Jury duty sucks

[nbpgt]

I got a jury duty letter a couple of months ago and wrote that I suffered from social anxiety and never heard back.

haha.. just made a mental note

[NastyD]

Re:: Jury duty sucks

I did a couple of weeks last year, really enjoyed it. I don't think that it would have been so cool if I'd been on a murder or a rape case or something like that though.
Since then I've been called up again twice more. I got out of them because you don't have to do it if you last did it within the last two years. Sounds like my sex life

[foreks]

There are ways to get around it even if you are selected. Usally just tell them you are biased or predjucied.


I?d love to serve on a jury, if it was a drugs case, there would be a not guilty verdict whatever the evidence.

[mario belter]

in germany we don't have something like that and i dont really understand the whole jury system.
i mean, why should normal people judge criminals cases?

[PAG]

Re:: Jury duty sucks

I had a case once which draged on for a couple of weeks about a juvenile stealing mobile phones,you could tel she was guilty from day one so I spent the rest of the time daydreaming.
My wife had an excellent case involving gangland stealing expensive cars and selling them abroad at the end of the case the jury were intimidated from the public gallery and the needed a police escort out the building for their own safety.

[NastyD]

in germany we don't have something like that and i dont really understand the whole jury system.
i mean, why should normal people judge criminals cases?

It has to do with the idea of a person being tried by a group of their peers. The barristers present the evidence, the judge explains any legal issues that may apply and the jury decides who they believe was telling the truth. I suppose that it is good in its theory, but any system will have its pitfalls. One issue that I was on as a jury member was to decide if someone who had a mental illness was fit to stand trial. Two experts got up and one said "Yes he is", while the other one said "No he isn't". How are are we twelve non-experts supposed to decide on the basis of that. In the end it was the jury members' personalities that decided the outcome, but I didn't enjoy that experience one little bit.

[toasty]

in germany we don't have something like that and i dont really understand the whole jury system.
i mean, why should normal people judge criminals cases?

To preserve the integrity of the system. Judges can at times have political agendas, juries do not. Plus, the requirement that a jury be unanimous (in most cases and jurisdictions) helps to insure that the decision reached is the correct one -- juries find facts, not law, and it is easier for one person to miss something here and there than it is for twelve to miss something...

[mario belter]

i agree, that the idea behind this is a good one, but the problem i see is that the members of the jury are no professionals in that area.
i mean, isn't it then all up to how good your lawyer (or lawyers) are?
how good he talks -turn things or can confuse the jury about facts?
if a case is clear it should be no problem to judge over someone, but if it isn't it should do someone who knows more about it, i think.

..and excuse my bad english :wink:

[tribal]

Re: Jury duty sucks

for those of you at work, be thankful! i've been on jury duty for a week, with no end in sight til next week. lemme tell ya, it's NOT what is seems on Law & Order...

a week isnt all that bad. my mom just spent 2 years on a grand jury ivestigating enron. it was pretty cool cause she call and tell me "insider info" on those cunts.

[toasty]

Regarding Mario's post:

Yeah, but that assumes that the judge knows more than the jury, which is not necessarily the case. The judge knows more about legal issues (i.e., evidenciary questions, etc.) and does rule on those, but when you are dealing with factual questions that require a highly specialized area of knowledge, like forensics and the like, the judge is in no better position to answer the question because it is not a legal issue. For example, if you have a toxic contamination case, you will need someone to testify as to what chemicals are involved, how they passed through the soil/air/water, how they migrated to the injured person/property, whether they are toxic, what damage was caused, and what can be done to fix it. To assess that, you need someone with that type of specialized knowledge to explain it, and both sides will generally have experts that will agree on some issues but not others.

The question is normally resolved by having the jury assess the credibility and qualifications of the expert witness -- who is in a better position to know what is really going on, and are they believable. Although it is a he said-she said type of deal, there are ways to attack the credibility or conclusions of an expert witness that will make the jury more likely to belive your guy -- if one expert's opinion is based upon out-dated or unreliable science, for example, his opinion is less trustworthy.

[nightfly]

Re:: Jury duty sucks

If you're off doing jury service do you still get paid?

[esef]

Re:: Jury duty sucks

If you're off doing jury service do you still get paid?

jury duty : a phat $15 a day! I'm off to VEGAS babay!

work : yeah, i'm in charge of my division so it's for fuck all what i do! HAHAHA!! may go in for a few hours today...

[Ariel Cybana]

Re:: Jury duty sucks

I'll say having to show up and waiting around was the most boring three hours I have spent in my life. If you ever have to show up do remind yourself to bring something to read cause the reading stuff they have is pretty boring.

In California all you need to qualify for jury duty is either being a registered voter or having a driver's license.

Oh and you get paid 5 bucks a day if you do get selected.

[CatZ]

I'd like to do that sometime, but it doesnt work at all like that in sweden