Just finished my first day of jury duty, ask me anything, except

[fleabert]

identifying details about the case, of course...

[merh]

1. Civil or criminal

:shrug:

[fleabert]

5. criminal, felony

[merh]

25. Have you been able to stay awake?

I think I would fall asleep just sitting there, especially if it was after a big lunch and if the room was cold.

[fleabert]

26. only a half day today, and we finished early.

i brought my knitting just in case, I hope it's an option because we obviously can't read or anything like that! I can listen and knit at the same time easily.

[merh]

27. You must promise me that you will come back and post

a thread when it is all over. I am dying to know how it goes and what goes on in a jury room! Good luck to you and thanks for doing your duty for all of us! :hi:

[fleabert]

39. I will!

I'll let you know next week if I got picked or am an alternate, and then when it's over, and I can speak freely, I will put up a big post all about it. I find it fascinating, and really hope I get to serve. I don't get it when people dread it, I can understand the money issue, but to just not want to serve, I don't get at all. Maybe I will after this, LOL!

:hi:

[merh]

41. They won't pick me

:cry: I work in the business and most lawyers around here know that I am pro-plaintiff and that I have worked for criminal defense lawyers.

They make me go through the process and then reject me :-(

I want to serve, I want to know what it is like in the jury room. :argh:

I'll watch for your posts!! :hi: thanks

[fleabert]

49. I am sure I am an unknown to the lawyers...

I have worked for a professional expert witness, but he worked for both plaintiff and defense attorneys. He was extremely honest and if his opinion differed with who was paying him, he said so. I am a liberal, but come from a very conservative background. I have many contradictory aspects to my life, that might make it very hard for an attorney to figure me out, or peg me one way or another. Unless they come on here and see how Trashy and Liberal I am!

[merh]

51. Well here's to the Trashy Liberal!

:toast: and to DU :toast:

I will watch for your threads. :hi:

[fleabert]

53. :cheers: to you and DU too!

:hug:

[sbj405]

2. Was there a verdict?

[fleabert]

8. oh no, still on voir dire...

I have to go back next week to find out if I got picked. I am hoping that I am, I have always wanted to serve.

[GOPisEvil]

3. What's the going rate for jurors out where you are?

Getting rich, are ya? ;)

[fleabert]

9. 15.00 p/day plus milage one way

and the first day is not paid, so I am yet to get anything!

[GOPisEvil]

12. Dammit, Janet! They need to cough up the dough!

:P

[fleabert]

13. one would think!

we should get paid that much per HOUR!

It's a duty and a priviledge, but I bet more people would be happy to serve if they could actually miss work and still pay their bills.

[GOPisEvil]

16. Thankfully, I get paid leave for jury duty.

I can't imagine missing work and not getting paid.

[yvr girl]

4. guilty or innocent?

c'mon, dish

[fleabert]

10. innocent until proven guilty!

just heard the charges read today, find out next week if I get picked or are an alternate. lotsa charges though.

[WI_DEM]

6. What did they serve you for lunch?

[fleabert]

11. n/a, started proceedings at 130pm, after lunch on our own.

[WI_DEM]

7. delete

posted same question twice.

[Ilsa]

14. Who's prosecuting? DA or ADA?

Might be an indicator of underlying importance of the case. (Hey that happened to my husband. He was on a criminal jury and when he told me the DA was prosecuting vs an ADA, I knew it was more than a simple knife fight. Turns out he was "Mexican Mafia" during penalty phase.)

[fleabert]

19. I think it's the DA...

we weren't given a lot of info today, only the charges and a lot of direction from the judge on asking to be excused. A guy pissed him off and he cut off the proceedings and sent everyone outside to fill out the voir dire forms and then go home.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. Maybe a dumb question

but do they make you take an oath to be impartial, or do they just ask you that? Did any of the prospective jurors volunteer excuses to get out of jury duty?

[fleabert]

20. We took an oath to be truthful, and then were asked about impartiality

Many Many potential jurors asked to be excused, students and people for whom serving would be a financial hardship were immediately let go. Many were not paid by their employers while serving. My butt stayed in my seat, I want to serve! It looks to be about a 3 week trial, by the judges estimate, starting next week.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

22. Does the court ever meet on weekends?

or is it always a Monday through Friday kind of thing?

[fleabert]

24. Mon thru Thurs.

I doubt seriously that they would call on the weekends, then they'd have to pay the state employees overtime! (this is CA, arnold wouldn't allow it)

[davidinalameda]

17. aren't you breaking your oath not to discuss the case

by starting this thread

[fleabert]

21. no. I'm talking about just serving in general, not the case in particular.

I would never discuss details about the actual case.

[davidinalameda]

30. I wouldn't tell on you if wanted to

hehe

[fleabert]

40. ha ha! I am one of those people who won't even talk about it with

my husband or my best friend, whom I trust implicitly. I take oaths VERY seriously. I am a goody-two-shoes, and get made fun of a lot by friends for my unrelenting ethics. I have been known to return to a store if they gave me .50 too much change...

not that I am a saint or anything, but this type of thing is a big part of who I am. :-) I will tell all after the trial is over, it's open record after that.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

18. My husband might have to serve jury duty this summer.

He got a summons notice in the mail a while back. It used to be that you could get out of it if you had a child under 10. I've gotten 3 jury questionnaires since moving to FL three years ago. I haven't had to serve yet because I was a stay at home mom. They got smart in my area and now they are offering free child care for jurors, so you can't use your kids as an excuse anymore. They no longer send the questionnaires either. They just send a summons. You have to call some number the night before the court date to find out if you actually have to serve.

