I haven't, although lawyers are eligible to serve in my state. I have received a summons every year, and every year I request an extension. My kids get out of school at 3:00, so how am I supposed to serve on a jury 30 minutes away until 4:00?

They're starting to get rather cranky with me about it, cross-examining me with great skeptism when I tell them I don't work outside the home and don't have daycare. Like there's no way anyone would do such a thing! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Anyway, what were your jury experiences?

I've been summoned (summonsed? ) and did my gig a few times, but never got selected.

In AZ, you get your summons and show up in a big cattle pit (not literally, MattG), fill out a few papers and wait around. Through some magic maneuverings, people are selected to leave the cattle pit and go in for questioning. There's some latin name for this, right, Cindy? If they're selected in step 2, then they're on a jury.

I've never been selected, just one of the cattle roaming around in the pit. It's a long boring day. They have TVs and they're tuned to the most inane, stupid shows. You can't leave because you have to be there when/if called. At least it's non-smoking.

I recently got summoned to show up for one of these things. It's a pink slip that definitely makes it seem as if I was in trouble. Anyway, I have to go on the 18th. The slip says the process should not take longer than a half hour. We'll see about that...

I've been on jury duty a number of times and was on a jury twice. I absolutely hated being on a jury. The second jury I was on went OK because the parties settled out of court just before the trial was going to begin so we were off the hook.

The first jury I was on was a nightmare. It was a case of he said/she said. There was no evidence at all--just heresay. For this reason I felt the prosecution had failed to convince me and I found that myself and one other jury member had to stand up to the other 10 jurors who all wanted to convict. It came down to just me against them when this other member buckled. I would not have been able to live with myself if I'd caved in. We ended up with a split verdict: finding guilt for one charge but hung on the other. We were sequested for this trial and it was all over $5!!! It was brought to criminal court though because one of the defendants was accused of having his hand in his pocket and pointing as IF he had a gun in his pocket.

God, it was awful.

Never petite jury, but a few years ago I was called for grand jury duty. Turns out in my county of NYS that grand jury duty means you serve for 3 MONTHS -- but they only convened at most twice each week for 4-5 hours. It's a rural county, so not a lot of felony crimes -- mostly felony DWI.

It was a great experience. I learned *a lot*. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The most irritating part was having to serve with a few loudmouths (jurors can ask questions during the grand jury hearing). It seemed, at least with the 24 people on my grand jury, that loudness and intelligence were approximately inversely proportional

I was selected for a jury but the case settled the next morning before opening arguments. It was a local attempted murder case, and I was really looking forward to it. (I studied criminal justice in college and graduate school.) The worst part of the process is waiting to be pooled for jury (before voir dire). I'd love to serve on another (except the really long, drawn-out ones).

Three weeks for a civil trial. Quite an experience, I highly recommend it for anyone who has any sense of civic responsibility.

By the end of the third week it was dragging on too long as far as we were concerned (the full jury) so I raised my hand and asked the judge when this was going to be over because our employers were all getting upset. It was over the next day.

If I ever end up on a jury again I will not be afraid to ask questions instead of just sitting there like a lump of coal. When we were read our directions by the judge before the deliberation portion of the trial we all felt rather confused, we felt we should have been given different directions.

If you end up on a jury just look at it as a life experience and don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid of the judge, speak your mind if you become confused.

I served on a jury once. I had always wanted to have an opportunity to do that and was pretty jazzed when I was picked (I know I'm a bit weird) but it turned out to be a lot of sitting in a room waiting for the lawyers and judge to discuss stuff we couldn't hear (glad I brought a book). It was only 3 days but on the last day the defendant didn't show up in court and when we were given our instructions on deliberation the fact he did not show up was not to be taken into account or make a difference in the outcome of our verdict but the evidence presented prior kind of spoke for itself...

That trial was on a drug charge, I wouldn't mind being on a jury again, other than the sitting in a closed room part it was pretty interesting.

Cathy

We convicted a guy of something.
I think it was possession of pot during a ticket for speeding.
Months later I saw the defendant in a mall.
I got out of there, like quick.

I think there should be a screen so the defendant cannot see the jury.
Fear of reprisals is very real and can affect judgment.