Who has been on a jury?

[hockeyfan228]

So, Hockeyfan, what was the final outcome of your case?

There was a small settlement that everyone assumed would revert to the insurance company, and two dissents: mine and the guy who believed that no one should be able to sue anyone ever. In a civil case, at least in Washington State, 10 of 12 votes in agreement are necessary for a jury decision.

 

[mzheng]

I've been called for jury selection many times. I know how to answer the questions to make sure they wont pick me, but sometimes, I guess, I slip up or they are wise to me. I've sat on civil and criminal cases and fought like hell for the defendants rights.

Joe

Joe, can you enlight me how to answer teh questions to make sure not being selected.

I was called for jury selection last month. Since I have to leave for china the next day and had yet to packed yet. So I told the Jury manager, thought I could be dissmissed, but he made me came back for another selection last Monday. Just sitting there half sleeping for about 4 hours then we were told we can leave and having fufill our jury duty. Dose that mean I weren't get jury selection call next 3 years?

 

[euterpe]

I get called for jury duty all the time, but I have yet to serve on a jury. Where I live, there aren't that many cases, so most of the time when I'm called, I sit around with the rest of the potential jurors for a morning, then get dismissed.

I was called for jury duty twice when I lived in NYC, and that was truly a horrible experience. They called literally hundreds of people at a time, and you had to go to the courthouse every day at 9AM and stay all day until 4 even if you weren't selected for a jury. There was limited seating in the big 'waiting room', and there wasn't much to do. And this went on for two whole weeks. Being called for a jury would have been a relief!

I was once called for a jury on an accident case, but during questioning, when they found my father had been an MD, both attorneys wanted me off. On another case, I wanted very badly to be off because it was an incredibly dull one where someone was suing the City of NY because of a fall on a sidewalk. It was the last day of my potential jury duty after two weeks of sitting around doing nothing, and I knew if I got on that jury I'd be in trouble with the judge because I tend to fall asleep when I'm sitting there idle and people speak in a droning voice (I did that all through college). You can be fined or imprisoned for contempt of court if you fall asleep on a jury! Fortunately the judge asked if I wanted to be on the case and I said "No", so he dismissed me.

My husband has been on several cases, including a motorboat accident, an assault, and a murder. He also served on a Grand Jury where one of the cases was a horrible one where a widow with two young boys remarried and the new husband was sexually abusing the kids.

I got off my last two jury summonses when I explained that I work as a consultant and therefore am not paid at all if I am not present at work. Where I live there are always more jurors than they need, so any reasonable excuse is accepted. If I still lived in NYC, though, they would have made me serve anyway.