Anyone with Jury Duty Stories?

[Casanova]

I dont know anyone who gets jury duty like I do.
One case, they ran out of challenges and HAD to take me.
The judge told them tough shit, this guy (me) is seated.
The case involved 3 Pismo Beach cops in big trouble for what the suspects said was brutality.
The cops lawyer was brilliant. He brought in hospital workers that testified that 5 or even 6 of them couldn't restrain 90 year old sick people. This was to contrast what the cops were up against.
Great defense.
The Cops walked.
I got interviewed this week by a lawyer representing a local rancher. I was on a jury a while back on a case of gang member families sueing him.
The gang members were killed by one of his Texas LongHorn bulls when they tried to ride the bull in a gang initiation ritual.
The bull killed them in seconds according to witnesses.
No one has more respect for bulls than me,, they're locomotives with hooves.
We (the jury) voted in favor of the rancher, but the families have now come back and are suing him again.
I was on a jury when I got out of the Marines.
The lawsuit involved several contestants in the Miss Teen USA Pagent that were run over while water skiing by an inexperienced boat operator when filming an infomertial for several sponsors of the show.
The producers used a studio stunt driver to operate the boat, not an experienced ski boat operator like they should have, and the stunt driver circled around when the girls fell and he ran them over.
He had no boating experience at all, much less hep to pulling skiers.
The girls got lots of $$$ but were pretty carved up. One lawyer entered into consideration a prosthetic hand wrapped in pink butcher paper that was now used by one of the girls..
Any other jury duty stories:

[gigamurph]

Gezzus! Nothin' like yours! I've sat on two juries (and those who know me can save their "gig on on
a jury? holy crap!" remarks) of which boring details I will spare you from! One was for a DUI and the other for evading and assault (the policeman tripped and fell while chasing the perp) of a police officer, grand theft auto (the perp was charged with boostin' a Moped at 8PM when he wasn't even released from jail until midnight that very night), and possesion of stolen property. Will have to say though; I get summoned for duty about every two years on average and I never skirt my duty! Sittin' in the jurors' room is where I get some of my best sleep; much to my fellow potential jurors' dismay! SNORER! 'nuff said! :D
Casanova; you're a good citizen for takin' your responsibilities seriously and servin'! Too many people view it as a pain in the a**, which it is, but is a necessary part of our attempt at disspensin' justice (see my comments under the "Green River Killer" thread).

[BGMAN203]

I keep postponing mine, I was suspost to serve like 2 years ago. They just keep extending it for me!!

[RiverRatMike]

I ditched it a while back and never got caught!

[Casanova]

I got on a real sleeper jury once. Brother it was confusing.
Catapillar Tractor makes a line of forklifts.
They had them priced so high their dealers couldn't move them.
Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai other makers courted the Catapillar dealers to pick up their lines at a fraction of what they were paying for cats so most the Catapillar dealers did.
Within months Catapillar was an unknown forklift maker. They sued everyone,, and man did they win big.
One thing that makes this country great is enforcement of contracts,, and Cat had a cut and dry, though sometimes confusing of who did what to who- case.
A lot of money in the forklift biz,, a lot.

[jboehm]

i was called for federal jury duty. when the defense attorney came around to me he asked me what it did for a living. i told him i was a student. then he asked me what my major was. i replied criminal justice and they all shook their heads " no, we don't want him". yep, i went home. the middle aged house wife who said all day that she would be picked was picked. something about that profile appeals to jury selectors. btw, this was a bank robbery.

[Boatcop]

I used to get called about once a year. I'd sit through the orientation video, listen to the bailiff, fill out the forms, etc. Usually wasted the whole morning until it came time for actual selection.
They'd go through one at a time, challenge here, accept there, until it came to me. Immediately excused. (I wonder why? :confused: :D )
This was common with peace officers. Usually wasted a whole day for naught. Earlier this year, the State passed a law that excuses peace officers if the submit a request to the Court Clerk. Saves the taxpayers money, since as County Employees, we are paid our normal salary for jury duty, and Cops are never selected for jury duty. Always struck by the defense, and in a small jurisdiction such as ours, we probably know facts of the case.
I'm kinda bummed over not serving. I'd make a really good juror. I can spot a guiilty f*&%er a mile away. :D ;)

[silver surfer]

Yeah, your post just reminded me I was a call in for last week! Oh shit..

