So...Jury Service

[Left Seater]

Recently I received a summons for Jury duty. I have deferred this a few times previously and was out of deferrals. So I cleared my schedule and showed up to the Bexar County Courthouse on Monday March 9th at 8:00am. Got there a few minutes early and followed the orders and sat in a huge room with 750 of my fellow citizens. The notice said be there by 8:00am sharp or risk having to come back another time. 8:00am and nothing from anyone in charge. 8:15, 8:30, 8:45 still crickets. By 9:00am people are getting pissy and the murmur in the room has grown to a level just short of a night club. 9:15am a sheriff's deputy walks in and tries to get everyone's attention. This take a few minutes and then he has us all rise for a judge who walks in. He proceeds to give us a government lesson for 30 minutes and tries to crack a few jokes that fall flat, people ain't having it at this point. The judge moves over to a side room to hear excuses. 30% of the room gets in line. 29.9999% of the room comes back looking pissed off.

Somewhere are 9:45am he is done and a staffer takes the mic and tells us we have 20 minutes before we all need to get back in this room for the first round of call outs to specific courts. Unfortunately I am a first round draft pick and have to go line up in a hallway. We are placed in a line in the order that the computer randomly generated the list. My place in the line of 46 people is 37. I am feeling pretty good on my chances to be released. Quick note on how Juries are selected in Texas. A computer randomly generates a list of names from those who checked in that morning for jury duty. This list of citizens is then sent to a specific court as per the directions of the judge in that court. The judge and then the state and the defense ask the potential jurors questions and some are removed for cause and then the attorneys have their own strikes they can use for any reason. When this is done the court starts from potential juror # 1 and goes down the line in numerical order until they have the 6, 8 or 12 jurors needed plus any alternates. This is why I am feeling confident with my number 37.

So the full 46 of us get to the court room and wait outside for 25 mins as pre-trial crap is happening. Then we are called into the courtroom and we take a seat in numerical order. The judge welcomes us and then gives us a 2 hour lunch break and says to be back outside the courtroom at 1:30. Lots of grumbling and we head out. I go to the office and who knows what everyone else does. 1:30 finds me back outside the courtroom. At 2:10pm we are allowed back in the courtroom. The State's attorneys and the defense and defendant are sitting at their tables facing us. The Judge explains what is going to happen and then asks some background questions. The first is "have you ever been a victim of domestic violence or sexual abuse." A few hands go up including one male. The judge then makes a statement that if anyone is raising their hand just to get out of service that there will be follow up questions and she can hold people in contempt. All the hands stay up. Lawyers write potential juror numbers down. Many other questions follow and the lawyers ask specific questions of certain potential jurors. None of the specific questions are directed at me. After two hours the judge calls a break and lets us know that when we return she will hear individual pleas to be released from jury service due to a hardship. Everyone wants to talk to the judge on this. So when we come back it is another hour of us waiting outside the courtroom for the judge to hear hardship pleas. They call us all back in and it looks like we are about 5 potential jurors short. The judge tells us the lawyers are now going to select 8 of us from the remaining potential jurors. We are dismissed until 6:45pm, which is about an hour and 15 minutes. I go find a place for a quick drink and snack and return. At 7:20pm we are led back into the courtroom and the jury is seated. My number was the last one called. Fuck!

So everyone else gets to leave and has a 3 year pass on this process. I am given instructions along with the rest of my fellow jurors and then we are shown our jury room. We are told to show up the next day at 1:30pm in the jury room.

The next day I am there along with my fellow jurors. The jury room is nice with bathrooms just for us. A TV with full on cable lineup, minus local channels, a DVD player, a CD player, a computer without internet access, Netflix, and other stuff. It has a full size refrigerator and a Keurig for coffee and tea. The fridge is stocked with sodas and water. We each also have a locker that we can put personal items in when we leave the room. There is some small talk but everyone just wants to get this trial underway. Finally we are shown to the courtroom and the trial begins. This is when we find out that it is a domestic violence case and being tried without the victim as a party to the charges. She didn't want to press charges and the State went forward anyway.

