Well, this should be interesting

[crponies]

So, I got the "dreaded" summons to jury duty. I honestly didn't think a whole lot about it because the last time I got one I just had to call in each day and never even had to actually go to the courthouse. This time I could check on-line to see if my group had to go in or not. On Feb. 9 when I checked it said I had to go in the next morning. I still didn't think a whole lot about it as I have always heard about people going in, sitting around for while, and then being done. I figured that is what would happen in my case. So, I get to the courthouse and did sit around for a while. They called about 125 names to report to a courtroom but my name was not on the list. Those of us left sat around for a while longer and then they told us at about 11 we could have a long lunch break but needed to come back. After the lunch break they started in on another big group of names, and my name was called this time. So, I go up to the courtroom and was thinking I could probably get excused just by explaining I'm a teacher and it would be really hard for my school and students to deal with me being gone. Well, as the judge explained the basics of the case and then told us the three situations that are considered hardships for which you may be excused (vacation planned already during the expected trail dates, financial hardship to you personally, and scheduled surgery during the expected trial dates). He specifically said that teachers could not be excused because of it being a hardship to your school or students. It has to be a hardship to you personally, as in you would not get paid. I realized that I did not fit any of those qualifications. He went through the room and excused people who did have a genuine hardship and then the rest of us had to fill out a questionnaire and take a piece of paper telling us to come back on Monday, February 22, at 9:00. Ok, so I think I'll be going back one more day but I honestly don't expect to get picked. People keep telling me things like they won't want me because I am so conservative, etc. Well, I went back Monday and a group of us were waiting outside of the courtroom for it to be opened for us to go inside. The bailiff came out and explained that he was going to call 18 names and those people are going to start out in the jury box. My name was one of those 18! So, up I go into the jury box still expecting to be excused. It didn't happen, I was there in the jury box all day and those of us that were left (in the jury box and out in the "audience") were told to come back the next morning to finish jury selection. I went back Tuesday morning and sure enough, I am on the jury. I am juror #7 to be exact. We heard the opening arguments Tuesday morning as well and then were told to come back Thursday morning. We went back then only to find out the trial couldn't start after all then as one of the attorneys has a family emergency so now we have to go back Monday afternoon.

This should definitely be an interesting experience. Oh, and I suppose you are wondering what kind of trial this is. It is a gang-related murder trial.

I am concerned about my students while I am away from the classroom, but I am doing my best to trust the Lord and the substitute to keep them going in their studies. The trial is expected to be about a month long! I would appreciate your prayers that I will be able to understand all the evidence and laws involved and make the right decision along with all the other jurors. A short deliberation would be great!

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

Oh man, I feel bad for you. That stinks! My daughter was called to jury duty when she had JUST turned 18. It was an old man that raped and molested a young girl! My poor daughter was mortified! She HATED it! She got a heck of a sex education from it. It was awful, I felt so bad for her. All the other jury members were much older people. Why the heck would they have a young girl on a jury for something like that? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go off about that.

I do understand what you're talking about though. You have a certain way of teaching and daily lessons planned and all, and now you have to trust a stranger to take over for you. There's not much you can do about jury duty. You just have to do what you have to do I guess. I hope it goes by quickly for you. I'm sure your students will be ok. You sound like a very caring teacher!

Good Luck!

 

[AppyLover2]

I don't know how you feel about doing your "civic duty" but I say good for you! I was notified I was on jury duty a month or so ago (for the first time in my 67 years). Gotta admit I was excited about it. Unfortunately all I had to do was make that daily phone call. I was actually hoping I might get to see our justice system in action, and be a part of it.

 

[susanne]

Jury duty is most definitely a personal hardship for me as a freelancer, but it is one of the most important responsibilities of a US citizen, so I've done it twice. In addition to fulfilling my duty, each time was educational and downright fascinating

I wish every high school student had a chance to sit in on a jury (not vote) to learn about our justice system.

