Got Picked

[bricker]

For jury duty. All day in a room that started with 500 other folks. Air was getting stale after just a little while. I made it through until the last cut and was told to return the next day. I didn't survive the last cut on the next day, as they decided to picked me and 40 other folks for the final round of questions. I must have answered all of the questions correctly, because I made it to the bonus round of the final 14 people. Got to help decide the fate of an unsavory character. The adventure was quite a sobering experience. Even though the fellow in question deserved what he got, I don't ever want to be in the position of deciding another's fate again, kinda leaves a knot in your stomach.

 

[MY15-22]

You did your duty. Good for you.

 

[pawncop]

Without you. our system, slow and inefficient as it is, would be completely useless.

It is the citizen that is our best line of keeping our justice system as good as it is.

And it is a good system.

 

[bricker]

Without you. our system, slow and inefficient as it is, would be completely useless.

It is the citizen that is our best line of keeping our justice system as good as it is.

And it is a good system.

I agree, I'm not complaining, only telling my story. The system isn't perfect, but it IS the best in the world.

 

[DeathGrip]

I agree, I'm not complaining, only telling my story. The system isn't perfect, but it IS the best in the world.

That's the best way to look at it.

Thanks,

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I did that a couple of years ago. In the jury pool waiting room, I sat at the non PC guy table. There were actually some nice looking women in the room but when you elect the non-PC guy table, you can forget the babes. I'm not saying that these older chicks looked hot, but I will go as far as to say some of them looked warm.
Meanwhile back at the jury. The thing that I did not like at all was that we had to give IMO way too much personal information. It was like the defendants had constitutional protection. But us Jury folks had apparently waived that protection.
I am trained to only give name, rank and Serial number. Since I am known as a talker and storyteller, it comes as a shock when some people finally realize that I am talking a lot but not really giving up much information about myself.
It was not necessarily an unpleasant experience, it just took a lot of time to actually get on two juries. And I was jumped heavy by one defense lawyer, and yes that did piss me off. He could have just disqualified me without all the jawing. He didn't like my Character. For One thing I have more than he had.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I agree, I'm not complaining, only telling my story. The system isn't perfect, but it IS the best in the world.

You did your job. That's all we can ask of you. Thank you very much for without you we have no justice system. It isn't easy and it certainly isn't pleasant for all the reasons you now know-but it is necessary. Outside of fighting wars or voting, It is the most important duty a citizen can perform.

 

[Jessie]

A judge once asked me while I was on jury duty if, after hearing testimony and arguments, I could set aside any prejudice and pre-formed opinions and find the defendant innocent. I thought for a second and said " Sure, I would base my decision on the evidence". He then made his point saying" you must realize and keep in your mind that the defendant is ALREADY innocent and you must use evidence and arguments to find him guilty if appropriate. Now, in the back of my mind I already knew that but since that time it has always been in the front of my mind. Smart judge, that lesson stuck with me.

 

[2ndAmendmentNut]

When ever they ask me those questions or ask my opinion of a little video I say, "hang them all and let God sort them out." I have yet to get picked for some reason.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

In the last 10 years, I've been call to jury duty (1 time a month for up to 4 month) 3 times. Of the 12 possible jury panels I could have been called to, I was called 4 times. I got rejected twice, my last time I was seated; we sat in the jury room while they ended up plea bargaining- the judge then explained the case to us, If he had gone to trial, I would voted for acquittal based on what I was told. The one time I went all the way through the process, we sent a child molester to prison!

Jury duty has cost me about $200-250 in lost wages, but I feel that I have been a part of what separates us from savages. Plus if feels good to see a pervert get a little of what he has earned! Ivan

 

[S&W ucla]

I get called but never picked. I must answer the questions incorrectly.
Do you know the judge? Yes
Do you know any of the attorneys? Yes
Do you know any of the officers? Yes
Proving once again "It's not what you know, but who you know!"

 

[bhayles]

I never get picked and probably never will. Prosecutors don't like me and I am always disqualified by them.

Georgia is weird in that it is one of only 3 states where jury nullification is actually built into the state Constitution. Judges here charge a jury telling them it is their job to judge the facts and his/her job to judge the law, when in fact it is the jury's job to judge both:

Article I, Section I, para XI, sub-paragraph (a)

Paragraph XI. Right to trial by jury; number of jurors; selection and
compensation of jurors. (a) The right to trial by jury shall remain inviolate, except that the court shall render judgment without the verdict of a jury in all civil cases where no issuable defense is filed and where a jury is not demanded in writing by either party. In criminal cases, the defendant shall have a public and speedy trial by an ipartial jury; and the jury shall be the judges of the law and the facts.

http://sos.ga.gov/admin/files/Constitution_2013_Final_Printed.pdf

Judges and prosecutors HATE that, and if a defense attorney tries to tell that to a jury the judge will tell him to stop, that it is his (the judges) job to charge the jury, not the attorney's. If the lawyer persists the judge will find him in contempt and let him cool his heels in the hoosegow for 72 hours.

