Jury Duty |
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Jan 13 2012, 07:45 PM
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QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Jan 13 2012, 10:22 AM)  Well, of course.. What I was curious about is why some of the guys said they were excused without doing or saying anything that they were aware of ? The Jury Selection process begins with a room of about 100+ people. Only 12 can sit on a trial.12 People are selected "randomly" from the 100 to sit in the Jury box for examination of prejudice. Each Jury member is asked question - the lawyers want diversity sitting in the Jury. So if there 12 males sitting in the box, 1/2 of them will be excused after being questioned, for no other reason than you can't 12 males sitting in the box. the Lawyers will dismiss people 1 at a time, and question the new replacement. They are trying to select the best candidates for their client (defense and prosecution both have a say in whether they like the candidate). If they agree on the current 12, the remaining 88 are dismissed from the room and the 12 are doomed  The process can take up to two days. Rule of thumb is if you are selected randomly to sit in the Jury Box, your chances of having to serve increase by 80% because now instead of being chosen randomly (1/100), you now have to come up with a reason why the lawyers DON'T want you on the Jury! haha. That's where the fun begins - people coming up with lines like "I'm definitely prejudice - all people are guilty before proven innocent", or the "I'm crazy" tactic. When I was sitting in the Box last year - I wrote down my experiences while sitting in the box. I'll paste it here for your reading pleasure  QUOTE Day 1
Well, the jury is still out. We had our first round of questioning by the prosecution to weed out the radicals. The prosecuting attorney was a real kiss-butt - you could tell he wanted to be on everyone's side. All the questions were pretty much neutral so I had nothing to set myself apart with... until.... he asked the gem! Only 2 others agreed with me that people shouldn't be suing for pain and suffering on top of recompense for damages and medical bills. Hopefully standing out like that will get me booted from the jury, but as it stands, I'm juror #9 (yep, I was called to the box - the worst place to be during jury selection). Tomorrow morning we go into the Defense counsel asking us more questions, then, hopefully, I'll hear those wonderful words - Chris Kersey, we thank you for your service - you are excused - now get out of here you intolerant - oh, sorry, wishful thinking. Tomorrow I find out whether I'm blessed with a month of Jury Duty. Day 2 Haha. My intuition was right - the prosecution wouldn't touch me with a 10 foot bananna. I appeared in court this morning, sat down in my little Juror #9 box seat and patiently sat as the Defense counsel started the proceedings with questions on all matters pertaining to possible bias. Actually, just prior to the questioning, the judge made an announcement and asked whether the jurors would hold any bias against the plaintiff if he wasn't present for the duration of the actual court proceedings over the course of the month. Apparently, the plaintiff had just resumed work and needed to support his family by continuing to work. This struck a knee jerk reaction with me. During the initial interviews, I sat and watched the judge deny about a dozen requests to be excused because of hardship. Some of them, I wouldn't have even second guessed - but our judge was quite relentless in denying these excusals. As soon as he made the enquiry, I bit my lip. I almost raised my hand with the intent of saying "Your honor, I would gladly give my $15 dollar a day wage to him if that would help his hardship so he can join us for the trial." But a little bird told me I better zip my lip because this judge might hold me in contempt. I'm sure the other jurors were thinking along the same lines though. So the questioning began. I was singled out based on my answer from the previous day for further cross-examination. "Mr. Kersey, you said yesterday that you were hesitant about giving a verdict because you thought givng a pain and suffering award was improper?" "Yes mam." "Can you please enlighten me a little more on your position. As you know, this case involves the plaintiff's lawsuit for both damages, medical compensation and pain and suffering. If it can be shown that the plaintiff's case is supported, and he is found to be the victim, are you saying that you would not be able to support a verdict in his favor?" "That is correct. I don't know how exactly the lawsuit has been filed, and what exactly the verdict would entail, but I can give you what I would and would not be able to give a verdict on." "o.k." "If the lawsuit were formed in such a way that one verdict awards recompense for medical, even if those medical bills amount to a lifetime's worth of support, and damanges on the one hand - and then on the other hand a second verdict was proposed to award the plaintiff recompense for pain and suffering, I would have no reservations serving on the jury. The reason is simple - I could vote my conscience on both accounts - yes to damages done and medical, and no for pain and suffering. However, if the verdict we are to judge upon combines both awards, then I would not be able to award the plaintiff because the second element goes against my convictions. I cannot, in good conscience, say yes to something I hold to be wrong, even if it includes something that is right." "So you would vote no?" "I would not be able to vote yes in good conscience" "But you could still vote yes, against your conscience." [slowly] "I would not be able to vote yes in good conscience, therefore, NO." Again, I bit my lip even though what I was thinking I thought was funny - believe me, it's hard to hold back a jab when it's a funny one - I was thinking to myself "that is correct m'am - I would make a terrible politician." A confused look fell over her face as she stepped back to her podium as she said "thank you Mr. Kersey". She proceeded then to question the rest of the jury. I started thinking to myself, can a man hold fire to himself and not be burned? Can a man drink a glass of water, half of which is poison, and not suffer the consequences? She was asking me to do just that. About 1/2 hour passed and the judge called the attorneys back into a private room to discuss jurors. Another 10 minutes passed, and they came back out to the floor. The judge sat down and stated - "we would like to thank the jurors for their patience. It is at this point that we will announce replacements for jurors who will be excused. For those being excused, please don't take your excusal personally as per my opening statements on process on Monday. The court would like to thank and dismiss Chris Kersey. I was quite pleased knowing that I wouldn't have to serve a month on a jury. And so was juror number 6 who followed me out the door, also having been dismissed. He looked at me and said "Thank G**." Then he looked to me as we walked to the elevator and raised his hand for a high-five. I wasn't thrilled about giving anyone a high-five over that dismissal, but I didn't want to "leave him hangin". I'm sure you can relate. -------------------- The more I practice, the more I wish I had time to practice!
My Band Forum: http://passionfly.site/chat  |
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Jan 14 2012, 01:36 AM
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I have never been called for jury duty. Not yet anyway...
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Jan 14 2012, 02:27 AM
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QUOTE (thefireball @ Jan 13 2012, 04:36 PM) I have never been called for jury duty. Not yet anyway... -------------------- The more I practice, the more I wish I had time to practice!
My Band Forum: http://passionfly.site/chat |
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