Jury Duty ... I dodged the bullet.

I had to do Federal duty once. A trucker going up a hill with a third "slow vehicle" lane slammed into the back of a dead semi at the top of the hill.

They played up this guy's experience as a CDL instructor, years of making this run, blah, blah, blah. I wondered if he was such a good driver, why is he in that lane running an empty truck that could keep up with traffic?

If it weren't for a car load of Marines headed south for training, this guy would have cooked in the cab.

It was interesting and a change of routine.

neon4891 wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: BTW, if you really need to get out of jury duty, the safe-phrase is "I understand jury nullification" - they'll kick your ass right outta there and hope that the other jurors didn't hear what you said.

Would that work on a civil case, or only criminal?

I know it'll work in a criminal case, dunno if it'll work in a civil case.

I've been called a few times and sat on one a few years ago. Fortunately, my company pays for a day or two of jury duty, so it's not a big deal if called.

The trial I sat on was a robbery. It was essentially a case of he-said/she-said with no physical evidence with a fair bit of conflicting testimony. I'm pretty sure the prosecutor knew they didn't have a case, but the victim probably pushed them into it. The defendant had a decent lawyer as well, although he didn't have to work too hard. In the end, we basically determined that while he "might" have done it, there simply wasn't enough evidence to convict. I'm sure the guy was nervous: black male defendant, white female victim, IIRC a mostly white jury.

The interesting part was the speed. We were called to the courtroom around 10am, selected to the jury before noon, trial was presented after lunch, we went into deliberation at around 3:30, and rendered the verdict and were done by 4:30.

I wore an NRA polo shirt to jury duty once, I haven't been called back since

Gary wrote: Also, selection is by lottery. Eventually you'll be called.

And just like the lottery, I still haven't won it. Both my parents have been a few times though. All they have ever said is keep an open mind about things and go from there.

In 36 years of lving in Washington state, I never got called up. Moved to Baltimore and 1 month after, got called up back in Washington state. Sent in my paperwork with the one way commute at 3500 miles. Never heard from them again. And have never been called up in the 16 years I've lived here.

Every now and then a strange, quirky coincidence occurs. I started this thread, so this is a strange coincidence. After an afternoon of furniture shopping my wife and I stopped at a local liquor store to pick up a bottle of wine for the evening. Well, guess who else was shopping for wine? None other than the judge who was presiding over the civil trial that I wasn't selected as a juror for. I decided to talk to him.p He confirmed that it would be a long trial. I said probably because there are six attorneys involved. He said well, that, plus some extenuating circumstances. He winked (really) and made me appreciate that I hadn't been selected. I never go to that liquor store, so I thought that was an ironical coincidence to meet up with him there.