Posted by Baragona/MO on 7/14/10 9:22am
Msg #344873

Jury Duty....Great!

Yep, stuck in jury duty today. While it has been slow the past few days, I still hate having my entire day(s) blocked off. With my luck, I will get numerous calls and emails today asking if I can take last minute signings!

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/14/10 9:27am
Msg #344877

That is usually the case! Murphy's law.

Reply by SReis on 7/14/10 9:43am
Msg #344882

Seen self employed people get dismissed because it is considered such a financial hardship BUT I have also seen them refuse dismissal too. Depends on the case & the Judge.

Reply by CF on 7/14/10 9:44am
Msg #344884

I had jury duty about 3 months ago and lost 4 orders during it. All for $31.00....I think that was the payout. So annoying!!!!! Only one good client called me during the time and left me a message and held the order for me...so I did manage to save one. I even put on my outgoing message that I would be in jury duty. They don't care...on to the next!!!

Reply by MichiganAl on 7/14/10 9:49am
Msg #344886

Back in February, I was stuck in jury duty for 4 days. It would have been one of my busiest weeks of the year. It figures. Three days of deliberation with 11 of us all voting guilty and one stupid engineer who was getting completely bogged down on the most ridiculous details. Hmmm, sound familiar?

Reply by Yoli/CA on 7/14/10 10:26am
Msg #344891

That's why it's nice to have a notary buddy. James and I have a pre-planned system.

ie: When he knows he'll be unavailable, he lets me know he'll be referring his calls to me. He has a company that calls him often so he lets them know in advance to call me for whichever dates he'll be gone. We each negotiate our own fees.

Yes, we're competitors but can still be friends.

Reply by James Dawson on 7/14/10 10:45am
Msg #344895

I'm going out of town this weekend and everybody in my SS world already knows to call Yoli for the coming Fri thru Mon....

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 7/14/10 2:27pm
Msg #344945

It can be rewarding...

I was on a trial last year... jury duty for weeks!

While I was there, I was actually asked to give an oath in judge's chambers, which was cool. The judge knew I was a Notary and we were on a recess during the trial and couldn't leave the courthouse. It was an interesting experience.

Even more so is that I was so upset about the way our trial ended (hung jury on most counts because of 2 people with some clearly stated racial issues) I still followed the case, and the guy was finally convicted on all counts. (He held his girlfriend and newborn baby hostage, with a gun, overnight)

His sentencing is next week, and 3 of the jurors from last year (myself included) are going to be there. This dude needs to be in prison for the rest of his life. It's his third strike... his first two were for similar issues -- domestic violence with the mother of one of his children. (He has 7 kids with 6 different mothers)

I made a whopping $105 for it... but it was such an interesting process... I would do it again in a heart beat.

Reply by James Dawson on 7/14/10 2:45pm
Msg #344946

Re: It can be rewarding...

I was on a jury once for three weeks, Bank robbery and carjacking. I was the foreman and had allergies so bad the judge wanted to dismiss me because I had to keep leaving the jury box to sneeze and whatever. Anyway the D.A. and defendant's atty both insisted I stay. After the trial, they both told me that they wanted me on the jury because they knew whatever way I went, so would the rest of the jury. LOL

Reply by Susan Fischer on 7/14/10 11:15pm
Msg #344986

On a jury some years ago, there was a guy, James, who

thought he could "run the jury." He spoke right up and nominated himself.

I'm a strong person too, but not physically intimidating, and nominated a mature woman whom I noticed paid careful attention and took notes.

She was a splendid foreman.

In the end, it was a unanimous verdict, and the imput from *every* juror was carefully, and purposefully discussed and evaluated. The Big Guy got to speak his mind, but not bully.

It wasn't a one-man show for either the defense or the prosecution, it was a collective deliberation of the facts, the law, the evidence and testimony, and the instructions.

The meager recompence is for simple inconvenience, and not meant to take the place of lost income. In most businesses, it's paid leave, or vacation-time, or whatever. I believe, and I felt it to the core of my being, that it was my duty to serve as a member of our jury system. Sure, I lost money. But it was a small price to pay for the right to a jury in our judicial system.

I was on trial once, and the judge chatted at length with the jurors after the verdict, asking them if they would talk about the experience. Each had a different element to add to the basic thread that ran through each of their contributions - that it was the hardest thing they had done in a long, long time - some - ever.

I was overtaken with pride for my country, and, our Judicial System.

There have been many high-profile cases where I felt the jury was, truly, not one of anyone's peers - our system isn't perfect. But locally, where most justice is metted out, it works because citizens are willing to step up and make the system work.

$12 for showing up, as in one poster's post, was more in the bank than what s/he woke up with - so not a total loss - and the American Pride of participating in our country's judicial system - which, I submit, is priceless.

Reply by James Dawson on 7/15/10 8:09am
Msg #345001

Re: On a jury some years ago, there was a guy, James, who

I read this as if I intimidated the jury but hopefully I'm wrong. They felt I had the key because I paid attention and asked questions. In the jury run, very organized. Every hour, each person had two minutes to speak their peace then 30 minutes of round table discussion. It was orderly and productive.

Reply by Baragona/MO on 7/14/10 4:18pm
Msg #344954

Re: It can be rewarding...

This was actually the 4th time in 12 years I have been called to jury duty. Like clockwork, it occurs every 3 years. Anyway, absolutely nobody, out of a pool of about 200, got called up today. At 3:30 they decided that they will send us home for good, so only had to do one day.

As I didn't receive any calls today (boo hoo), it was no harm, no foul. And today's income was $12...woo hoo!

Reply by anotaryinva on 7/14/10 6:19pm
Msg #344963

Re: It can be rewarding...

Yesterday my son had jury duty, federal court in Alexandria, last month he was called for our local county jury duty. He is 20 years old.
After calling every night for a week and an half, he finally had to go in.
He didn't get called after the 3rd go round but was looking forward to it. The Fed's pay $40 plus 50 cents per mile (we are 34 miles away). It was an identity theft issue. Apparently the defense didn't like the way he looked, short marine crew cut. He told me that about 50 jurors showed up and about 15 didn't. The accused had an Hispanic name as did most if not all of the absent jurors. He told me there was one black (out of 50) and one Asian (out of 50). It made me think of the recent case in CA where people said the man was not judged by his peers. Maybe his peers didn't show up.

Reply by James Dawson on 7/14/10 10:33pm
Msg #344979

Re: It can be rewarding...

It's actually kind of difficult to find a black male that hasn't had a altercation with a police officer or hasn't been arrested, You will not be subpoenaed to show up for jury duty if that has happened. And as somebody pointed out earlier, it's impartial jury NOT jury of peers.