Jury Duty - Again.

[Bubba1235]

Just recieved a notice in the mail, I've been called for jury duty again. (No idea what the case is.) I fully intend to show up but I have to be honest and say I am getting a bit tired of it as I've been called 5 times (counting this one) in the last 3 to 4 years. My wife has been called almost as many times and done her duty and went.

Now comes my RANT.

I get so POed. when I hear others saying they were called but came up with a lame *** excuse to get out of it. No it's not a fun time, but I believe it's something that is a reasonable duty to place on citizen's and our legal system can't work when so many shirk that duty.

There is a HUGE part of me that is thinking about getting the list of those called and that begged off and publish their names in a paid for add in the local news paper and call them and their lame excuses out on it!

RANT OFF

Without sounding mean I ASK everyone to stand up and do their duty when called and do the best job they can as they fulfill that duty and to do it with a bit of pride in our justice system. If someone says to you, "Oh, you got STUCK with jury duty", correct them and tell them you are proud to serve your community in such an important way.


PS: I hope this isn't too political of a post.

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

I have never been called and I always thought I would kind of enjoy it. Funny how that works.

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

I always it was from the voters registration (of which I have been registered 12 years). I may look into it.


Ahhhh who am I kidding...

If I get called I'll do it with pride. If not then oh well.

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

I do agree that we need to do our duty when called, and I have served on a jury. However, we have to do something about the lame ***** cases that actually get to a jury trial. The case I was involved with was so retarded I couldn't believe the waste of time an money. I now know why it takes so long for the serious crimes to be tried. The courts are all backed up with this ridiculous frivolous crap.

A girl was hit by a vehicle at night crossing the street for a pack of cigs. She was wearing a black leather coat and crossing at night where there was no crosswalk. A military driving instructor with 5 kids hits her (bumps her), as he turns onto the street she was crossing. She went to the hospital by ambulance as a precaution and they found no broken bones, just bruises and scrapes. She was told to go to her Dr. to be checked the next day. She has no transportation and missed the dr. appointment....however, she was able to get to a lawyers office (ambulance chasers) that day with pictures of her "injuries". She claimed to have a job at Burger King, but no record of it was ever found..........so, what was she suing for? She had no lasting physical damage as a result of the accident, and couldn't even show she had lost any wages as a result of time-off work. The trial lasted 2 days with the defendant being represented by his insurance company, and her by the ambulance chaser. The trial took place 3 years after the accident, because she refused the small amount offered by the insurance company and wanted her day in court.....how much did she want? 10K...we (the jury) didn't know the amount during the trial but were told after the verdict.

What did we find? Indiana law says that a pedestrian has an equal responsibility to look out for cars as the driver does for pedestrians. We would have had to find the driver 100% at fault for her to receive her settlement....even though she wore dark clothing, and crossed with no crosswalk. She got nothing!....and paid nothing for the representation. The insurance company had costs, the city had costs, but she paid nothing for such a ridiculous waste of everyone's time.

Obviously we need people to serve on juries, but when you get stuck with crap like that for a case, you see what a waste of time most of these things are. This trial had nothing to do with finding the truth, everyone already knew what that was before it ever got that far. This was about an opportunistic girl trying to get money out of an insurance company, even though she had no lasting injury from the accident. If she would have had to pay for the lawyer fees for the insurance company when she lost, this thing would have never been in court!

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

The attorney sounds like a real winner! When you take a case like that one to ensure you will get a percentage of the settlement you need to do a little homework on the case. A "good" defense attorney would have probably asked for a percentage up-front which would have eliminated the case. I'm not sure where the blame lies, pretty sure there's enough to go around.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Sounds like myself. I've gotten called more times than I can think. I've done a pretty good job at keeping the records of previous service so if it happens within 3-years you don't need to serve, and I've needed the proof twice already.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

if it happens within 3-years you don't need to serve, and I've needed the proof twice already.

Interesting, I wonder if it's the same out here?

I get pulled every 1-2 years and have served on 1 trial. I don't mind doing my part, but what chapps my behind is I know lots of people who have never been called upon. What I find especially frustrating is I have to schedule a day off work, then call in the night before, only to find out they cancelled my number and rescheduled it to a later date. Sooo, now I have to schedule another day off work.......

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Regardless of the case tell the lawyer's and judge during the pre-selection ....... Since this jury duty is in my prime season may I cast my guily vote now and request the death penalty?

 

[relocyo]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Ive been called for duty 2 different times, the first time it actualy ended up conflicting with a family members funeral needless to say I did not go to duty that day

The 2nd time (and im prepared to get ripped on) I got the thing in the mail like a month before the date, I believe I was 23 or so at the time? But being young and dumb I put the letter in a drawer, and obviously forgot about it, come that day, I woke up around 10am, with a beautiful women in my bed (i loved being young ) and looked at the date, I thought to myself, hmmm didnt I have something to do today?, well I did jury duty!, I dug out the mail and had an overwhelming feeling of dread, I called the court house and indeed I was not excempt and at that point 4 hours late, the clerk I talked to said to call the next day to see if the judge had issued a bench warrant for me , needless to say ive had my runins with the law and have zero desire to again, I called the next day after another sleepless night (refer back to women in bed ) and found no warrant was issued but the clerk insisted I mail the judge an apology letter, which I promptly did and hand delivered to the clerks office... Scary stuff worrying about warrants! With that said, being 30 now, I would gladly serve on jury duty, my mother was a juror on a fairly big murder for hire case here localy years back, and she really enjoyed it....

