American jurisprudence

[katster]

IOW, guess who has jury duty?

Comments

[lonita.livejournal.com]

... ever done it before? Trials are fucking boooooooring. :>

[rbos.livejournal.com]

Is the jury notification going to get lost in the mail? I hear the US Postal Service is really bad about delivering those.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Well, if it's anything like mine, there's a huge chance you won't have to show up at all, and if you do, a large chance you won't get picked.

I've got the jury duty notice about every six months for the past several years. Only once did I ever have to appear. Even then, my pool of jurors was not used.

If you do actually have to show up, bring stuff to read unless you want to go mad from boredom while you wait to find out if you're actually going to get interviewed.

[jtwilson.livejournal.com]

I had jury duty earlier this year..I wasn't called, they gave me a check and sent me on my way..about 8 hours after I had arrived. Good ol' Nintendo DS..~.~

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Ah, jury duty. The one civic duty Americans are compelled to take part in, and then only once a year at maximum, and odds are you won't get called even that often, and most of the time you never even get into a pool.

And people bitch about it.

I love juries. I love that the entire American system of law and justice ends up in the hands of 12 citizens, and it is their voice, not the lawyers or the judges, that make the final decisions.

Juries can even decide the law itself is wrong.

[inflection.livejournal.com]

I have yet to experience this, despite having been a registered voter in various localities for a dozen years now. I got summoned, once, but I was out of state at the time, so I had to send my regrets.

Really, they were... I'd like to at least give the thing a shot some time. Are you hoping to get picked, or not get picked?

[jaeai.livejournal.com]

Bring da book, ya? Cause you gonna need it, sister.

Hurr Hurr. I told ya registering to vote /always/ triggers JD. I'm waiting for Cal to get his, since he registered for MD when he got his permit.

[katster.livejournal.com]

This is the first time I've actually gotten to sit in the courtroom. It's different. I suspect the novelty will wear off soon enough.

-kat

[katster.livejournal.com]

Hehe, both the one in August (which I postponed) and the one now got here with plenty of time to spare.

At least in my neck of the woods, USPS seems to be mostly decent at their job.

-kat

[katster.livejournal.com]

I typed that from the waiting room for the pool. I have to go back today -- we left off in the middle of picking a jury. It should be interesting.

This is the second time I've sat waiting -- the first time was up in Shasta County, so it's kinda interesting to sit and watch the differences between counties. Sacramento is definitely more efficient about the whole process, but that might be simply because they've got more trials that they need to assign juries to.

At this point, I'm almost hoping I get picked, because it would be neat to see the process. I'm a geek like that. :)

-kat

[katster.livejournal.com]

We don't get a check for the first day of service.

Now, since I have to go back today... ;)

Yeah, I had books, but I spent a lot of time watching whatever movie they decided to play. We were near the end of the third one when I finally got called.

-kat

[katster.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Yesterday morning, when I posted that, I wasn't exactly happy, but it was eight in the morning, and I was faced with a day of waiting.

I'm going back this morning, but I'm actually in a pool of jurors that's being selected, and this part of the process I find fascinating. I'm not sure if it's the novelty value of being in this situation, or if I'm simply a process geek, but I find this part much more fun than the "will you please call my name so I can do something other than sit in this room?" part of the process.

-kat

[katster.livejournal.com]

I bring many book. For I read fast, yo.

That said, in my mind, having to do jury duty because I've registered to vote is a non-starter. I'd rather do my time in juries and have a say in the election process, than not having a say for the nebulous chance that they won't pick my name.

Besides, I registered to vote in Sacramento County in October 2005 but only got the first jury notice last August (this time is because I postponed). So I'm not sure the correlation is as close as people think it is, y'know? :)

(Actually, now that I think about it, a year and a half after is about the closest the two things seem to have come. Well, other than college, but that's because I moved every year and had to update my address with the registrar...but I could get out of that on both ends. "Hi, we'd like you to serve in Alameda." "Nope, driver's license is in Shasta. Not a resident. Goodbye." "Hi, we'd like you to serve in Shasta." "Nope, voter registration in Alameda. Not a resident. Goodbye." ;)

(I considered my residence at the time as Shasta, but I spent most of the year in Alameda. It was confusing.)

-kat

[katster.livejournal.com]

At this point, I'd almost rather get picked. I'm a bit of a process geek, and I'm all about new experience.

I think my problem with jury duty is the whole "sit in a room and wait until your name is called." The whole thing got much more fascinating when my pool got assigned to a courtroom.

I didn't get a lot of them when I was in college because I was moving around so often. I only recall getting a jury notice once in my time in Berkeley, and it was in the middle of a really bad depressive phase, so my mom had to call the courthouse and explain for me what had happened. (Luckily, my group wasn't called.)
-kat

[jtwilson.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see..they probably only paid up then because I was done. Good luck, then..and Merry Christmas!

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Last time I was called, I got put in the pool for a civil case involving a woman dying of mesothelioma. The jury questionnaire asked about experience with cancer and I honestly answered that I was a survivor. Despite this, neither attorney objected to me during voir dire.

The case was settled out of court during after a week. Pity. I was interested in seeing how this person was going to prove her claim.