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I was working a job I hated and was having a hard time finding a new one when I got called for jury duty- was so happy to be called and selected cause it got me out of a toxic work environment for a few days.

Long story short one of the others selected was the president of a company that on that exact day had a person quit by just walking out- it just so happened to be the type of job I was looking for and he interviewed me on our lunch break and gave me the awesome job I have had now for 1 1/2 years.

Just goes to show you even jury duty can change ur life

I've served only once...for a DUI case. Must have been the young man's "third strike" or something.

I was appalled at his representation....public defender. She never showed up prepared, was always shuffling her papers for something, would irritate the judge.

The prosecution witnesses were horrible too. The cops on scene and the evidence-handling cops. Their testimony was rudimentary, at best, I was surprised. I've worked most of my life for the gov't, taking samples and writing reports. We treated each and every case as if it would end up in court one day, so every minute procedure had to be followed. These guys were so lax about evidence handling, I was ashamed for my Sheriff's dept.

None of it mattered too much. There were a ton of witnesses claiming he'd been the driver (his defense was that he was a passenger). In no way did the evidence fit his testimony. So the verdict was easy. I just hated to see it all run so poorly. A more nuanced case could easily have sent an innocent person to jail. Or set someone guilty, free.

What intrigued me was to number of times they stopped everything and sent the jurors out if the room! Would love to know what they were talking about that they didn't want us to hear!

t/j

jackasstafarin

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I was the foreperson on a child molestation trial. It was hard but interesting. There was testimony from the child, mother, a friend and the person accused. Also a child molestation expert to explain what they look for. He was not for the defense or prosecution. He was independent of the whole thing. We could tell the mother and friend were lying. It had to do with money that the accused owed the girls father. When they were testifying the girl who was a teen, the mother and the friend said that the girl had no trauma over the event. That raised a lot of questions. We found the man not guilty.

Completelybroken, that is an awesome story.

I was picked for a medical malpractice 11 years ago. woman didnt like her breast reduction. boobs for a week. was very intresting to say the least.

now i work at a court house. i see things i never thought i would. scary.

every one who serves....thank you.

We get called here every two years like clockwork. I've been impaneled a couple of times but always struck. I wait for the defense attorney to make eye contact with me then I roll my eyes.

The last time the guy (incredibly sleazy acting) said (only SLIGHTLY paraphrased) "if my slick lawyerly ways offend you please do not hold it against my poor white trash client over here."

Stu-rike!!,

[This message edited by purplejacket4 at 11:11 PM, April 25th (Friday)]

As an undergrad, I was selected for two juries. One was an insurance case (hard to stay awake for) but the second was a criminal trial with three suspects (we were the jury for one of them) and it was a horrible crime. A 55 year old woman, backing out of her garage on the way to a lady's church luncheon was stopped in her driveway by a man asking for directions. When she rolled her window down, he hit her with a hammer and then pushed her over in the seat and put her car back in the garage. He had two 'friends' waiting around the side of the house so all three went inside and they took turns raping and beating her. She barely survived and was disfigured and has difficulty walking. They stripped her home of valuables and were caught three weeks later, driving around in her car with the valuables. Also ... her lunch casserole was still in the car.

I was really proud of the victim when she stood, with the aid of a cane from the witness stand and was asked if she could identify the attacker. She stood tall and steady and pointed at him with her cane and said ..."without a doubt, that is him."

He got 65 years.

After I graduated law school I have been called to jury duty several times but I always get dismissed. In my state we have 'death qualified juries' if the death penalty is being sought. People who oppose the death penalty must say so because they aren't allowed to serve if they don't support it. I've been dismissed during one jury selection because of my opposition to the death penalty.

Jury duty is what keeps our justice system half-way working right. I say 'half-way' because I have been a public defender previously and know that SOME innocent people DO get charged and tried ... and there is never enough funding to prove their innocence -- if they truly are innocent. On the other hand, the prosecutor's office seems to have unlimited funding so sometimes impoverished people do not get a really 'fair' trial. That is when we hope jurors are really paying attention.

I served 3 times. Two child sex abuse cases and a trespass case. In the county I lived in at the time only 10 of the 12 had to agree on the verdict which left very little deliberation. I am positive a child sexual predator was let go. Seems people don't believe it happened unless there is a witness besides the child. I was very disillusioned.