Called to jury duty

[jbuck919]

Yup, it's finally happened to me. Called to duty by Warren County NY for a week starting next Tuesday (whether that means Tue-Fri or Tue-Mon I have no idea). Don't know what it will involve except that it is specified as trial (as opposed to grand) jury. Have to call in Monday night after 5:00 to get my orders. I've observed trials before and the worst I am anticipating is being bored silly by the details of some civil lawsuit. But we shall see.

[rwetmore]

Maybe you'll get lucky and you won't have to go when you call.

[John F]

I'm kind of disappointed never to have served on a jury - "Twelve Angry Men" and all that. I was called once, arrived at the courthouse, was told I wasn't needed not just that day but at all and that the soonest I'd be called again would be 3 years (hasn't happened yet), and went home.

[Agnes Selby]

Good luck! You never know, it might be interesting!!!!

Regards,
Agnes.

[Ricordanza]

I've been called a few times and actually served on a jury about 15 years ago. It was a three-day civil trial--a personal injury case. I found it very interesting, but I am a lawyer, so I realize that it might be less interesting to others.

[lennygoran]

Have to call in Monday night after 5:00 to get my orders.

I was in that same situation in my Warren County the fall of 2012--every day I went to the internet at 5PM and was told I didn't have to report the following day-that happened until Thurs when I went to the site and told my jury duty was over!!!! Regards, Len


"All jurors in Group 4 for the Week of September 24, 2012, your services have been completed. You no longer need to check this message. The Judges and jury management staff would like to thank you for your time."

[rwetmore]

The last time I got the notice in the mail for jury duty was around 8 years ago. I submitted the official request to be excused and was fortunately granted it. About 5 years before that, I was called and went for a day, but the case was settled and we were sent home. I've been lucky.

[jbuck919]

I've been called a few times and actually served on a jury about 15 years ago. It was a three-day civil trial--a personal injury case. I found it very interesting, but I am a lawyer, so I realize that it might be less interesting to others.

I had no idea that you were a lawyer, Hank. (Are you sure you wanted to divulge that here? Remember what it got our former members Ralph, Pizza, and even Corlyss into. )

[Ricordanza]

I've been called a few times and actually served on a jury about 15 years ago. It was a three-day civil trial--a personal injury case. I found it very interesting, but I am a lawyer, so I realize that it might be less interesting to others.

I had no idea that you were a lawyer, Hank. (Are you sure you wanted to divulge that here? Remember what it got our former members Ralph, Pizza, and even Corlyss into. )

Thought I had mentioned that in previous posts. In any case, too late for regrets--the cat's out of the bag, the toothpaste is out of the tube, etc.

[lennygoran]

Remember what it got our former members Ralph, Pizza, and even Corlyss into. )

I joined pretty much after they were no longer around-I thought Ralph enjoyed helping with legal stuff? And who was Pizza? Regards, Len

[jbuck919]

Remember what it got our former members Ralph, Pizza, and even Corlyss into. )

I joined pretty much after they were no longer around-I thought Ralph enjoyed helping with legal stuff? And who was Pizza? Regards, Len

Ralph was a gold mine, and yes, he did enjoy talking about the law. (Didn't hurt that I almost always agreed with him, even if he was correcting one of my misconceptions.) Corlyss didn't talk about it too much. The law as such didn't figure in many of their political disagreements. Pizza was a cantankerous septuagenarian who was as far to the right as Corlyss and who disliked me. (He did like Ralph, though, even when they disagreed. Everybody liked Ralph.) He just stopped posting, and as far as I'm concerned it was good riddance. (Now watch him turn out to be a lurker, see this, and surprise me with a reply.)

[lennygoran]

Everybody liked Ralph.

So glad I got to meet him-he was at our table at the forum dinner you arranged-what a pleasure to get to talk to him! Regards, Len

[jbuck919]

I was excused after voir dire. I'm not sure, because the reasons are not divulged, but I think they sent all the teachers and parents of under-18 children home. Why would they do that? Because it was this case. Brace yourselves. (The trial is expected to last two weeks.)

http://poststar.com/news/blotter/man-fa ... 6a2aa.html

[Wallingford]

If you want a better chance at being dismissed early, fall asleep. That's what I did both times I served (was dismissed the first time, not the second).

[jbuck919]

If you want a better chance at being dismissed early, fall asleep. That's what I did both times I served (was dismissed the first time, not the second).

There are a dozen ways I could have been dismissed even before formal voir dire. They are called lying in ways that cannot be checked. For instance, I could have claimed that I couldn't stand the looks of the defendant (who was present) and that this would keep me from rendering a fair contribution to the verdict. That's actually half true (the first half), as I imagine it was for all the prospective jurors, and it would have gotten me out of there pronto. Remarkably, people know an inviolable duty when they must rise to it, and if they had kept me, I would have done the two weeks in a completely conscientious way. Lex super caput tuum et super caput meum. (The law is above your head and above mine.)

[Agnes Selby]

I am glad you don't have to sit there for 2 weeks.

Regards,
Agnes.

[jbuck919]

I am glad you don't have to sit there for 2 weeks.

Regards,
Agnes.

Thank you for the kind thought, Agnes. By a most remarkable coincidence, one of the other jurors in the primary pool was a former president of the Board of Trustees of the Stony Creek Free Library. (I am the current one.) She is still a huge library supporter and volunteer. I heard her name called for the first voir dire and I said to myself, "No, it can't be," but I looked around and there she was. In fact there were three people from this town of 750 in that first round of 21. Jill was also excused, apparently because she is both a teacher and the mother of two teenage children. On the way out, I quietly said to her, "Thank God."

[david johnson]

I, too, have been called a few times. I was excused once because the defendant was a distant cousin. Another time I made it into the box and we sent a child abuser/thug to the region of the damned. That one felt good.

[Ricordanza]

By a most remarkable coincidence, one of the other jurors in the primary pool was a former president of the Board of Trustees of the Stony Creek Free Library. (I am the current one.) She is still a huge library supporter and volunteer. I heard her name called for the first voir dire and I said to myself, "No, it can't be," but I looked around and there she was. In fact there were three people from this town of 750 in that first round of 21. Jill was also excused, apparently because she is both a teacher and the mother of two teenage children. On the way out, I quietly said to her, "Thank God."

That reminds me that one reason for being excluded from a jury is that you are friends with another jury member. The last time I was called, besides being asked whether I knew the lawyers or the parties or the witnesses, I was asked whether I knew any of the other potential jury members. I answered honestly that I did, since a long-time friend was also called up to the courtroom that day. That may have been one of the reasons I was excused.

The theory behind this disqualification is that during deliberations, you might be unduly influenced by a friend who is also a jury member.

[lennygoran]

John, glad you got excused-that guy they were trying was pretty scary looking! Len

[jbuck919]

Here is the outcome of the trial, which obviously lasted far less than the two weeks anticipated. The horror-story aspect is that the girl had to testify for 90 minutes including cross-examination, heaping trauma on trauma.

Judge John Hall, the county judge for criminal matters in New York's incredibly complicated judicial system (Maryland is much more straightforward), is a fair man and a good man. I have no doubt that he will give this offender the maximum sentence, guaranteeing that he will not see the light of freedom for decades if ever.

http://poststar.com/news/blotter/jury-d ... b4844.html