[GlastronGuy]

Originally posted by Boatcop
...
I'm kinda bummed over not serving. I'd make a really good juror. I can spot a guiilty f*&%er a mile away. :D ;)
:D :cool:

[HCS]

Their all guilty of something or they wouldn't be there.
Right.:rolleyes:

[GlastronGuy]

Does anyone know if it's true that as a menber of a jury, you don't have to vote the law?
IE:
I am thinking about the guy up in Washington that shot the guy who was molesting his daughter. As long as he shot the right guy, I don't have a problem with that. No matter what the law says.

[Dr. Eagle]

Yeah, I was seated on a jury about 1 year ago. It was a real white trash assault with a deadly weapon with 2 enhancements. It was a very strange love triangle thing with three people.
The case took about 4 days to present. During the entire trial, the defendant wore the same shirt every day (that didn't matter, just an observation), had a smug smirk on his face and was passing notes back and forth with the Public Defender, and laughed repeatedly at testimony.
One guy was an ex con (Mr. 1) and the lady I think had like one or two teeth. She was living with the second guy (Mr. 2) and had become disenchanted with him and asked him to leave. He left overnight and Mr. 1 came over and spent the night. Well Mr. 2 came back in the morning and wanted in, broke the door down and stabbed Mr. 1, during a fight where Mr. 1 was defending himself from the alcoholic Mr. 2.
I got the job as the foreperson of the jury. I felt like I was herding cats. Some felt the guy was innocent, many others felt he was guilty. What pissed me off was there were two people that didn't give a crap and said basically "lets get this over with" everyone just vote to convict or aquit. I laid into them, and said this is a person we are talking about. This will effect him for the rest of his life if we don't do a thorough job and come to the most accurate conclusion possible.
We went through 7 days of deliberations in which two of us facilitated using a neutral position. We used up two flip chart tablets and had significant amounts of the testimony read back via the court reporter. We had pages from the flip charts all over the walls and analyzed the facts over and over.
Ultimately, there were several statements and facts where #2 hung himself by lying so clearly. This was ultimately what put the others over the line and we ended up convicting him of the felony and both enhancements.
The Public defender could not believe that he lost the case.

[Dr. Eagle]

Originally posted by GlastronGuy
Does anyone know if it's true that as a menber of a jury, you don't have to vote the law?
IE:
I am thinking about the guy up in Washington that shot the guy who was molesting his daughter. As long as he shot the right guy, I don't have a problem with that. No matter what the law says.
You cannot consider your personal feelings. You must analyze only the evidence presented and use the law and jury instructions that the judge gives you. So the answer is no...

[Havasu_Dreamin]

Originally posted by Casanova
The gang members were killed by one of his Texas LongHorn bulls when they tried to ride the bull in a gang initiation ritual.
The bull killed them in seconds according to witnesses.
No one has more respect for bulls than me,, they're locomotives with hooves.
We (the jury) voted in favor of the rancher, but the families have now come back and are suing him again.
F**K THEM! They don't deserve one penny! Those POS gang bangers learned that when you mess with bull, you get the horns, the hard way! Their family members are just a bunch of lowlife leeches!

[JustMVG]

I served as a juror on the Ennis Cosby murder, i got my summons and reported to court, they had us fill out a multi page questionnaire. Some of the questions were about Bill Cosby and television, and what were your feelings regarding police, did they always tell the truth and so on. We were told that our names would be kept from the Media, but they did give them info like what are occupations were and our addresses, more on that later. The court decided to have us, the jury, meet in a secret place, which just happened to be across the street from the courthouse, and van pool us to court. For lunches and breaks we were kept in an isolated part of the courthouse area, and served lunch. The day of the verdict we were told we could talk to the media in the hallway or we could just be taken back to our cars.
Most if not all of us went directly home, when i got home there were 2 news crews, one from KCAL9 and one from KNBC4. Both trying to get me to talk about the case. They had asked my neighbors all about me, which of course they told everything they knew, thanks alot. I got phone calls all that night and for the next week at least 2 or 3 calls to talk about the case.
It amazed me the things the media would do to be the first ones on their block to get the scoop. I am glad that i didn't go on the air or to the papers, and actually this is the first time i have even mentioned it in a public forum.
Anyway thats my jury duty story.

[fourspeednup]

Wow, that both sucks and blows:mad: