SERVE on Jury Duty lately? It's hell. Pure hell.

I was lucky, I got called up for Jury Duty here in Australia. They sent me home on the first day without seeing the inside of a courtroom. :)

I agree with everything you say though.

Most people can't spare eight hours a day for several days in which they can sit in a crowded room, disconnected from the world, and twiddle their thumbs while watching "The Price is Right" re-runs.

I'd heard stories, but after having the experience myself, I will never "serve" again.

It is a form of incarceration.

data base is generated by voters' regisration system in the states normally

I just toss them into the trash. Never heard another peep out of them, ever.

That's just a bit of info I'm throwing out there. It's specific to my county, and I've got an excellent back-up excuse if they ever do try and back their threats.

You know what I'd do, if you get called again, challenge them on their calling it "voluntary service". Call their bluff, chances are you'll be free to go. Don't let them take your soverign rights that easy.

....or just start off talking about how you are a member of the Fully Informed Jury Association, loud enough for everyone else to hear you. I guarantee you'll be escorted outside :)

I showed up with all three of my kids and told the Bailiff that I didn't have a babysitter...they weren't happy but let me go and told me I'd be called again soon, and no more excuses. A few months later I got the papers telling me to report again, so I called the number and told them I was just there for duty and I shouldn't be called again so soon...they saw where I signed in last time and apologized, because they have to wait at least two years :)

Claim you have a heart condition and are required to take nitro tablets on a regular basis.

You'll have to prove that...just ask them what color the criminal on trial is.

I'm sure it's a pain and uncomfortable but we need good jurors. Especially for tax trials.
Don't bitch about the laws if you're not willing to do something to make a difference.

We sit here bitch bitch bitch but no ones is willing ever to stand up to the plate.

I had a job that let me out (unpaid) for jury duty so it wasn't much hardship for me. I got assigned to a trial, and it's a good thing I was there because if not for me and one other guy on the jury, a poor kid might have been sentenced to jail for a crime he likely did not commit.

Other jurors were willing to convict on a "lesser included charge" because they weren't sure about the main charge. But we weren't sure about the lesser charges either, and so I was one of the two who reminded them that the defendant should not be convicted of ANY charge that isn't proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Hate to get preachy here, but we DO need good jurors.

Why do they treat jurors like that? A few guesses:

(1) Maybe they lock you up like that so you'll get angry and when they put a defendant in front of you, you'll be in the mood to say "guilty". Seriously.

(2) And/or you'll think like a compliant person and not even think of nullification, in the event you disagree with the LAW and don't want the defendant punished even if he did what they said he did.

(3) Finally it's cheap. The little room doesn't cost them much to provide.

How does serving on a jury have any impact on the laws?

My point is, I'm a law-abiding citizen, but if some thug breaks the law, I'm the one who gets locked up and deprived of my freedom, under penalty of ARREST if I try to leave.

That just makes no sense whatsoever.

And guess what - lawyers are automatically exempted from service. Guess who made *that* rule?

Tax trials...are you serious?

What if he didn't break the law?

That's what the jury is there to decide. (If you are willing to consider nullification, they're also there to decide if that law should be enforced in the given instance.)

Are you aware that prosecutors often don't care about justice, they're just rabid attack dogs who want as many convictions as possible? That's what our "adversarial system of justice" means!

I think lawyers should have to serve on juries, in fact that every jury should have one member (only one) who knows the legal system. That way they can clue the others in to what went on during the trial.

But actually the opposite is desired. They want to be able to disclose what they want to disclose and hide what they want to hide. Sometimes it's with good reason. Like during our trial they kept moving us between the jury room and the courtroom. We didn't know why; later we found it was because the defendant was already in jail and they needed time to bring him in from the jail, un-handcuff him and make him look like he'd walked in off the street.

Since he was already in jail, this further charge could have meant a LIFE sentence. For allegedly exposing his dick to children -- something the Public Defender proved he almost certainly did not do.

The foreman had been on a jury before, but even he didn't suspect.

wear a tshirt with jury nullifcation on it , you won't be there long. let people be judged by their peers , since most people are trash they should be judged by trash

fuck jury duty, i don't give a fuck, i just ignore their stupid summons! who the hell are they to summon me like i am some slave. kiss my ass, jury duty.

That's contempt of court, good luck when it catches up with you...

In my community, they'll come knock on your door and arrest you if you don't show up.

How does that make this "volunteer service"?

It's false imprisonment, IMHO.

i got one of those things in the mail one time.

i turned it over and marked one of the X's on the back and sent it back in.

fuck jury duty...

i don't vote either because then i can complain about these MFers as much as i want to because i didn't vote them into office.

I was excited to receive my jury duty notice a couple of years ago, but my 'honesty' cause my immediate dismissal by BOTH Lawyers !

Was asked repeatedly by both lawyers, ' WAS I going to FOLLOW the instructions of the Judge ' , till it was clear that they were TELLING ME I must do what he said. I quoted the law, saying once I was in the jury room, we were free to discuss the 'law' and did it apply !

Had several quotes from famous Supreme Court judges saying exactly the SAME THING. They were asking me to follow the judges recomendations to the point of NOT thinking for ones self, and I was refusing.

Eagle

As shown in the Casey Anthony trial they want the dumbest members of society they can find on the jury.

Having spent a fair amount of time "people watching" at our local courts, I can safely say that the overwhelming majority of "perps" I've seen marching down the hallways of justice can easily be characterized as THUGGISH.

*

I did jury duty once. It costs me several hundred dollars in pay, since I'm not one of those people who gets reimbursed by their employer(government workers mostly.)

My fellow jury members and I were very annoyed at what were were not allowed to know. We would have been happy if they had provided a basic dictionary to use, since we were called upon to convict someone without understanding what the charges meant.

I was personally annoyed at the attempts of some of the jury members to play CSI or be Monk from the TV show. They kept making up conspiracies to get out of convicting an obviously guilty man. "What if the victim was a member of a rival gang, and she accusing him as retribution?" As if there are tons of middle aged, professionally employed, white women in Latino gangs.

Hint to you young men and women who are going to commit crimes or get arrested in the future. Find one story and then stick to it. A jury is going to find you guilty once they hear you offer 6 different version of what happened while being interviewed by the police. Remember that the jury has access to those tapes.

Not doubting that the guy did something, but did you make sure he did what you convicted him of? You said yourself you did not know what the charge meant. Am I wrong?

Just out of curiosity, what was the crime in this case? What did the perpetrator do?

You have asked the same questions.

Our system of Laws is seriously broken.

I had to report for jury duty 4 months ago. I was hoping I would not have to go for the entire trial.

Luckily I didn't. I don't trust the courts one bit.

Corruption is rampant. I had one of the court workers document and sign my jury notice that I did not have to report for duty.
I was told by a good source, this is what you need to do if you don't have to go.

THere have been cases of abuse with this.

So, if you report on jury duty that day, and they say you don't have to show up

make certain you have one of the people write a simple sentence you were absolved from having to go, sign and date the note.

THis is to cover your "ass" in case they come back at you and say you did not appear

THere have been cases

So, if the courts are not trustworthy and full of corruption, how is anyone supposed to get a fair trial if citizens don't do a thorough job on the jury, try to detect and see through obfuscation and tricks, and stand up to give a just result to the trial?

My educational background (Master's Degree) gets me dismissed every time...that, and I'm a white male.

the system is broken and doesn't work so therefore i refuse to participate in this circus of corruption. gee, i guess i am in contempt then. oh boo hoo.