full days.

Make an attempt to get out of jury duty? Don't tell people about it on the radio.

A Denver woman has been charged with perjury after a judge heard her admit on a local talk show that she had worn offbeat clothes and pretended to be mentally ill to get out of jury duty in the judge's court last summer, KUSA-TV reports.

Susan Cole, 57, was dismissed from jury duty after showing up for a prospective trial in hair curlers, wearing mismatched shoes, reindeer socks and a T-shirt reading, "Ask me about my best seller."

In October, Cole, using a pseudonym, admitted the ploy in a call to KOA's Dave Logan show, saying she had been emotionally upset that morning and also had "too much on my platter" to serve on a jury.

According to a court transcript of jury selection, Cole was dismissed after telling the court she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and "get very confused in the morning when I try to get ready."
...
Unfortunately for Cole, the judge who had presided over court that day heard the program, remembered the incident, and turned Cole in.

In an interview with KUSA-TV before turning herself in, Cole admits she "deliberately dressed in a disheveled and uncoordinated fashion" to get out of jury duty.

"I am embarrassed I did it," she says. "I didn't mean to harm the judge. I really felt bad she interpreted this."

She also says she is anxious about facing court as a defendant, not a prospective juror: "I just think: 'What if I go to prison over this?"

Aww, I feel so bad for her. Perhaps someone should start a legal defense fund.

I've been notified that I'm being called up for a federal jury term. In my state, the rule is "one day, one trial", meaning that you only have to serve, at most, in one trial until the next time your name comes around. No such luck with the feds. I'll be on call for six weeks. Roughly thirty mile drive to the court house. My job won't pay me for any shifts I don't work, so I've applied for an excuse, but I already heard from the clerk that it's unlikely that I'll get it.

At least I'll get to witness how the federal court system works. I've always thought that courts were pretty interesting, but I rarely get inside one.

paulbaxter wrote:I've been notified that I'm being called up for a federal jury term. In my state, the rule is "one day, one trial", meaning that you only have to serve, at most, in one trial until the next time your name comes around. No such luck with the feds. I'll be on call for six weeks. Roughly thirty mile drive to the court house. My job won't pay me for any shifts I don't work, so I've applied for an excuse, but I already heard from the clerk that it's unlikely that I'll get it.

At least I'll get to witness how the federal court system works. I've always thought that courts were pretty interesting, but I rarely get inside one.

Whereabouts?

paulbaxter wrote:I've been notified that I'm being called up for a federal jury term. In my state, the rule is "one day, one trial", meaning that you only have to serve, at most, in one trial until the next time your name comes around. No such luck with the feds. I'll be on call for six weeks. Roughly thirty mile drive to the court house. My job won't pay me for any shifts I don't work, so I've applied for an excuse, but I already heard from the clerk that it's unlikely that I'll get it.

At least I'll get to witness how the federal court system works. I've always thought that courts were pretty interesting, but I rarely get inside one.

I had to do that last year. Luckily I never had to go, and also it would have been here in my home town. But people were liable for areas at least 4-5 hours away. Screwy.

Mr. Fed wrote:

paulbaxter wrote:I've been notified that I'm being called up for a federal jury term. In my state, the rule is "one day, one trial", meaning that you only have to serve, at most, in one trial until the next time your name comes around. No such luck with the feds. I'll be on call for six weeks. Roughly thirty mile drive to the court house. My job won't pay me for any shifts I don't work, so I've applied for an excuse, but I already heard from the clerk that it's unlikely that I'll get it.

At least I'll get to witness how the federal court system works. I've always thought that courts were pretty interesting, but I rarely get inside one.

Whereabouts?

The court is in Greensboro, NC.

Hmmm, I haven't been called in yet, but it looks like this is a distinct possibility:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns- ... 7781.story" target="_blank

Apparently the senator will have to get his justice without me since they told me I don't need to call in until next week. Unless they reject all of the jurors over the rest of this week I suppose.

Just fucking got it again, have to report on Monday. 3rd time in around 6 years.

I'm standby and for the second time, when I call they do it by last name. A-R must report. Last time it was A-Q.
WTF is that? Oh, to be a Wilson or Wong or Zapruder.

