Ask Lemmy

DUI. I was dismissed during jury selection, i think from questioning the accuracy and last calibration date of the breathalyzer device when they asked what I would want to know about during the trial.

That was after someone else was pleading emotionally with the judge/attorneys to dismiss them because of a family member being killed by a drunk driver. The jury member said they would be unfair and vote guilty no matter what, and the judge argued their perspective was important for the jury. They were selected.

No conclusions here. It was an interesting process and I was only there an hour or two.

never taken into a jury. heck half the time I don't get to the point of being questioned and you only pull duty every so many years.

You find out about the case before jury selection. Voir dire probes for possible biases you might have about the case and the defendant so they have to tell you about the charges. The case I got released from recently was about a non-fatal knife attack.

The big fines and stuff are, I think, usually not imposed unless you get in their face about refusing. I missed a summons once and said oops, my bad. They said fine, we'll send you another one.

I think I've gone 5 or so times and only made it to voir dire once. Maybe that says they send more summons than they really have to.

I got called for the penalty phase of a capital murder. (death penalty).

The parties settled before anyone was selected. It took 2 days. I found out later that the convict was already on death row, but had gotten a re-trial because of a recent SCOTUS ruling. I was in no danger of being impaneled.

I was 18 and ended up on a DUI case. The defense attorney during selection asked if anyone had never drank before. Naturally since I was not of legal age yet I raised my hand and was soon removed from the jury. I wasted most of my work day plus the fuel to get there and got nothing for it.

My second jury summons was for an entire month of potential service. My wife had multiple doctor appointments per week that she would be unable to get to without me so I filed paperwork with the court and was released from duty.

I was on a jury for a civil case, a lawyer sued another lawyer trying to get a finders fee for a case he claimed he referred. The whole time the judge was annoyed they didn’t settle out of court and it was all over in about 2 days.

I've been called several times. Failing to show up gets more extreme as the level of court increases. County and city courts tend to have smaller penalties and pay less than federal courts. The pay is basically a joke in all cases. Jury duty is generally a lot of waiting for things to happen, and it's pretty boring.

The first time I was called in for a criminal rape case, I believe this was federal. The victim was under 18, but over the age of consent. The issue was around her being mentally handicapped. I was removed during voir dire by the prosecution, but it took until the second day. The first day was mostly sitting and waiting, I don't remember if either side got to remove anyone the first day.

The second time was a county court. All cases settled that day before trials. So it just wasted a few hours.

The third time was another federal court. It was a civil case of a prisoner against a guard who destroyed his legal documents searching for "contraband." I was part of the jury for this one, it was a 2 day long trial and we took an extra half day of deliberation. Ultimately we were a hung jury.

Forging documents and murder were the 2 cases i was called in for. I didn’t get selected though. The murder one was 4 days before getting let go.

My case I got to serve on was for 2 counts of assault in a peace officer for a man in jail who allegedly assaulted 2 police officers in a Short length of time. The first of the two counts the state had a bunch of evidence for, but the other one the only evidence they really had was a picture of the officer taken like a week ago from the time the alleged altercation happened. The picture looked like a dude just cut himself shaving.

So we deliberated very quickly and found the defendant guilty for the first count and not guilty for the second. I feel like the DA had tried to hit this guy unfairly with the second case as the case was as almost entirely baseless, and might have worked if the jury had been more racist or less observant rooting out the facts. I feel like Justice was served that day.

In person attendance is no longer always automatically necessary.

When you receive the summons, it includes instructions for filing out a response form online. Then, the night before you're supposed to appear you can check to see if you are required to appear. The last time I got a summons, I didn't have to show up in person.

Here if you are selected for a jury and serve three days or more, you're excused from further jury duty for three years. If you serve less than three days or are excused, you can be summoned again after a year.

In Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, failing to appear for a jury summons can result in a fine of up to $500 and a sentence of up to 10 days in jail for contempt of court, or both.

A jury summons is a legally binding court order. If you miss your scheduled date, the Montgomery County Jury Office typically initiates the following process:

• Show Cause Hearing: You may be ordered to appear before a judge at a "show cause" hearing to explain why you failed to comply.

• Rescheduling: In many cases of an honest mistake or a first-time oversight, the judge may be lenient and simply order you to appear for a newly rescheduled jury date.

• Warrants: If you deliberately ignore the summons or the subsequent show cause hearings, the court can issue a bench warrant for your arrest.

I was selected for two juries.

The first was for an automobile collision. One driver turned left in front of the other and the other driver hit her. In that case, the turning driver claimed the collision happened because the other driver was speeding. The money amount was already decided. The jury only had to apportion blame. The turning driver got most of the blame.

The second jury was for a criminal trial. Two men had robbed a restaurant and terrorized the staff. They were found guilty.

Since then I haven't been selected for jury duty. One of the questions on the response form asks if you would believe a police officer less than a citizen, and if you say no, you are asked to explain why. I'm fairly certain my honesty in filing out the form has gotten me excused from serving on a jury.

It's a shame because I never minded serving on a jury. However, I'm not a complete moron, and I'd have to be today to think police don't lie in court.

My state was prosecuting a lady who they alleged aided and abetted a violent fugitive. I wasn't selected, but they told us what the case was about before they started the selection process. I guess it helps weed people out, which I definitely would have been.

I haven't actually served as the one time I've been summoned the jury was full before they questioned me. That's probably for the best since my first thought about the defendant upon seeing them ended up being one of the charges.

Been called twice. First was an assault, second was an unarmed robbery