During the selection process, what kind of questions will they ask?  I envision:

"Are you a right-wing, gun wacko?"

"Do you belong to the NRA, which is a known terrorist organization?"

"Do you believe that murderers, rapists, and child molesters should be tortured and executed?"

"Do you frequent the internet sites of subversive, anti-government hate groups?"

What have you guys run in to??? [8]

i dont think youll see any questions like that. unless your sitting on a case against the dnc :)

Relax and enjoy, nice change of pace, plus you get to play God, and miss work!!

If your job pays you to be there, then sit back, relax, and enjoy.  If not, throw the summones in the trash and go to work.  They have to prove you didn't get it and that has to be done via registered mail.  There are plenty of retired folks to take your place.  I've thrown them away, nothing every happens, plus I've been pulled over by cops twice since then.  No record of my not showing up.  If you get paid for it, fine, If not, f**k the system.  I don't know anyone you goes to work for 6 dollars a day.

I called the night before as instructed
and was
not required to
show up.

It varies from area to area. For me it was four days of sitting around and only being selected once to go through the process of being on a trial(which I wasn't thank god). Take a good book!

We have a "One day, One trial".
The least you can be held is for one day unless picked for a trial then you are there until its over.

The questions they ask really depend on what type of trial their selecting a jury for.

I actually look forward to jury duty. Its a real nice change of pace and my company will pay me for my time.
I just got a notice to report a few weeks ago. I have to report the friday before Labor Day Weekend. Where I work the friday before any holiday is real busy, I'm glad I won't have to be at work.

F! jury duty!
F! those damm summons!

Every damm time you get one, they threaten to throw you in jail if you don't show up.

Biggest damm waste of time ever.

Stupid jurors being blindsided by crying and all that other crap.  BS.

What the hell is up with that $3,000,000,000 jury award to that dead smoker?

Silly jurors.  A judge has since cut it down to $100,000,000, but the dope's family shouldn't have received one red cent.

I hope it get's totally tossed out on appeal.

expect to WAIT, and WAIT somemore, its a very long Boring process.
they asked me city of residence? job? martial status? been a victim of a crime? know someone who was a victim of crime? know anyone in law enforcement? ever served on a jury?

then they handed the jury panel a 2 page list of questions that pertained to the case at hand, it was a DUI case. so the questions were like ever seen a DUI checkpoint, what do you think about this or that, know anyone who was arrested, think you/friend/relative was arrested for a crime they didnt commit.

pretty broad questions, the more YES answers you can give the more likely you are to be dismissed from the jury panel by the prosecutor or defense attorney (which is what happened to me... thank God)

if you recieved the SUMMONS in the mail then you are required to show, but if its just a superior court jury Application then they cant prove you got it or not.

LA county its $1500 fine for not showing up to jury duty and i think you have to go to the judge to explain why you show up.

look online for the court house they may have a website that tells you what to expect as a juror.

How Ironic this topic is....

Just 3 weeks ago, I got a questionaire/summons in the mail.
I purposely answered all the questions WRONG, so as to NOT be chosen...
Questions like:
"Would you be MORE or LESS inclined to believe the testimony of a police officer."
My answer: LESS

"Would you be MORE or LESS inclined to believe the testiony of a defendant."  
My answer: MORE

"Are you related to, or is anyone in your household related to a police officer?"
My answer: YES

The bastards still wanted me to call in the day before to see if I was wanted...
I never bothered...
A week later I got a postcard asking for a reason why I didn't show up...
My answer:
Just had knee surgery, couldn't walk...

END of problem...

your lucky, some places will accept BS answers like that. but la county wants you to PROVE IT, in other words you would have to show the court medical records and then they will just postpone your jury date.
theres NO getting out of jury duty in la county, anymore.

show up or get fined or worse

the last person that posted on this board about trying to get out of jury duty was FLAMED HEAVILY for not doing there CIVIC DUTY

Well, if someone really doesn't want to serve on a jury, I'm sure they would do their civic duty and fck it all up.

How's that for a good impartial juror.