Over the course of the three days of the trial we see a lot of disturbing photos, body cam footage from police, video from the ambulance, video from the hospital and some security cam video from the outside of the apt complex. The defense attorney tried to get us to believe that the victim fell down the stairs. He also never offered up any ideas as to why his client wasn't the one to call 911 or why his client wasn't at the scene when police and EMS arrived. Instead he had us looking at all sorts of things that didn't matter. For example, the victim said she got home at 4:30am (she was a bartender) and that she didn't remember much after that. We know the police were dispatched at 5:41am. We know EMS was called at 6:12am. We know the victim got to the hospital at 7:01am. The defense attorney on cross of one of the police officers got deep into the weeds on the time shown on the officers body cam. It showed 13:00:00Z. He wanted us to believe that we couldn't believe any of the video or police timing since the body cam showed a different time. He worked the officer over regarding the time and the office stated he can't set the time on the body cam. Most of us jurors tuned out. When the State came back up on redirect they asked the officer if he was familiar with Greenwich mean time and the reference to Zulu time. He said he wasn't really but had heard of it. The state introduced evidence showing what time it was in Greenwich and what time it was in Texas and the difference in hours matched up exactly. The minutes matched all along.

The strange part of the case was the victim. She was called by the State and claimed she could remember nothing about the night and that she didn't want anyone to get in trouble. She couldn't remember anything on the questions the State asked. However, on cross she suddenly remembered two questions the defense asked, but then couldn't remember again on redirect from the State. None of us believed her it turned out.

We deliberated for about 4 hours and found the defendant guilty. We then had to also listen to the lawyers and witnesses for sentencing. This didn't take us much time at all. We went with what the State asked and gave the maximum jail time and fine, but allowed for it to be waived as long as the defendant paid restitution for the victims medical expenses and missed work hours and completed all the terms of a probation that the judge set. There wasn't any community service, but there was anger management courses, parenting courses, money management courses, among others. There was also a no contact order with the victim for the 4 year term of the probation. If the defendant violates any part of the probation the judge will order jail time to be determined by her up to potentially 2 years. (First time offender.)

Now that this is over, I can't un-see the photos and the videos. I have been laying in bed the last few nights and can't get that stuff out of my head. It is disturbing and I don't understand how someone can do that to another human, much less one they claim to have loved.

Anywho, I am back. What did I miss in the world the last 10 days?

[Wolfman]

Nice. I got called once up in CNY. Sat for a day with others, but never got to trial. Down here as soon as I hit 70--signed up for the opt out.

[Screw_Michigan]

Oh man, Lefty's story would have made a great PET. I'm kidding.

I was on a jury in 2014 here in DC. It was drugs. A suspect was alleged to be selling on a corner in NE DC, cops tried to stop him, he ran and got rid of his shit and allegedly also got rid of a gun that was recovered. We voted to acquit, though I'm sure in a conservative district he would have been convicted. It was a real eye opening experience, and I didn't even have to see really gory stuff like a domestic violence incident or a murder.

What really stood out to me is how jury deliberations basically break down after 1-2 days tops. People start getting tired of each other, they get crabby, they stop being PC and start being real. At that point, you want more than anything to escape your jury partners and you are willing to cut any deal to reach a verdict and move the fuck on with your lives.

I guess that's by design. DC seems to make everyone trot themselves in for jury selection every two years but I have not been notified since 2014.

[Innocent Bystander]

The defendant's pregnant girlfriend was ejected from the SUV. Her lifeless body ended up coming to rest about 75 yards beyond the stopping point of the wrecked SUV. Her unborn child of 6 months was also killed. ...
No one is going to say nothing of value was lost?
How are you ejected from an SUV if you're belted in?
The defendant suffered very minor injuries.
Was he wearing a seat belt?
Prior to the accident, he had been fleeing from a sheriff's deputy, who had tried to stop him due to an equipment violation...He estimated it was about 85 mph (big fucking deal). After he testified, the State re-opened its case and called another witness, who showed photographs from the crash scene indicating that it was littered with bags of weed...
Weed isn't legal in Florida?
After the trial, I looked him up online and found that he has been in jail a lot in the past. We were not around when he was sentenced, and were not asked to provide a recommendation.
Why would they allow an attorney on this guy's jury?
The jury deliberated about three hours too.

[Innocent Bystander]

What really stood out to me is how jury deliberations basically break down after 1-2 days tops. People start getting tired of each other, they get crabby, they stop being PC and start being real. At that point, you want more than anything to escape your jury partners and you are willing to cut any deal to reach a verdict and move the fuck on with your lives.

Apparently you didn't listen to the jury instructions (i.e., the law), and/or you lack the stones to stand up for what you think is right.

Counterpoint: Prosecutors don't give a fuck about the law, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for Project: Innocence.

Counter-counterpoint: you have a point, and that point is how Mike Tyson was convicted for a rape he didn't commit. Can't be too hard on folks, unless have been in that situation, though.

[Innocent Bystander]

Now that this is over, I can't un-see the photos and the videos. I have been laying in bed the last few nights and can't get that stuff out of my head. It is disturbing and I don't understand how someone can do that to another human, much less one they claim to have loved.