[fleabert]

23. I may still get released, but I hope not.

we also have the call ahead and find out system. I was not called in yesterday, but was today. I have to go back next week.

[LeftyMom]

28. Oh jeez I'd hate that

I have no problem with serving jury duty and I promise I'll do it when I'm older but I sure wouldn't leave LeftyKid with some adult I'd never met for a minute, let alone hours at at time.

Do they have an exception for nursing mothers? I don't see how a woman who had to take a break every couple hours to nurse or pump could serve on a jury.

[Ilsa]

29. I was wondering that as well. There should be an exception

for nursing mothers. Also, not everyone wants to throw their kids into childcare with strangers the child doesn't know.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

32. Maybe...

My son is 2.5 years old, so nursing isn't an issue for us anymore. I think if you have a good case the exception will be made. Some people might say you could just pump, but I know how hard that is. I could never get anything out with the pump, but my son was always able to get lots of milk when he nursed.

[LeftyMom]

33. LeftyKid's four

I was just curious about the nursing issue. We don't have a separate rule for it here, caring for a minor child is all the exemption needed.

[fleabert]

42. I am pretty sure this judge would have excused you, he was very fair

funny too. (I'll babysit if you get called in and can't get out of it! but I can't nurse for you!lol.)

[jim3775]

31. Does the courtroom look like a brightly lit classroom,

or is it one of those nice wooden ones like on tv?

[fleabert]

43. fancy wooden one, but a gazillion pot lights on the ceiling, looks like a

landing strip at an airport. I hate potlights.

[Floogeldy]

34. If it is a marijuana case . . .

. . . let the defendant go free, even if you have to hang the jury.

B-)

[fleabert]

44. :-) I don't think it is, but

if there was a rule of law that I disagreed with morally, and didn't feel I could be objective, I would recuse myself, I couldn't lie and say someone wasn't guilty if I thought they were. Even if I thought the law was stupid or immoral. (like the death penalty, I could never find someone guilty if I knew they might die, I equate that with being a murderer myself) I'd take a contempt of court ruling instead of sending someone to their death.

[Floogeldy]

50. I admire you greatly.

But there is such a thing called "jury nullification." I don't know what it is, exactly.

[fleabert]

54. interesting, I googled it...

and found this: http://www.americanjuryinstitute.org/index.php

I am going to have to read up and figure out what I think over the next week.

the judge asked us if we would be able to follow the rule of the law, whether we liked the law or not. He even made a joke, about how there were plenty of laws he didn't like, but he had to apply them, and so did we. Very very interesting, this jury nullification. Based on what i read on this website, I will most likely be dismissed, based on my answers on the voir dire.

this puts me in quite a quandry, as I always understood it to be that jurists must apply the rule of law, not the spirit, and should not apply their judgement of a law when deciding their vote. Exactly opposite of what these folks say...

[valis]

35. Can you identify any details about the case?

:P

[fleabert]

45. later my dear!

once it's all over...should be about three weeks. that is, IF I get chosen.

[undeterred]

36. Did the butler do it?

Just askin...:shrug:

[fleabert]

46. that would be very interesting...

I will have a hard time not laughing if someone in the case has a butler called as a witness! :-) Thanks!

[solinvictus]

37. Did you get to take your chihuahua?

If I couldn't take mine, I'd tell them I wanted to give some SOB a death sentence so I'd be stricken.

[fleabert]

47. I wish! but she'd probably bite the bailiff & I would end up sued myself!

I did get to take my knitting, I don't know if I can actually knit during a trial though...

Flea would get really bored, really fast and try to get out of there.

[Wapsie B]

38. If you get to be on the panel,

watch out for the wingnuts in deliberation who'll automatically push hard for a conviction in most cases. Don't let them intimidate you. I've seen it happen.

[fleabert]

48. don't worry about me baby, I am strong!

and I am fair. If they are guilty, I have no qualms about convicting (unless it's a death penalty case, then I will refuse to participate), and if they aren't guilty, I will fight tooth and nail for them. I will not relent either way.

[Beverly7]

52. They let you use the internet?

Maybe I have watched too much Law and Order, but I thought when you were on Jury duty, they wouldn't let you have any TV or contact with the outside world for worry that you would be swayed by the media reports.? I have never been on Jury duty but always wondered that... :)

[fleabert]

55. I am not sequestered...I am not even technically on the panel yet,

but have to return next week to find out, filled out a really long voir dire form for the lawyers to dicker over and decide if they want me or not.

I hope this isn't a sequestered case. I guess I could look up the names and see what's out there, but I don't want to. I would rather be completely unaware and let it play out the way it should, innocent until proven guilty. I am sure whatever is out there is pretty slanted, considering what I heard in the charges. I'd like to think I wouldn't be tainted, but I am human, and how can you not be?

[MissHoneychurch]

56. any cute other jury members?

just in case it gets boring and you need someone to flirt with :)

[fleabert]

57. I will let you know next week, I didn't want to get my hopes up, since

the pool is so large right now...

cross your fingers for me, I am not feeling too good about making it, based on some research on voir dire responses. I hope I do!