South Side criminal court. You better believe I'm going in hungover. And packing Easter eggs.

And, as normal, I haven't been called. It's been at least 10 years since I've gotten a summons, and I'd really like to serve on a jury. Which is why I'll never be called and certainly never be chosen.

I've been called three times in the past decade, but I've never been put on a jury. I'd like to see the process, although it would be more difficult now that I handle most of our child care.

Being primary caregiver for a child is usually a mail-it-back exemption.

Never been called. As far as I know neither have my siblings. My mother was in her 60's before she served the one time, and my father never did. Maybe a benefit of having a last name starting with Z. Of course this means I will be summoned next week.

gbasden wrote:And, as normal, I haven't been called. It's been at least 10 years since I've gotten a summons, and I'd really like to serve on a jury. Which is why I'll never be called and certainly never be chosen.

Last time I got selected, they jerked us around for 2 more days and then settled five minutes before the trial was supposed to start.

I was only called once. Served for a week on a sex discrimination case against Verizon. Verizon won by demonstrating that they treat all of their employees like shit. When it was all over we learned that the same case had been tried once before and resulted in a hung jury -- the judge was very interested in the details of our verdict, which ultimately came down to a technicality.

That was at least 20 years ago. Dunno why I was never called again -- maybe because I found in favor of Verizon? It was a really interesting experience that I wouldn't mind repeating if I were ever called.

All my life, I've never been called. Then suddenly in 2009, I got the summons in the mail. Mailed in the form, and was told to call the day before the court date. I found out 6 other people from my workplace got summoned that same week. Which makes me wonder how they go about selecting people. Scheduled with work to have that day off, just in case I had to go. But I called the night before, and was told the case had settled, and I was off the hook for two years.

Exactly two years later (2011), I got another summons. This time, when I asked for that day off, my boss told me he would give it to me, but that he would have to take away one of my regular days off to compensate. This pissed me off so much, that I turned in a letter of resignation, because I don't think jury duty should cause my boss to make me "make up" the lost day. Then he got pissed at me for quitting, and told me "Fine, you got your damn day off then". I didn't want to be on hostile terms with my boss, so I caved, and told him I'd work the extra day. Which I did.

All the drama was for nothing, as the case got settled and I didn't have to go, although I still "lost" the day, since I couldn't make any other plans.

Now it's 2013, and I expect I'll have to go through all the crap again.
A shame, really. Since I really wouldn't mind serving on a jury if it wouldn't be causing all this stress with my job. Not to mention the lost pay.

Can that even be legal?

Not likely:

27-09.1-17. Protection of jurors' and witnesses' employment.

1. An employer may not deprive an employee of employment, lay off, penalize, threaten, or otherwise coerce an employee with respect thereto, because the employee receives a summons or subpoena, responds thereto, serves as a juror or witness, or attends court for jury service or to give testimony pursuant to a subpoena.
2. Any employer who violates subsection 1 is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

That sounds like a pretty clear cut case of penalizing or coercion.

Employers have to give you the time off here. I didn't think you'd lack similar protection. Nice to see that's true.

His view was that he did give me the time off for the jury duty. But he also felt that jury duty was part of my personal time, and thus counted as a day off from work. In other words, it was my problem, not his. A coworker told me that what he would have done was not ask for the jury duty day off in advance like I did, but rather wait until the work schedules came out, and then tell the boss the day before the jury duty that I'd be gone the next day. I think that's what I'll do next time. My whole idea in asking for the jury duty day off well in advance, was so that he could better plan the work schedule around it. I was trying to be considerate, and it just naturally seemed like the right thing to do.

When confronted with my resignation (which was not a bluff, by the way--I fully intended to do it, since there were a few other issues I had with working there), he then gave me my regular day off back, but in a hostile tone of voice, which in turn caused me to back down, because I have to work with this guy. In retrospect, I should have just quit anyway. But things have gotten a bit better there in some ways, and worse in others. But I digress.

I guess technically, because he did grudgingly give me my regular day off (which I refused because of his tone), he did nothing illegal. But I'm still pissed about the way he did it.

Sitting in the jury pool room right now. Ran into two coworkers already. Wth?

