KodakKid Loc: LBI, NJ

I have never served as a juror nor do I ever expect to be called as a juror. I have, however, picked over one hundred juries over the course of my career as a Philadelphia civil trial lawyer. I was usually defending a corporation such as Chrysler or Otis Elevator Co, or a physician or hospital. Many of the cases were seeking significant damages. Jury selection is really an art form, not an exact science. My goal was to obtain a fair and impartial juror who would listen to the evidence and render a fair verdict in favor of my clients who were, of course, not negligent. Although I am now retired and available to serve as a juror, no lawyer will ever pick me.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

86 and neve been called to serve.

Dannj

75 in NJ. I’ve been called several times over the years but never empaneled.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Not that I wish to convince anyone to serve, I would like a valid reason or reasons why people wish to be excused. I may seem ignorant, I would like to know.

dustie Loc: Nose to the grindstone

First time I received a notice, I was working out of the area, in a different county, about 5½ hour drive away, in good clear weather....could easily add 3 - 3½ hours if weather was inclement.
I wrote to the county clerk office what the work situation was, and that I didn't know how that was going to be an easy situation.
The reply from the clerk office was to thank me for replying, and I would not be expected to report for duty while I was out of the area.

Second time I was notified, it was a season of the year that would be a big hardship on the ranch where I was working if I was not there every day.
One of the managing owners/partners of that ranch is an attorney. He wrote a letter in lawyerese to the county clerk office, that it would put the ranch in a major bind at that time, would they please choose a different time of year that would work out with ranch needs.
County clerk office notified me they would pull my name off the list, and notify me at a different time of the year.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Really? it's nobodies business other than the person wishing not to serve.

dustie Loc: Nose to the grindstone

After reading through the comments in here, some of them make me disappointed that it doesn't seem attorneys are necessarily interested in choosing knowledgeable, critical thinkers.....maybe just compliant yes-persons who can be swayed to go where the attorney wants to steer them.
Is that really the best group of "peers" to weigh the choice of facts the attorneys want to present, or conceal, as the case may be?

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Manglesphoto wrote:

Really? it's nobodies business other than the person wishing not to serve.

I understand your point and this question was not created to anger anyone. I am merely curious if many of those who do not wish to be empaneled is because there is something about being in court that might be offensive. Perhaps, people might not like to be nearby the “criminal element.” It could be the fact that some people may not like lawyers. Please accept my apology if my question upset you. I was asking to resolve my personal curiosity. Since it did upset you, I wish to withdraw my question at this time.

MSW

served on a week- long trial about a dozen years ago ... it looked pretty cut-and-dried from the onset, but the prosecutor's case fell apart quickly after the first witness. we ended up a hung jury and i never did find out if they re- tried the fellow ... sort of like OJ - did he do it? sure, but did she prove it? not even close, IMO

the judge said that she'd take us off the list for three years because it was such a long trial, but it was something of a vacation for me - the mill where i worked paid the difference between jury duty pay and out regular hourly rate, and it was in a nice airconditioned courtroom.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

I would have been happy to serve, but was never called.

Dean37 Loc: Fresno, CA

I got called five times. The first time they selected all the jurors in about 6 hours, so the rest of us were dismissed.

The second jury selection was a murder trial in the Oakland, CA County Superior court. I'm not sure of proper procedures, but the group of potential jurors, about 60 of us, were briefed on the case. A man was charged with 1st Degree murder. The instructions were given telling us that the man's estranged girlfriend called him to meet her, she would pick him up in her car and they would go to a quiet place to discuss problems she had with him. Their discussion got heated, she grabbed a kitchen knife which was in her car and tried to stab him. In their struggles she was cut/stabbed in such a way that she died.

When the person described the incident, the accused stood up faced us and said, "I killed the 'bitch', I don't deny that, but she had already cut me several times while I tried to get away."

I was prepared to tell whoever questioned me that the charge was wrong. It was her weapon and she attacked him with it and I could see second degree murder, but it was definitely not 1st degree.

I was never even questioned and I was dismissed.

About a month later the news showed he was convicted of 1st Degree murder and later his sentence was, he was to be executed. Like several hundred others in California prison he is not going to be executed, because California doesn't do that!

The other 3 times I was over 70 I was excused because I was 73 and 77 and not called, but the last one did not excuse me and I was 84 at the time. The letter said age and illness may not be a valid reason to be excused. It depends upon the county in California apparently and I had moved.

There is no way I could sit for more than an hour and listen to voices that I can only hear as noises if I hear them at all over and above my tinnitus and bad hearing, about something I really have no interest in, without falling asleep.

I get to watch silent movies on TV and the wife calls out from the back of the house to turn it down. I can't hear anything.

therwol Loc: USA

Correct. The last prisoner executed in California was Clarence Ray Allen in 2006. Tookie Williams had a high profile execution in 2005. He annihilated a family during a store robbery and argued that since he started writing books for children, he shouldn't be executed. The death penalty is still a legal penalty in California, but because of a court ordered moratorium in 2006 and a governor's moratorium in 2019, it is unlikely to be carried out any time soon.

Flyerace Loc: Mt Pleasant, WI

I was called to be on a Federal jury trial. The first day, the defendant plead out, so nothing was done. The second day, I said I hoped it wouldn't be a big drug case-of course that was exactly what it was. In the course of the interview they asked if I knew any police officers. My cousin was a cop, my great grandfather was a cop and my neighbor was a cop. The defense dismissed me right away. My jury duty was done at that point.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Maybe that's why I was never called. I had a grandfather and 4 uncles on the police force.

Wyantry Loc: SW Colorado

I was called, however we were out-of-country (Canada) when the time came. It appears somehow the calls go out for jury duty more frequently from June through September where we are.

The wife has been called three times — answered voir dire questions so that NEITHER side wanted her . . . . She served once in an assault-with-deadly-weapon case.

I am a sworn deputy, so apparently exempt according to their questionnaire form.
Evidently actually KNOWING something about the law/legal system is not desirable.