Jury Duty Stories

[papsrus]

Just got a summons for jury duty Aug. 18th in the mail today. I doubt they'll select me because I work for the local newspaper, even though it's in the sports department. I've never really understood the rationale for rejecting media people. Too informed? Biased? Got the inside dope? What's the beef?

I think a combination of too informed/inside dope probably. From what I've read, anyone who brings any insight or knowledge of the issues in contention would make it past the selection process.

You mean "wouldn't," yes? ... It would be interesting to know what one of those jury consultants thinks about the "ideal" juror.

[Jazzmoose]

Oops! Yes, I did indeed mean wouldn't; sorry!

[papsrus]

Oops! Yes, I did indeed mean wouldn't; sorry!

[Dan Gould]

I also served on a drunk driving case, where the appointed attorney convinced 7 jurors that the defendant wrecked his car while sober, called the police after failing to get anyone to tow him, then went across the street to a bar for a few beers while awaiting them. All because the office never touched the hood of the car to see if the engine was still warm, as the defendant claimed.

I'd love to hear more details about this case. Personally, I wouldn't be very open to what sounds like a ludicrous defense, unless there was a substantial time lag between the accident and when the cops managed to get there, and if he had witnesses to establish that he was one place, sober, had a wreck, then went inside to this bar and had a drink or two. If he was drinking for a couple of hours, and wrecked the car on the way home ...

I talked about the issue of reasonable doubt before, so I guess I can understand if the jury truly felt that the prosecution didn't prove its case, but in the situation I was confronted with, it at least partially boiled down to a question of "how stupid do you think we are?" and that really sounds like it should have been the response of your jury, too.

[Tim McG]

I served on a hit-and-run DUI case, an attempted murder case and [i swear to you, I am not making this up] a cattle rustling case.

We found the defendant guilty in all three cases.

[Jazzmoose]

So, do they hang rustlers in your parts?

[Tim McG]

So, do they hang rustlers in your parts?

No.

But they fined him $30,000 bucks and gave him 10 years in the State Penitentiary.

It was one strange case...like I stepped into a time warp of some kind. Guys with shit kickers on and a John Wayne drawl testified and we jurors heard everything there is to know about branding cattle in this state. Apparently, cattle wandered onto his property from neighboring cattle ranch operations and then he mated them with his own bulls. He sold the calves for a profit and/or branded them as his own livestock....then mated them again. The cycle continued. They did a DNA test to prove it.

It was 1890 all over again. YEE-Haw!

His defense was [and again, I swear I am not making this up] finders keepers, losers weepers.

No kidding.

Y'all.

Edited August 4, 2009 by GoodSpeak

[mellowT]

[...] The third time I was called, I was on an attempted first degree murder case. An ex-con was accused on shooting his girlfriend up the butt, causing horrendous injuries. She was the only one to testify, but the prosecution objected to the defense attorney's line of questioning, then stupidly asked for a mistrial (all of us would have ignored the claim of perjury against the victim, which was clearly bogus). As a result, double jeopardy took place and they were unable to retry him. [...]

I've never heard of a mistrial causing double jeopardy. Perhaps it matters how the mistrial was triggered. I know a mistrial is called when the jury can't decide the guilt or innocence of a defendant, but that doesn't mean the defendant gets to go free.

[papsrus]

I received some paperwork and a questionnaire in the mail today regarding my upcoming jury duty. All I will say is that it is a very high-profile case and, therefore, while I'm confident I could be an impartial juror, I doubt I will be selected, judging from the questionnaire.

I'll find out Aug. 18th. (no newspapers or laptops allowed in the jury room).