I’ve never been picked,just lucky I guess.

Civil suit, many years ago. Woman drifted out of her lane, side-swiped an 18-wheeler, and was suing the truck driver.

We listened to testimony and retired to the jury room. As soon as the bailiff closed th door, I asked "Do any of you think that this crazy woman is credible?"

We immediately knocked on the door and told the bailiff that we had reached a decision.

quote:

posted July 16, 2025 10:02 PM Hide Post
Several years ago a good friend got picked and had to sit on the jury trail for a former Louisiana Governor for some of his quetionable dealings

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Probably Governor Edwards. His motto was often indicted never convicted. A most charismatic crook.

I got served a while back . About the time I was due to report my wife was in a bad accident and is still not able to drive and is undergoing physical therapy twice a week . I sent an email to the Jury Co Ordinator asking for a deferral and they gave me six months .

Never been summoned, and doubt I'd ever get to serve anyway due to my job.

What gustofer said about the scheduling shenanigans applies to witnesses too, though. I can't tell you how many times I've been subpoenad for a case, got everything ready, and showed up to get told it's been continued or they took a plea. It's a huge PITA.

I got stuck on a federal grand jury for about 20 months. We met every other Wednesday but there were quite a few cancelations but you weren't made aware of the cancelations until the day before. I found some of it interesting most of it incredibly boring when the US Attorney read through the entire indictment. I enjoyed the experience but I would have rather not done it because it was to much of an inconvenience since we had to report to the federal courthouse in downtown Philadelphia.

Both of my sons are Sheriff's Deputies so that's usually enough to get me rejected anyway .

Judge: "Has anyone present in the pool of potential Jurors, ever visited a website known as "SIGforum"?



(looks at hands)

Judge:


Judge: "I guess we can all be excused..." (Slammer Hammer) "BANG!"

[QUOTE]Originally posted by calugo:
I got stuck on a federal grand jury for about 20 months. We met every other Wednesday but there were quite a few cancelations but you weren't made aware of the cancelations until the day before. I found some of it interesting most of it incredibly boring when the US Attorney read through the entire indictment. I enjoyed the experience but I would have rather not done it because it was to much of an inconvenience since we had to report to the federal courthouse in downtown Philadelphia.[/QUOTE

Damn, I’m glad that I got an excusal here. I just read the FAQ part about Grand Jury duty here in Michigan’s Eastern District and see that around here it’s eighteen months and two to six days a month depending where you’re assigned to. From the FAQ page:

A grand jury does not determine guilt or innocence, but whether there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed. The evidence is normally presented only by an attorney for the government. The grand jury must determine from this evidence whether a person should have formal charges filed by the government. If the grand jury finds probable cause, then it will return a written statement of the charges, called an indictment. Grand jurors sit on a panel of 23 jurors. In Detroit grand jurors generally serve four to six days per month for 18 months. In divisional offices grand jurors generally serve two to three days per month for 18 months. Grand jury terms may be extended if necessary. More information is available in the Handbook for Federal Grand Jurors.

Last time I stepped foot in Flint was two years ago, that was enough.

I’ve been called 6 times in the last 12 years and served twice. My 6th call is in a few weeks.

I enjoyed the two trials I was on, and consider it a duty to serve, but I’m an hourly traveling gig worker. And my jobs aren’t Mon-Fri. So having to block even one day out of my calendar can cost me weeks worth of work and thousands of dollars.

So I’m kind of sick of getting called every two years and having to lose work.

August is pretty dead for us anyway so when so originally got called to report in May I asked to defer to August and they let me so it’s not as big of a deal as it has been but still. If I’d have had to report in May I’d have lost a 6 week job over it.

I have served for both petit jury and grand jury. I have been called for federal, but wasn’t selected. I get summoned every couple years.

I too would not like it if my county did what the OP is having to do and report each week to possibly be selected.

The worst part to me of being on a jury were some of the other members. I have been the foreman once and it is hard to have to keep people on track and remind them that their personal opinion doesn’t matter. It is the facts of the case and the law.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin
The worst part to me of being on a jury were some of the other members. I have been the foreman once and it is hard to have to keep people on track and remind them that their personal opinion doesn’t matter. It is the facts of the case and the law.

That’s disappointing. One of the best parts of my one round of jury duty was the other jurors. It surprised me how much and how quickly we bonded over the week long trial.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin
The worst part to me of being on a jury were some of the other members. I have been the foreman once and it is hard to have to keep people on track and remind them that their personal opinion doesn’t matter. It is the facts of the case and the law.

That’s disappointing. One of the best parts of my one round of jury duty was the other jurors. It surprised me how much and how quickly we bonded over the week long trial.

That absolutely happened for me on grand jury service. I served three days a week for three months and we heard so many cases daily. Only once in a while did it have to be reminded to leave personal opinions out of it, but overall we became close as a group and worked well together. I even made commemorative coffee mugs for each of us. We were a group to make a decision and would tell the prosecutor to not walk away too far as it wouldn’t take us long.

Very nice!

The last time I was chosen to serve on a jury was for a case where a 24 year old man was being charged with sexual misconduct with a 13 year old girl.

When the attorney's started to ask me questions I said that I have a daughter and anyone at that age even being around someone that young is automatically guilty. Needless to say I was immediately dismissed. Went back to the jury pool for a couple of hours and was then dismissed.

I went for 30+ years without ever being called for Jury Duty. The courts have made up for that over the past 10 years. I’ve been called several times but never selected. The most recent time was last November for Federal Court in Pecos, 100 miles from where I live. I’ve just received another notice from them, this time for Grand Jury duty.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin
The worst part to me of being on a jury were some of the other members. I have been the foreman once and it is hard to have to keep people on track and remind them that their personal opinion doesn’t matter. It is the facts of the case and the law.

That’s disappointing. One of the best parts of my one round of jury duty was the other jurors. It surprised me how much and how quickly we bonded over the week long trial.

I agree with you. On both juries I’ve served on I’ve enjoyed the other jurors the most. I still talk to one of the guys I met on my first jury around 8 years ago and talk to a couple of the folks from the last one. Since you can’t talk about the trial we ended up talking about ourselves and it’s interesting learning about how much of a cross section of people we all are.

My mother was called for jury duty. I like what my father did, he said she ran away. Never heard from them again!