Why would they want people who have no interest in serving on a crap jury anyway?

They're just wasting their time and lowering worker productivity.

Just for your info...
It's NOT a Bullshit excuse...
I REALLY DID have knee surgery...
Got cut on the 26th...

Even if I hadn't had surgery, I would NOT have served...
My DUTY is to provide for my wife and 4 kids.
I can't do that on $6 a day...

Tuff shit if you don't like it.

You can fully expect to be BORED to DEATH!!

Some tips
1.Take a Shotgun News,some gum and some candy.
2.Sit next to the finest woman in the place, or between the finest and #2.
3. Offer to share the gum.
4. Relax and enjoy, its not a big deal.
5. If you really want out, you will have PLENTY of chances, just tell them what they dont want to hear!

Every time they ask you a question just say, "GUILTY."  You should have no problem getting excused.

I'm kinda looking forward to it.  My county pays $25/day for jury service.  Plus, I'm a salaried employee so I'll get paid for my time off from the company.

However, I'm not looking forward to getting up at 0600 and travelling into the city.

SWS - Thank You! Juries are one of the last great bastions of Freedom in this country. But they only work when people like you sit on them!
I know this is OT from your post, but I never miss a chance for a plug.
Go to [url]www.FIJA.com[/url] and study up on your rights & duties as a juror.

The questions they ask will depend on the nature of the case they are selecting for. My advice is to take a good book to read and hope you don't get picked. I was choosen for a case back in 1980 involving a state trooper getting killed by a speeding suspect that impacted the state police car going 90 mph. You would not belief the railroading that went on in that case. I felt sick in my stomach for two weeks after the trial ended. It changed my outlook on the legal system forever. [:(]

Glad to hear that all the pro-gun people will be avoiding jury duty, leaving more anti-gun people in the jury pool for the next lawsuit against gun manufacturers.

Do your duty!  A juror has a surprising amount of power, and you need to exercise it.  Yes, it is boring and time consuming.  Life is tough.

If it's anything like Seattle You'll get to watch a "instructional movie" with Raymond Burr in a judges robe basiclly telling you that you're too stupid to judge for yourself and the judge will handle everything and you are to do whatever he says.  What they don't tell you is that the jury has all the power.

The JURY has unreviewable and unreversible power...to acquit in disregard of the instructions on the law given by the trial judge.
U.S.  vs  Dougherty,  473 F 2nd1113,1139  (1972)

People complain about "obviously guilty" people being acquitted, but try to weasel out of jury duty.  

If you want to live in a place with good laws, do your part to help enforce them.  

The police can only take it so far.  Do your part to help enforce the law.  And if you are part of the anti-jack booted thug coalition, go and hold them accountable.  It's like voting, I don't care who you vote for, just go and engage in the process so it can be truly representative.  Democracy is a participatory sport.

Imagine you are a prosecutor, or a homicide detective, with a really good case against a really bad guy, and you have 12 drooling morons and/or liberal idiots deciding the case, because all the people "smart enough to get out of jury duty" did.    

And finally, if you do make it on to a jury please remember, we only indict guilty people and there is a lot of really damning evidence that got suppressed because of BS technicalities.  

Don't know if you got called for local or federal. I just finished a 2 month federal jury thing. I think the process can vary from district to district. Here in Va. its automated, you get a juror number on your summons then you call in every friday and get your instructions, usually its call back next week.

when you finally get called it could be for either civil or criminal court. Once you are on a trial you must complete your service even if the trial runs over your original service dates.

You will be expected to pay attention and use common sense in your deliberations. Everyone will treat you with the utmost respect as a juror. If its criminal there will be 12 jurors and you will have to reach a unamious verdict. At least here in Va the jury only decides guilty / not guilty. The judge imposes the sentence.

When I was selected simply knowing people in law enforcement did not get you kicked off the jury pool. If you actually worked in law enforcemwnt you were dismissed.

If you vote then you are expected to perform this duty, its like serving in the military.

After reading o about 5 posts I decided I would post.  So if some one else said what I am about to say sorry.  