 

[Arik]

I would actually like to give it a shot. Sounds interesting and adds on to life's experiences.

I was chosen once. The date was a month before my official citizenship swearing in ceremony. I couldn't lie, had to say I'm not a citizen

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[RodGD]

I got called three years ago. Sat all morning with no jury calls at all. Got sent to lunch and came back. Five minutes after sitting back down my block number got called. Taken down to a courtroom in the criminal division. Case was for aggravated discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle. Jury selection took up the rest of the afternoon and I was the last one picked. Trial started the next morning. Defendant freely admitted to firing at the car but claimed he was afraid for his life which in Illinois is a valid defense. The problem being the bullet holes were in the rear of the car he claimed tried to run him down. Also thrown into the mix was he was on parole at the time of the incident. Parole for a former firearm offense! What we weren't privy to was this was his third firearm offense. It took us thirty minutes to find him guilty. Most of which time was spent wondering why he wasn't still in prison from the time before. The gun was a pretty nice Browning Hi Power. I lusted after it but they said I couldn't have it. The judge told us afterwards he would be getting sentenced to from eight to sixteen years.

 

[steveno]

I served on a civil case in Federal court in Denver for a week. I sure would liked to have heard what was being said in the courtroom while we were sitting in the break room. I did learn that if you sue somebody don't forget the words "prejudgment of Interest". if they would have remembered those words there wouldn't have been a trial at all.

 

[3dots]

Thanks for doing your duty, Bricker. I too have been through the process and hated the panel filtering time. But, when it was all said and done, I felt a little proud to have been part of it all.

 

[ky wonder]

i am of the mindset that the accused is innocent until proven guilty

so after 1 appearance here in my home county in a criminal case the prosecution seems to release me quick,the other time i was called

my case was a traffic stop that produced what they called drug paraphernalia, failure to stop,

the officer testified that he watched the defendant blow a stop sign from the parking lot of a local gas station and witnessed the driver blow the stop sign just behind our local courthouse, to have done this he would need xray vision because there is a large brick building that blocks the view of this stop sign from the location he said he was at.( i fuel there every week)

the officer had to travel 4 blocks to pull in behind the driver at his house, and all the driver had to travel was two blocks to be at home.

then while doing a search found a generic electronic scale and arrested the guy for drug paraphernalia.

the majority of the jury was willing to convict as soon as we entered the room, but i knew the guy cant see through walls and i told the jury that if a scale was all it took to be arrested for the offence that i was guily at the time because i had a scale in my truck at the time that i use when reloading.

needless to say the jury was hung and while the judge was not happy i told him i needed more than that to put a guy in jail

 

[gm272gs]

I have been called many times to jury duty, but I can't seem to get picked. I think that I'm just too rational, and they feel like they can't tug at emotions with me.

The last time I was questioned, the counselor asked me "Do you feel that my client is innocent until proven guilty?" to which I replied: "Well I'm going to assume that he's Not Guilty until proven otherwise, but I don't think anyone in this room is innocent. Is the word innocent ever entered into court records?"

He just said: "I'm done with this one", and I was dismissed.

 

[bhayles]

...officer testified that he watched the defendant blow a stop sign from the parking lot of a local gas station...to have done this he would need xray vision because there is a large brick building that blocks the view of this stop sign from the location he said he was at.

...needless to say the jury was hung and while the judge was not happy i told him i needed more than that to put a guy in jail

I would have told the judge that I couldn't convict anybody of anything on the word of a liar.

I am not anti-cop. Far from it. 30 some odd years ago I was a police officer in a small South Georgia town (no, my boss's name was not Boss Hog). What I absolutely cannot stand though is a police officer who will lie to get a conviction, no matter how small the lie.

As far as I am concerned once a police officer tells a lie…any lie…on the stand, anything he says from there. going forward is worthless, both in that case, and in any other case where he takes the stand. Once a police officer has lied on the stand it is my personal opinion that he is never, ever, ever to be believed again, and frankly I believe he should be fired.

When testifying against a defendant I would hope that in any case where he testifies from there going forward, there would be at least one juror who knew that he was a known liar and would vote to acquit.

Just my $.02 worth.

 

[the ringo kid]

I have been called many times to jury duty, but I can't seem to get picked. I think that I'm just too rational, and they feel like they can't tug at emotions with me.

The last time I was questioned, the counselor asked me "Do you feel that my client is innocent until proven guilty?" to which I replied: "Well I'm going to assume that he's Not Guilty until proven otherwise, but I don't think anyone in this room is innocent. Is the word innocent ever entered into court records?"

He just said: "I'm done with this one", and I was dismissed.

I think you were not picked more because I doubt the guy understood what you told him.