She's a grown woman, not a child, and didn't want charges pressed because she's going back to him.

She perjured herself multiple times. Fuck her. Maybe the next go round, he can pull a rollover and eject her from a rented SUV like in 88"s story.

[The Big Pickle]

Jury duty is for losers!


Whenever I get called in for Jury Duty I tell them that I don't need to hear facts because I can
just look at a person and tell if they are guilty.


They always say "Thanks for coming but we won't be needing your services today"

[Kierland]

Now that this is over, I can't un-see the photos and the videos. I have been laying in bed the last few nights and can't get that stuff out of my head. It is disturbing and I don't understand how someone can do that to another human, much less one they claim to have loved.

Try seeing thousands of pics from hundreds of murders.

[Kierland]

I guess that's by design.

Yeah, no. Juries used to be the people who gave the evidence to the judge when he came to town. After a while they were told to shut up and listen, so on second thought maybe it was by design.

[Kierland]

What really stood out to me is how jury deliberations basically break down after 1-2 days tops. People start getting tired of each other, they get crabby, they stop being PC and start being real. At that point, you want more than anything to escape your jury partners and you are willing to cut any deal to reach a verdict and move the fuck on with your lives.

Apparently you didn't listen to the jury instructions (i.e., the law), and/or you lack the stones to stand up for what you think is right.

Ha you are funny. Let me guess, you have never interviewed a juror after a trial.

[Kierland]

Probably. Criminal juries often have to bargain to get the State what they know it wants. Make the cops and the DA and the judge happy. Civil not so much. They might pick a side but they are rarely emotionally invested in the outcome so bargaining is not really needed.

That and civil often has bargaining built in. They can give and take in the verdict vs the damages.
One side “wins” and gets one dollar.
Almost no one is found guilty of murder and given a day in jail. And the jury knows this even if they are told not to think about the sentence. So they bargain on the charge. Maybe give him manslaughter. Or shift a robbery to a theft.

[Left Seater]

I was surprised the lawyers got to meet with the members of the Jury after the trial. But whatever, I gave feedback to both sides.

[Left Seater]

The lawyers were waiting for us when we exited the Jury room. I don't have any issue with it, was just surprised is all.

No way was I going to talk to any press.

[mvscal]

Recently I received a summons for Jury duty.

[Screw_Michigan]

What really stood out to me is how jury deliberations basically break down after 1-2 days tops. People start getting tired of each other, they get crabby, they stop being PC and start being real. At that point, you want more than anything to escape your jury partners and you are willing to cut any deal to reach a verdict and move the fuck on with your lives.

Apparently you didn't listen to the jury instructions (i.e., the law), and/or you lack the stones to stand up for what you think is right.

Lol, fuck you. You weren't in my jury, were you? You wouldn't last five minutes in an urban jury like in DC.

[EAP]

What really stood out to me is how jury deliberations basically break down after 1-2 days tops. People start getting tired of each other, they get crabby, they stop being PC and start being real. At that point, you want more than anything to escape your jury partners and you are willing to cut any deal to reach a verdict and move the fuck on with your lives.

Apparently you didn't listen to the jury instructions (i.e., the law), and/or you lack the stones to stand up for what you think is right.

Lol, fuck you. You weren't in my jury, were you? You wouldn't last five minutes in an urban jury like in DC.

Screw.
The OJ Simpson jury was an urban jury.
He was supposed to have a jury of his peers, which would've been back in Brentwood with the people he hung with most of his life, blonde hair and blue eyed affluent peers.
Instead, they assembled a low IQ "urban jury" of the people he shunned and despised most of his life.

Ironic, don't ya think?

[Mikey]

I had a jury summons for the local California Superior Court in Vista for March 16. You are given a window of two weeks prior to two weeks after to report. Since we had a big crunch at work that ended on March 17 I decided that I would report next week. Got an announcement on Monday, though, that all jury trials are cancelled for now and anybody who has a reporting date before the end of the month is released.

Coincidentally, the wife was supposed to report to the Federal Court in downtown SD for jury duty next week. She's retired and almost 70, and really didn't want to go but was planning on taking public transportation to get down there, probably an hour and a half each way. She was trying to get out of it because she's in the old age vulnerable group for Covid-19, but they wouldn't let her off because she's not 70 yet (she will be in Sept). Those trials also got cancelled on Monday.

I served on a jury a few years ago for a guy charged with DUI. He was obviously guilty as hell but we let him off because the DA completely fucked up the case. He was found passed out drunk, in his car with the door open on the side of the road at like 1 a.m. on Pacific Coast Highway. Problem was that they didn't actually catch him driving. His story was that his ex-gf drove him there after he called her for a ride and got pissed off and left him in the car. She corroborated the story but was not all that believable. The other problem was that the prosecutor couldn't even get the relative locations of the bar, the gf house, the perp's house and the bar straight. Anybody who had any knowledge of the local area would know that he had no idea.