You need to atleast call them and find out if you need to be there.  It is your responcablitiy as a US citizen to do at least that.  I think we should hold our selves better than others.  We protest that we hold the constitution(dont know how to spell) sacred and part of that constitution protects the rights of those accused of a crime to be jugded by their peers.

When you are selected for jury duty you are one of their peers.  If you hold the constitution as it should be held then you have no choice but to atleast see if you must show up.  If not it only goes to show your lack of resolve and only points to you as being a hypocrit by saying you belive in the constitution and yet you will not abide by it.

Sorry for the harsh wording but I aint gonna sweeten it up.
[sniper]

Jury duty sucks, big time.  I got out of it by dressing weirdly.  I had a neat but strange tee shirt on.  Pants that were clean, neat, but didn't match the shirt.  And odd weird looking tennis shoes.  The defense attorney took one look at me and I was gone.  Jury duty is absolutely nothing which you want to become involved in.  Avoid it at all cost.  They treat the jurors only a tiny bit better then the criminals; you're locked up all the time in these tiny rooms - you can't eat, or go to the bathroom except when the judge says you can.  It's truly awful.  Don't do it!!

I got out of it by telling the lawyer I wouldn't be awarding any money to his client.

Needless to say, I was one of the first to be kicked out of the box.  Along with most of the landlords.

Classic landlord/ renter case.

Sore loser renter wanted money for emotional distress.

He sure looked like a big boy.  Guess looks can be deceiving.  I know, sue everyone who hurts your poor feelings.

i agree rifles4me, if you hold one part of the constitution sacred (as i assume most people here do, ie the second amendment) you cannot simply say that jury duty is "a waste of time, f*ck it" because you have better things to do.  When it comes to knee surgery or other extenuating circumstances fine...but if/when i get the summons in the mail, i'll be at the courthouse.  you guys always hear about crummy verdicts on the news?  well...make sure you serve on jury, and yours won't be one of those verdicts.  -marty

The jury exists to decide which party has the better lawyer(s).

The appeals court eXists because juries always make mistakes.

Falling for faked emotions and such.  These tobacco suits are really amazing.

That $3,000,000,000 award immediately comes to ming.  Since cut down to $100,000,000.  Phillip Morris has been granted a new trial.

In the end, I think the appeals court really decides the case.

M posts!

[<]:)][beer][bouce]

I can finally go to [sleep] now!

I went when summoned, out of a sense of civic duty.
Expect to be bored out of your mind and angry at how wasteful the system is. Then be prepared to sit back and be stunned by some of the comments, convoluted reasoning and logic (not!) displayed by a jury of your peers.
I now know why O.J. went free.

One of the reasons it's important to attend when selected for jury duty:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Road Blocks Part II

Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org

August 10, 2001


Virginia freedom activist Abby Newman, who was stopped for no reason at all 11 months ago at a random road check, has a trial date of Thursday, August 16.

Sheriff Richard Mack, GOA's Director of Public Affairs, is coming in to testify at the trial.

Mack will also be holding a seminar for the public on the Constitution on Friday evening. Contact Thomas Hope via e-mail at [email protected] for details.

The jury will be impaneled beginning at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning. The trial should follow immediately afterwards. The proceedings will take place in the Court House on East Court Street in Rocky Mount.

For those interested in handing out fully informed jury information (that is, juries are supposed to judge both the facts and the law of the case) to people entering the courthouse, contact Thomas Hope. He will be outside the Rocky Mount courthouse before the trial for this purpose. He has red hair, so he should be easy to spot.

The arresting officer was upset because Newman refused to identify herself -- even though she was acting within her rights. The officer was also upset about the ammunition that he found in her vehicle. The video in the trooper's car recorded him talking with another trooper about whether she could be arrested for having patriot literature such as the U.S. Constitution that she had in her
car.

The officer decided that Newman should be arrested for obstructing justice -- i.e., refusing to "show her papers."

Messages of support for Newman are being faxed to Judge William Alexander at 540-483-3042.