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Interesting, I wonder if it's the same out here?

I get pulled every 1-2 years and have served on 1 trial. I don't mind doing my part, but what chapps my behind is I know lots of people who have never been called upon. What I find especially frustrating is I have to schedule a day off work, then call in the night before, only to find out they cancelled my number and rescheduled it to a later date. Sooo, now I have to schedule another day off work.......

For us here in MA, the court will give you a record after you serve, ie.. show up, doesn't matter if you are selected or not. We have a automated number to call the day before, to see if the case was canceled or dismissed, and if not we must appear, then are given proof for future summons (within 3-years). But, You need to show proof that you've served they will not look it up for you.

It is also used to show your employer that you served, which does me no good, since I'm a self employed plumber.

 

[Davem3]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

It is also used to show your employer that you served, which does me no good, since I'm a self employed plumber.

Well, then make you you pay yourself for the day off, then!

Yes, in mass i have only been called once, and all i did is read a book until lunch, then we were sent home.

Still, at least i went and did not use excuses

 

[mcgyver210]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

I have never been called but my wife has although she couldn't go because our business was just way to dependent on her for her to possibly be gone for days so she filled out the form to request release due to hardship. Never been asked again but she has now given up to days & paid for parking because she witnessed a very drunk driver hit a pole multiple times. The Judge actually showed sympathy for this dirt bag drunk & didn't take his driving privileges away (as the law says to do in TN) while he stalls the deaf, dumb & blind legal system. Now they have requested the new date to be on my wife's Birthday in another attempt to get it dismissed hoping she wont show up as they have done 3 times before. Boy will they be surprised when she shows up next week to testify again.

But with the dealings we have had lately our system doesn't work so it doesn't make us want to waste time on it. As for me I am so opinionated & quick to judge I have been told I would most likely be disqualified somehow.

 

[Cofe]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

I have served jury duty one time and the experience was a mess. Anyhow one person could not correctly comprehend what was evident. We had to call the judge in several times to rectify their thought process. Anyhow it took twice as long, and we were all blue in the face from explaining our positions to that person.

Good luck on you're jury duty call Bubba. I would just advise to vote with common sense, and not necessarily vote with what the law says.

 

[soggy_feet]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Not registered to vote, technically homeless, since I can't provide an address of residence since Im on my own mooring on the lake, and my drivers license is wrong. I don't get called for much of anything. Just the way I like it.

 

[glengold]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Not registered to vote, technically homeless, since I can't provide an address of residence since Im on my own mooring on the lake, and my drivers license is wrong. I don't get called for much of anything. Just the way I like it.

smart man

 

[bassman284]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Not registered to vote, technically homeless, since I can't provide an address of residence since Im on my own mooring on the lake, and my drivers license is wrong. I don't get called for much of anything. Just the way I like it.

Hey soggy, Publisher's Clearing House had a lifetime weekly check lined up for you but couldn't figure out where to send it so they moved down the list to the next guy.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Watched a lady try to answer questions with an obvious intent on being disqualified, and the judge picked up on this real quick. Told her she was dismissed from the case, but she would sit outside in the jury pool for the remainder of the week, it was Monday!! I thought it was great that the judge picked up on this and acted the way he did. I enjoyed my time(s) I was called. Everyone has a different view on this, but I enjoyed watching this lady get slammed in front of everyone, and eventually ended up spending more time there than we did.

 

[amishboy]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

I was called to jury duty one time on a vehicular homicide case. My first mistake was I thought the defendant's attorney was the defendant. Lawyer looked kind of crooked to me. 2nd mistake was when the defendant's attorney asked a potential juror if she believed police were honest because the defendant was a Missouri police chief on vacation. I thought to myself, "maybe he is innocent." I always thought I believed in innocent until proven guilty. Found out I could be wrong.

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

Watched a lady try to answer questions with an obvious intent on being disqualified, and the judge picked up on this real quick. Told her she was dismissed from the case, but she would sit outside in the jury pool for the remainder of the week, it was Monday!! I thought it was great that the judge picked up on this and acted the way he did. I enjoyed my time(s) I was called. Everyone has a different view on this, but I enjoyed watching this lady get slammed in front of everyone, and eventually ended up spending more time there than we did.

That's awesome......One guy got smart with his answers when I served and the Judge made him look the fool he was...but didn't make him stay.

 

[tswiczko]

Re: Jury Duty - Again.

I've sat on a couple of grand jury's and a few in the civil courts. I never enjoyed it but it was required of me so I done it. This last time I wasn't picked to sit on the jury. During the selection I was reading my homework and not paying attention to the questioning going on with the other potential jurors. When it was my turn they asked what I was so reading so intently. I held up my Physics book and the judge dismissed me without even asking me another question. I guess critical thinking is something they don't want in a juror. you might be able to see through the lawyers B.S.