Thread: Jury Duty

I've been in three or four jury pools so far. I have yet to actually be a part of a jury though.

Not sure how they do it in other states but here in Michigan you get informed that you could be called up for jury duty. They give you a number and you are supposed to call it every week to see if they need you at the courthouse that week. If your number comes up you have to show up at the courthouse in the morning to be a part of the jury pool. From that pool of roughly 60 or so people, they randomly select 14 people to sit on the jury. And then the lawyers get to question you to see if they want you there or not. I forget what it's called, but each lawyer (defense and prosecutor) gets to remove a set number of jurors. My number has been called three times to be on the jury, but I always get removed by the lawyers. Not sure why.

Well, one time I was removed I know why. The case was a guy that was facing charges because he had a hand gun in his car (and a giant hunting knife) and he was without a license and a felon... No idea why this guy was fighting the charge, he claimed both items were not his and he did not know that they were in the vehicle. The defense lawyer asked us all if any of us were related to a police officer or friends with one. I raised my hand. He asked me, "related or friends?" I said both. Then he said, "The nature of this case pits my clients testimony versus the testimony of these three police officers. Do you think you would be able to set aside your personal beliefs and feelings in this case in order to weigh the testimony of my client in the same manor as you would these three police officers?" I thought to myself... nope. So I said, "Honestly sir, no". He said "Thank you for your honestly, you are dismissed". So I left.

SEJ300

I have never been called or even put in a pool. My wife on the other hand gets pooled or called all the time. She actually did on murder trial when we lived in Savannah, Ga. The guy shot his wife through the floor of his home while she was down stairs in the kitchen right throught he top of her head. He claimed it was accidental, but the evidence proved other wise.

edited for spelling

Originally Posted by Tractorpull

Last time I got called up for jury duty the case was resolved that morning. So I had taken off of work and went to the courthouse, then saw I could go home. So I went home and hung out all day.

Same here. I've been called twice. The first was when I was in college, so could get out of it. The second was around october of last year. A manslaughter case, DWI. I don't remember all the details because he settled/plea'd that morning. We checked in, then sat around for like 2 hours doing nothing (left my cell phone in the car, so I mean Noooooothing), before the judge actually came out in the hall (which never happens) and apologized to us for the wait. We waited another hour or so before she called the entire pool into the courtroom and told us he settled and we were dismissed.


She then noted that it was only 1130, it was 72 degrees outside, and the excuse from work (whatever the technical term is) was written for the whole day...

Nice judge

I'm a part time student, so I always use that as a out. I have never had to serve on a jury yet. :9

I used to work for a law firm and got to sit through an entire trial. This way 5 years ago, so the details are a little fuzzy to me, but as I remember, a piece of safety equipment failed in some kawasaki plant and 3 guys got burned, 1 had burns over 90% of his body and survived. The voir dire was probably the coolest part of the trial, watching the lawyers try and pick the most sympathetic or apathetic people for the trial. The gentleman that got burned badly was in his mid-30s, married, with 2 children. So the prosecution tried to get all the housewives and women on the panel, meanwhile the defense tried to get rid of them.

I always thought it was funny how much the attorneys try and play off of the potential jurors emotions during voir dire: not going for the people most apt to rule on technicalities of a case, but those most apt to rule by emotion.