Got my randomly selected panel # and a table spot by an outlet. Androdominion here I come.

Guy sitting next to me is a conspiracy theory guy. Was snorting dirisively during the intro. Then after was telling me that federal jury duty was best because "the feds just railroad everyone and plea out so you won't have to sit through a trial." And "regular juries arw just kangaroo court for the revenue machine." Awesome.

Sounds like he won't be able to keep his mouth shut and will end up with an early exit if he makes it to review.

Isgrimnur wrote:Sounds like he won't be able to keep his mouth shut and will end up with an early exit if he makes it to review.

Last time I sat through selection, there was a guy who said he couldn't be impartial because he "hated cops." The judge said, "great, since it's a civil trial that shouldn't matter. How fortunate." The guy, who obviously just wanted to get out of it, doubled down and said, "no, cause I hate judges too." So the judge said, "we're not that bad. You just need to get to know us. I'll make sure you spend the rest of the week in the jury pool."

He sent the guy back down with a deputy and instructions to make sure he came in everyday the rest of the week . Don't know if he can do that or not but no one screwed with the judge after that.

You would think. One of the Elk Grove Irregulars at Octocon is the last person I'd want on a criminal jury, but he found himself on a panel for some schmuck making jokes about having a bomb in his backpack on a Metra train. Not suprisingly, nobody thought the joke was funny. Someone who considers breakfast an opportunity for PvP attacks on your bacon should not get through selection, but they never asked him why he was in school in Alaska. So he never told them he was studying to be a pilot/air traffic control. Aside from his eagerness to get on the jury, that would have been their first hint.

Weel, conspiracy guy gave it a shot. 2 actually. But he's still in the 26 in the box. No lunch break, just 20 min break. Looks like I might get home before 5. They said it would be 2 days for anyone selected.

Last time I had jury duty was the federal kind. Had to drive into Cleveland at oh dark thirty. Spent all day sitting in a court room, where they made us individually sit in the witness chair and put on the white noise machine so no one else could hear what we were saying.

It was a civil case involving stocks and bonds and someone stealing money. Apparently having a MBA scared someone as I had to come back on day two for about 10 minutes and be dismissed.

The mother of three that forgot to turn over the survey we had to fill out, and didn't put her name on the the thing(they came back and asked who did not put their name on the survey) got selected number one. <shrug> I got paid for two days plus travel time, and worked payed me for the two days in jury duty hell.

So not a bad experience all in all. The first time I got called I was 18 and on my way to boot camp. I showed up on the day, told them I had to report to boot camp in 3 weeks and the judge said thanks, but you can go. <shrug> I actually was willing to sit on the jury, but I guess if it would have taken longer than 3 weeks I would have been a liability, right?

Well, never made it to the box. 17 bucks for sitting in what amounted to church pews in the courtroom for a few hours watching potential jurors passively-aggressively try to make moral stands and/or try to get out of jury duty. I got to see the selection, got my check for $17.20 (same thing it was the first time I got a jury check like 8 years ago, wish taxes were similarly stagnant), and got sent home.

Shot the shit with a guy similarly discharged while walking to the parking garage. It was a firearm possession case. He started out, "I'm ex-military, strong supporter of the 2nd amendment. How could someone be guilty of using their constitutional right?" Then he said something about the jury dissolution act or something. The ensuing conversation was the best 4 minutes of the day.

LawBeefaroni wrote:Well, never made it to the box. 17 bucks for sitting in what amounted to church pews in the courtroom for a few hours watching potential jurors passively-aggressively try to make moral stands and/or try to get out of jury duty.

Uggh save me from those folks with moral issues about jury duty. I had a stereotypical ultra-liberal hippy archetype woman stand up and say she didn't believe in judging their fellow human being in an annoying pseudo-serene voice. Well I guess she would prefer the world of Judge Dredd who would take care of all that judging stuff and leave her out of it.

*...Casts Revive Dead spell...*

Almost exactly nine years and eleven months later, I has the Jury Duty again.

This time in Maricopa County, AZ.

Processing starts on the 18th.

We'll have to wait until then to see if I actually get picked to serve.

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.