[Left Seater]

Screwy, define your urban jury.

Where else besides DC can we find urban juries? For the record I was one of two “white” jurors on my jury.

[Screw_Michigan]

Screwy, define your urban jury.

Where else besides DC can we find urban juries? For the record I was one of two “white” jurors on my jury.

Bmore

[Left Seater]

You are walking a pretty racist line here. Please define this urban jury.

[EAP]

You are walking a pretty racist line here. Please define this urban jury.

Ok.
According to the law, OJ Simpson should've had a jury of his peers.
His peers were the affluent citizens of Brentwood.
Correct?
Yet the venue was moved to urban LA. Where he didn't get a jury of his peers.
He got an urban jury, which any objective observer who followed the trial, could tell, was low IQ.

That's a prime example.

[Left Seater]

Brentwood is in Los Angeles county. Does Los Angeles county have regional courts? Aren't all felony cases heard at the county courthouse?

If that is the case, how are you claiming the case was moved to LA? And since juries are usually pulled from a county wide sample how would this be an "urban" jury?

[Kierland]

Every person who lives in LA county is urban except a few of those hicks in antelope valley and the north end of Santa Clarita valley.

[EAP]

Brentwood is in Los Angeles county. Does Los Angeles county have regional courts? Aren't all felony cases heard at the county courthouse?

If that is the case, how are you claiming the case was moved to LA? And since juries are usually pulled from a county wide sample how would this be an "urban" jury?

I guess you missed the irony.
All his life, OJ shunned his own.
He instead preferred the company of blonde blue eyed affluence. His peers.

What he got was the inner city folks he stayed away from.
Non-peers.

I thought he should've been fairly judged by his true peers.
Is that too much to ask?

[Kierland]

Yes,
Now STFU you Pollyanna cunt.

[Kierland]

Did two felony and three misdemeanor trials last year. You don’t really miss them. Trust me.

[Left Seater]

the world is round

Here we go again.

[Mikey]

the world is round

Here we go again.

A big, flat, round plate?

[Mikey]

Our current legal system cannot exist without citizens who serve as jurors. I realize that serving is a burden for most, so thank those of you who have done it.

For those who don't, well remember that the world is round, what goes around comes around. So don't be surprised when you find yourself one day as a party in a civil action, and then wondering why there aren't better and more educated jurors in your case.

I haven't tried a case since before Katrina, I miss doing them.

I've only been on a jury once and found it very interesting. I think it lasted two maybe three days.

I don't mind getting the summons and would actually welcome getting on another panel. Sort of a waste of time to go down there and note get selected. It's free time off work and, like I said, an interesting change of pace.

[Innocent Bystander]

I felt sorry for most of the plaintiffs. They had bad lawyers, who didn’t do their jobs well, and got shit-hammered for it at the end.

So... the plaintiffs, had legitimate cases, but the cases weren't presented well? What were the tale tell signs you were going to steamroll the plaintiff due to professional malpractice (ie what makes a bad attorney?)?

[mvscal]

[ (ie what makes a bad attorney?)?

Laziness.

[Kierland]

[ (ie what makes a bad attorney?)?

Laziness.

The words ADA or DA before their name. I have kicked their ass so many times only to have the judge or some sheeple jury bail them out. Being and attorney is easy, being an attorney on the wrong end of a rigged game is impossible.

[The Big Pickle]

[ (ie what makes a bad attorney?)?

Laziness.

The words ADA or DA before their name. I have kicked their ass so many times only to have the judge or some sheeple jury bail them out. Being and attorney is easy, being an attorney on the wrong end of a rigged game is impossible.

Even juries and judges HATE kierland....I'm not surprised.

You know you are a loser when even the Jury hates you!

Hey Kierland...instead of blaming it on the system, the judge, the jury, this message board...maybe you should look in the mirror.



This is YOU and YOU are NOT a LION!

[EAP]

Laziness.

The words ADA or DA before their name. I have kicked their ass so many times only to have the judge or some sheeple jury bail them out. Being and attorney is easy, being an attorney on the wrong end of a rigged game is impossible.

Even juries and judges HATE kierland....I'm not surprised.

You know you are a loser when even the Jury hates you!

Hey Kierland...instead of blaming it on the system, the judge, the jury, this message board...maybe you should look in the mirror.



This is YOU and YOU are NOT a LION!

That's a cute puuudy cat.