Newman's case raises many key issues regarding first, second, fourth and fifth amendment issues. If Newman prevails, we will have won a skirmish in the war to preserve our individual rights protected by
the U.S. Bill of Rights.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Could be boring but it is an educational experience .
Got called last Thursday (my 2nd criminal case), selected for the panel on Friday. Served on the panel Monday and Tuesday. The case was for "sexual battery", since this is a misdemeanor we couldn't figure out why it came to trial 3 years AFTER the crime was committed
Time required for deliberation: 5 minutes.
The defence was extremely sore.
Evidence by the victim and police officer was good. Defence tried to create confusion by capitalizing on the minor differences between testimonies. Only doing their job.

Regards

ACK

What to expect from jury duty?  Extreme boredom and bad coffee.

my apologies to dragracerart
i didnt know you REALLY had surgery, the way i read it it sounded like something you just said (lie) to get out of it.
obviously surgery is a serious thing, and IMO would be reason to at least postpone the jury service. my reason for responding to your post was to inform others that some counties will not accept most excuses (even medical ones) without some burden of proof. heck la county wants a copy of your DEATH CERTIFICATE if your dead and requested for jury service.

and i also agree that the measly few bucks they pay jurors is not enough to support a family, or even the family dog.
again im sorry things came out the wrong way

Jurors are always suckered by faked emotions, crying witnesses and all that other BS.

So a case will never end up in appeals court because of a suckered mistaken jury?

Are these the only two conditions that will send a case to appeals court?



If I am wrong, then where does the case end up when the jury was found to be suckered and fooled into making the wrong decision?

Drop it and request a new trial?

Who decides whether to grant the new trial?

I always do jury duty.  Everytime I serve as a juror, I always learn something of the legal system, granted system is not perfect, but nevertheless, this is what we have to work with.  Otherwise, do we have trial by fire, etc?  I lot of us say this or that is unconstitutional, but here is a direct way for us to participate, like voting if everyone don't participate, it ain't gonna work.  Here in CAlif, they are making judges & laywers serve on jury duty it is very hard to get out out of.

As a former Marine MP and now criminal justice major, should I ever get called, I will walk in with with a clean "high and tight" haircut, polo shirt, belt and dockers.  In hand will be shotgun news, my criminal justice course books, Jeff Cooper publications, and Holy Bible.  Should my beliefs in absolutism and finding the truth in a Post modernistic world conflict with what they want at the time, then at least I gave them the honest me.

To all of you that said f the system, how fu*(^&^*()^*( dare you call yourselves American? It is your duty to participate in this endevour. $6 per diem? so what. You bitch about jury awards and judicial activism yet won't involve yourselves in the process to undo the system. The jury by peers is  a fundamental right in  this country and I would like to know that the people in the box were not all Al Gore give me my pills for free so I never have to die retirees. I would want some patriotic, gun loving conservatives in the box to aquit me (if justified) for using my evil hand gun (WALTHER P99 in 40) to blow the f)(&$er away who decided to invade my house at 4:30 am. But like all of the fat, bloated soccor moms driving SUV's that you guys bought for them, you are just too important to have to dedicate some time to "the system." Probably why it is a felony to think about guns in CA because LA'ers were too busy being important to vote.

I had no idea that this post would generate this much traffic.

You guys offered some truly excellent comments on the subject.  I'm now looking forward to serve, and I'm hoping that I actually get seated and not excused.

It is a stressful and wonderful feeling to serve on a jury.  I still remember a lot of the cases that I served on.  Most of the cases that I sat on were minor criminal offenses, ie shop lifting etc.  My most memorable criminal case, I served on a jury that I was on put a drug dealer behind bars for life w/o parole because of this conviction, which was his 3rd strike, for possesion of crack cocaine with intent to distribute.  Up until this point, I have NEVER personally seen real crack cocaine.  During the trial I saw a nickel rock introduced as evidence.  If people serve on a jury, many times you can see why jury made such and such a decision.  It is because of the dry & technical jury instructions given by the judge that the news media leaves out in the news.

Do it for the children!

You're right about that, I do think the system sucks.  Too much room for error.

Someone else on this post mentioned professional jurors.