The first time I served was for Multnomah County, which is the primary county for Portland, Oregon. It was a huge jury pool, and at the time we couldn't just call in -- we had to go sit in a big, stuffy room killing time between jury selections...for a week.

I was on two trials, each very interesting. One involved drunk driving and we jurors played a major role changing Oregon law regarding breathalizer tests. The other trial involved a question of child abuse vs. spanking. Here again, I was very proud of the jury...although we didn't need to, several of us went to the sentencing to make certain the father got help but didn't lose his child.

This past year I was called for jury duty in Columbia County, where we now live. I could easily have been excused due to my lack of vision and therefore my inability to drive, but I told them I'd be glad to serve if they could get me there -- so they paid for my taxi ride each day. This was an extremely tragic teenage suicide, in which the family was suing the small town and its police department for causing it.

I thought perhaps I'd be too liberal for this semi-rural county, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Jayne, after you have completed your jury duty, you could turn this into a valuable lesson for your students. I remember in high school when my AP English teacher had jury duty and shared her experience with us. Perhaps that played a role in how I feel about it today.

 

[BigDogs & LittleHorses]

I just got my first jury duty notice last week. I'm hoping to get excused...there is no one else to fill in for my position in our family business and we have a major contract to complete this summer getting a building certified for government occupancy. I wrote a hardship letter and so did my boss. Will see what happens.

I think it might be interesting also, but now is a terrible time. I think they should pick the unemployed folks first, they probably don't have anything better to do, lol.

Daryl

 

[crponies]

I honestly don't mind being on the jury at all. I understand it is an important part of our justice system and I would want someone to fairly judge for me if I ever ended up being tried for something (not that I'm planning to!). It will just be hard to be away from school. Summer would have been a better time for me but the longest postponement the paper that came in the mail said you could have is three months which would still be during the school year. It is kind of funny because the same week that I first went in our school administrator also had to go (same day actually but different county). He ended up being excused after sitting around for a bit. The next week another of the teachers had jury duty but as able to be excused as she has children she has to care for.

 

[vickie gee]

I say do your civic duty this time. Your students will be ok with a sub. Next time YOU can work the system and get out of it if that is what you want to do. They ask those questions for a reason. Have you ever... do you know either attorney...do you believe in..., etc. Answer one of those questions with an answer that will make at least one attorney want to disqualify you. I sat on grand jury once. It was a great learning experience. You go each month for 3 months while they are in session to determine if there is enough evidence to indicte in a large number of cases. Sometimes they are sealed. In other words, someone does not even know they are about to be arrested. I also had to be on the jury for a personal injury case once. Following the guidelines we gave that lazy heifer as much money as it would take me to earn in two years and she did not even have the concept of pain that a lot of us have. Basically our justice system is very lacking. I like it when the good guys win...but really, how often do you see a truly good western movie anymore. Makes me miss John Wayne.

 

[Ashley]

