Any Good Jury Duty Stories?

Grand jury.. the cases brought before us, no words can describe how horrible humans can be to one another, let alone innocent children. That said, I just returned my second application in a year and 1/2 be on it again, surely they mixed their selection process, needless by law I completed it and returned it, lucky me. not.

I remember being called up years ago. I was questioned re: an arson trial and was not chosen. The lady sitting next to me wasn't chosen either......her husband was a fire fighter!

Nope. Once I was technically "on" a jury in my small college town, but the defendant didn't show up so the judge directed a verdict for the plaintiff. They didn't need us, but we sat there and watched the whole thing, anyway.

I've been immediately dismissed every time since. Nobody wants me on their jury.

I was summoned to jury duty years ago and was actually part of the Voir dire process. Out of 3 million + people living in Harris County Texas at the time, I knew the defendant LOL. It was a civil case. They asked if we knew either person and I raised my hand. The defendant looked at me, waived and I was dismissed. Easy Peasy.

Don't ask me how to get out of jury duty, I've gone in three times and was picked every single time. First two were county court cases, the last was in federal court. The federal case lasted three days, and I was the jury foreman, too.

The first county case was a building contractor suing an architect firm for nonpayment. The architect's argument seemed to be that the contractor was an *kitten* and a pain to work with, but that didn't change the fact that the work was completed, so he still needed to be paid.

Second county case was a DUI. The defendant blew over the limit, so that was pretty straightforward.

The federal case was a deaf lady suing a doctor for not accommodating her disability. He dropped her as a patient because her visits cost him money. We ended up ruling for the doctor. That one also ended up being straightforward because the ADA laws only applied to businesses that had more than X number of people (15, IIRC), and his office only had 3 employees. After the case was over, the judge told us that the plaintiff's attorneys have basically made a career of pursuing these kinds of cases and that they had another one scheduled for the following week.

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I've been summoned before but I showed up late and they kicked me out on the spot so I didn't have to do it.

My older brother got picked on a separate occasion but also got kicked out after the first day of deliberations. I knew one of the other jurors and got a few details from her after the fact and from what she said I don't know how he even got past the selection process in the first place. My brother is a very dark person. He seems to enjoy making people uncomfortable with his jokes and apparently he cracked one every chance he got.

According to my source, what got him kicked out was a joke about the deliberation room windows having bars to prevent the jurors from killing themselves. There was loads more but they're way too inappropriate to share and honestly make him seem like a terrible person which he's not.

kristikitter wrote: »

Had a gross historical paedophilia case... guy abusing his own stepdaughters, one was 9 when it started.

That's... uncomfortable.

I've been called several times but never chosen to be on a jury. One time they settled the case before selecting a jury, so we all got to go home without setting foot in the courtroom. Another couple of times (a murder trial where a guy in jail killed another inmate, and a guy got caught selling drugs in a park) I got as far as the questioning from the judge and attorneys and was dismissed, and another time the jury was chosen and I just wasn't picked (that one was for a jaywalking charge and the guy just wanted his day in court). It was all basically a lot of hurry up and wait, but it's very interesting to hear everyone's stories during the questions and answers part.

When I was on jury duty in NYC one of my fellow jurors was an actor on a soap opera (Guiding Light). I need watched the show, but when I mentioned his name to a few friends, they were impressed.

The case concerned a "buy and bust" drug deal. We ended in a hung jury. I should have known we wouldn't reach a verdict when we were asked to put in our sandwich orders at the beginning of the day (as we'd be deliberating through lunch) and everyone ordered turkey...except for one guy who ordered ham.

The only other time I was called for jury duty, a large group of us were brought into a room and told they were seeking people who would be able to sit on a trial that was expected to last for weeks or possibly months. It was some sort of organized crime case. I've read enough John Grisham novels to get myself excused from that one.