I'm stuck here on jury duty today. Some of us were selected to go to a courtroom, but we've been left in the jury room. Maybe they are settling; who knows we're very bored.

Have you been called? Was it anything interesting?

My one and only time I was called, I was put on a small jury for a stalking case. I have to admit, it was actually fascinating. The girl had a restraining order on the guy, but he refused to believe she didn't want to see him. He was completely ignoring the order.

The officer in charge of the case had the guy come in to her office at the police station. The discussion was filmed, and I got to see it all go down. She informed him that if he did not demonstrate that he understood the legal implications of the order, she would have to arrest him on the spot. He got belligerent, insisted the girl really did want to see him and that she was lying about not wanting to, and in the end, the officer ended up cuffing him because he kept saying the restraining order was BS.

He ended up doing a little time, and a lot of community service. The guy who was in charge of watching after us jurors brought us donuts and coffee.

[Mike_J]

Was on the jury both times I got called to show up. The first case was very interesting and only took one day, a drunk driving case. The other one was not fun, icky topic that I won't go into, took 3 days.

Twice. Once was a simple case but the other was awfully disturbing. We were stuck between court and a hotel room for days unable to talk to our loved ones. it was one of those sorts of subject matters that I went home, gathered my children close about me, cried, and thanked a god I rarely acknowledge for their safety. When I attended sentencing the next morning I discovered to my disgust that this man had already been found guilty of numerous other near identical crimes and that sentencing was unbelievably stayed until other pending trials were dealt with. Shudder. And this man was a teacher too.

[BleedTheFreak]

Once, and I didn't have to do anything. Called us in two days in a row, we sat on our asses, and they eventually told us there would be no case. At least I got paid to do nothing. Best of luck.

[splitimage]

I got called to be part of a jury pool, about 10 years ago. It was the most boring week of my life. We were all in a little room, which we weren't allowed to leave unless called to a courtroom for jury selection for a trial. I was never selected for a trial, so I'd just have to hang out. The only upside was they usually dismissed us at about 3 in the afternoon, and I didn't have to go into work afterwards, so I was able to enjoy some nice summer afternoons.

Hope I'm never called again.

splitimage

[Shazerac]

I did jury duty once. It was a triple murder with 3 brothers who were drug dealers and shot up a car with one their girl friends and her family in it. The picture of the car looked like something out of Bonny and Clyde. Quite shocking. It was all over jealousy. They killed the mother, father, and brother. The girlfriend survived but lost half her brain. She was in court and was barely more than a mental vegetable.

It was one of the most scary and interesting things I've done in my life. We were sequestered for a week. We found them all guilty of first degree murder. Then we had to decide about the death penalty. Now I actually know if I can decide whether or not to take another human being's life. I couldn't...and neither could 4 of the 12 jurors. It had to be a unanimous decision, so they got life in prison with no possibility of parole.

I got thrown out by the defense attorney, so I didn’t get to hear the case. I go back in tomorrow. They let me off today, so I just went into work.

Thanks for posting your stories.

[eskielover]

I did jury duty once when I lived in Calif. Mist if the time I was either in school getting my degree or in a job that was too demanding to allow for jury duty time.

When I moved here, first thing i gotwasva notice fir jury duty but being new to the state & living alone way out in the country & talked to them about my lack of feeling safe if someone in this small town would want to get even with jury members & there is a huge drug problem in the county. They saw my point & permanently waived me from jury duty. I do my civic volunteer work in many other useful ways that leave me in no possible threatenibg position.

The one trial I was jury on in Calif was a store theft with no injuries.

My mom (years ago when i was still in college) was on a murder case jury that happened locally. I actually sat in the back of the coutrtroom several days to know what she was going through. We didnt discuss or say anything about the case until it was over but my being there & seeing & hearing helped her process her experience after it was over which really was a help for her.

I have sat in on a lot of animal/horse abuse cases here in my county but none got tovthe point of being a jury trial. Our DA is a good lawyer. Small towns are so different from huge Los Angeles area i lived all my life....i know everyone here after 10 years. Still wouldnt feel safe being on a jury though.

[mugwort2]

I received several notices for jury duty Felt I couldn't participate due to my tics and mood disorder. Not saying you shouldn' t be part of jury duty Just saying what I think is right for me. As they say to each their own. Both my neuro and pdoc wrote separate letters to get me to never participate in a jury.

[~Christina]

I have Bipolar so I have been dismissed. Guess they figured I would screw things up lol

I actually work on the inside of this so I have been in control of many juries.

But I got called when I was just out of school and it was a one day thing. We got empaneled before lunch and at that time, the very handsome prosecutor had my vote. But when I heard the evidence... I voted for acquittal. I enjoyed it. Probably inspired my choice of profession.

I haven't been sat on a jury since I always get objected to. Due probably to where i work. I did however get to meet one of my personal heros at one of the jury selections. As he was the Judge.