So, I got the "dreaded" summons to jury duty. I honestly didn't think a whole lot about it because the last time I got one I just had to call in each day and never even had to actually go to the courthouse. This time I could check on-line to see if my group had to go in or not. On Feb. 9 when I checked it said I had to go in the next morning. I still didn't think a whole lot about it as I have always heard about people going in, sitting around for while, and then being done. I figured that is what would happen in my case. So, I get to the courthouse and did sit around for a while. They called about 125 names to report to a courtroom but my name was not on the list. Those of us left sat around for a while longer and then they told us at about 11 we could have a long lunch break but needed to come back. After the lunch break they started in on another big group of names, and my name was called this time. So, I go up to the courtroom and was thinking I could probably get excused just by explaining I'm a teacher and it would be really hard for my school and students to deal with me being gone. Well, as the judge explained the basics of the case and then told us the three situations that are considered hardships for which you may be excused (vacation planned already during the expected trail dates, financial hardship to you personally, and scheduled surgery during the expected trial dates). He specifically said that teachers could not be excused because of it being a hardship to your school or students. It has to be a hardship to you personally, as in you would not get paid. I realized that I did not fit any of those qualifications. He went through the room and excused people who did have a genuine hardship and then the rest of us had to fill out a questionnaire and take a piece of paper telling us to come back on Monday, February 22, at 9:00. Ok, so I think I'll be going back one more day but I honestly don't expect to get picked. People keep telling me things like they won't want me because I am so conservative, etc. Well, I went back Monday and a group of us were waiting outside of the courtroom for it to be opened for us to go inside. The bailiff came out and explained that he was going to call 18 names and those people are going to start out in the jury box. My name was one of those 18! So, up I go into the jury box still expecting to be excused. It didn't happen, I was there in the jury box all day and those of us that were left (in the jury box and out in the "audience") were told to come back the next morning to finish jury selection. I went back Tuesday morning and sure enough, I am on the jury. I am juror #7 to be exact. We heard the opening arguments Tuesday morning as well and then were told to come back Thursday morning. We went back then only to find out the trial couldn't start after all then as one of the attorneys has a family emergency so now we have to go back Monday afternoon.This should definitely be an interesting experience. Oh, and I suppose you are wondering what kind of trial this is. It is a gang-related murder trial.

I am concerned about my students while I am away from the classroom, but I am doing my best to trust the Lord and the substitute to keep them going in their studies. The trial is expected to be about a month long! I would appreciate your prayers that I will be able to understand all the evidence and laws involved and make the right decision along with all the other jurors. A short deliberation would be great!

Oh I would so love this! I always wanted to do jury duty, but found out I would be excused from it do to my job. So guess I will never be doing jury duty. I was so disapointed to find that out.

 

[wildoak]

Jury duty is an experience everyone should have - but I don't envy you having to sit on a murder trial. One of my friends did that several years ago and said it was very difficult.

I was on a jury for a dwi case not long ago, we were only in service actually for one day - and because the kid played the system and refused all field sobriety tests, we could not say without a doubt that he was intoxicated, even with police video....so he walked away, hopefully with some attorney fees and a little more caution next time.

Jan

 

[Aristocratic Minis]

You will probably appreciate the fact you did your civic duty after you are all finished. You will learn a lot about the law - positive and negative - and about serving on the jury. Sometimes there are real ding-a-lings serving on the jury with you. Sometimes you will find people that you really like and who are very intelligent are serving with you.

One of the hardest things, during lunch break when you often go with other jury members to lunch, is not discussing the trial or the evidence. After you are engrossed in something, you really have to stifle yourself to stop thinking about it and to think about something else and to keep your mouth shut. (At least that was MY experience.)

I'm sure the experience will make you an even better teacher.

 

[minifancier]

I just got my first jury duty notice last week. I'm hoping to get excused...there is no one else to fill in for my position in our family business and we have a major contract to complete this summer getting a building certified for government occupancy. I wrote a hardship letter and so did my boss. Will see what happens.

I think it might be interesting also, but now is a terrible time. I think they should pick the unemployed folks first, they probably don't have anything better to do, lol.

Daryl

I remember after 2 years being in AZ. I was chosen for jury duty. Tries to get out of it by my boss writing a note. Didn't work so I went after after making the first cut and the 2nd cut I failed the 3rd cut.... YEAH.

And now back in WI I have never been selected. Now I would have a doctors note to get me off as I have severe RA and sitting for that long in a hard chair would render me useless, as I would be cramping up so bad and restless I would not be able to listen carefully enough.

I have to get up at least 3 times an hour to just "walk around" after sitting in a chair, can't do that in a jury room LOL

Even driving or riding any distance I have to stop a few times at least once an hour, OR I get so stiff I can hardly move, when I do get out. It is getting better now with meds so I can sit for over an hour in a car maybe upwards of 2 hours. But even after 2 hours it takes me quite awhile to get unkinked.

 

[Sonya]

I've been called quite a few times but never get to go...my absence at work is considered a safety hazard to the public, therefore I can't even go for the selection process...bummer for me, I'd love to do it.