I sat in a group for a DUI case. I could have fit the defendant's description minus about 30 pounds. Only one other person in the group was within ten years of his age. I thought surely the prosecutor would strike me… but nope. It was her first trial.

I'm always (ok... three times) toward the end (something like 72 of 80) so they always find enough jurors before they get to me

I'd love to be on a jury but I haven't gone the last few times I've been summoned because I usually have work issues going on that are more important. They don't send summons by certified mail so there is no actual enforcement since they can't prove you got it

Sounds like my story when I was 25 in 2006.

DannyDuberstein said:

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Put a Katrina refugee who diddled a 14 year old girl away for 20 years.

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I was on a similar case. Lifelong repeat offender. We sentenced him to life.

Equinox said:

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DannyDuberstein said:

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Put a Katrina refugee who diddled a 14 year old girl away for 20 years.

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I was on a similar case. Lifelong repeat offender. We sentenced him to life.

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Yeah, 20 was the max for what he was charged with

In his (very limited) defense, I don't think he intended to leave Inka in the hot car. He got home and got distracted and was just grossly negligent.

Had a few memorable experiences when getting called for jury duty:
1. Served as a juror on a DUI case for a local business owner. Video of the arrest showed him unable to even stand without help. Why he pled not guilty is beyond me.
2. Served on a minor civil case on an auto accident. Had to be there by 9 am, was picked, served and rendered a verdict, all before noon.
3. Called for a criminal trial, sat around for an hour and a half waiting for something to happen. They then brought in all the potential jurors, and the judge said that everyone was there except the defendant. A warrant was issued and wr were free to leave, and received credit for jury service.

Got called several times when I lived in Brazoria County and got picked for a jury the last time I was called. The case was pretty gross, so I'll spare the details. Dude was plainly guilty, and his public defender absolutely mailed it in.

I heard tons of weak excuses for getting out of it. Without fail, the people who whined the most ended up getting picked. That said, I didn't say boo when I got picked. YMMV.

Served on our counties Grand Jury. Very interesting and I enjoyed serving on it.

I have been selected several times through the years on both criminal and civil cases in Harris County.
Most memorable was in 1988 with the first case in Harris County to use DNA as evidence. Very interesting and Rusty Hardin was the Asst DA. Yes, the guy was convicted and given the max.

Hub `93 said:

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Got called several times when I lived in Brazoria County and got picked for a jury the last time I was called. The case was pretty gross, so I'll spare the details. Dude was plainly guilty, and his public defender absolutely mailed it in.

I heard tons of weak excuses for getting out of it. Without fail, the people who whined the most ended up getting picked. That said, I didn't say boo when I got picked. YMMV.

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Sounds like it was someone from Holiday Lakes.

That would be satisfying.

I owned my own businesses and could not afford to get hung up on a jury, so I always found a way to get out of it. I think I have told several of the stories here, but maybe not. Been called around a dozen times, twice I didn't show, the other times I gave one side or the other a reason to strike me if I was in the danger zone after the shuffle which was almost every time.

One time, one of the attorneys asked if any of us had ever supported any group that was in favor of abolishing the jury system. That question made me realize I had my out, my get out of jail free card, they just dropped it in my lap. So, I raised my hand and the judge asked me to approach the bench. Two attorneys on each side of the case and me and the court reporter. They repeated the question and I said actually no, I had not done so, but if they had a name of an organization and an address of a group that wanted to abolish the jury system, I would certainly make a donation, lol. Well that caused the judge to launch into a diatribe about the jury system being a "basic tenet of our justice system." Then he asked what my solution would be, if no jury system. I told him I might support a jury system if the jury was comprised solely of lawyers and law students. He said why. I said because they understand all the tricks and techniques, such as sandwich questions, machine gun questions, etc. and could see right through the acting. It sort of went downhill from there. We went into a discussion of a jury of peers, I got him into discussing the Magna Carta after I asked him if he even knew the history of the jury of peers. I don't think he did, or had forgotten, because he did not answer.

I asked him if he recalled Clause 39, again he didn't say so I asked the four attorneys. Nobody said yes. I asked if they knew what the word "or" meant because there were some important words after the jury of peers verbiage in Clause 39 and after the word "or."

He changed the subject, the new tact was about getting to the truth. I said it isn't about the truth for any of the four guys in suits standing beside me. I said it is about getting paid. He said do you have a problem with people getting paid. I said sometimes. I said, when one of these guys takes a case, wrongful death, and some widow gets awarded policy limits (no trial, just settles) and the woman who has lost her husband, the children who have lost their father, the parents who have lost a son, get 2/3rds of the settlement and the lawyer gets 1/3rd and all he or she has lost is a few hours, then I have a problem with that.

Then the judge told me it was my civic duty. That sort of set me off and I said that I had a much better track record regarding civic duty and volunteerism than all four attorneys, and him, and the court reporter combined. That I never saw any of them doing anything in the community, none of them were in Rotary or Optimist Club, or doing cleanup after hurricanes or storms or the flood we had dealt with and that I bet the only time they even came to church was right before an election, lol.

As you can see, this went on for some time. I finally told him that this appeared to be a waste of time and that if one side thought they were a better actor than the other, then they should not waste a strike. But if they had any doubt if they were the better actor, it might be wise to use a strike on me. The judge put his head on his desk and said to his clerk "pay the man his six dollars and let him go".

Even though that was what I was after, I nearly asked him why he didn't leave me in the pool and let one side or the other use a strike, but I decided not to push my luck.

DannyDuberstein said:

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Could have saved us some paragraphs and your fellow jury candidates some time by realizing you got yourself struck in the first 2 minutes vs subjecting the room to a 30 minute debate of the magna carta.

Personally, I don't intentionally try to get myself struck because if I'm ever sitting in that defendant chair one day or there as a victim or have a loved one that was a victim, I want normal, intelligent people like me on that panel. So I'm willing to go thru the process as candidly and honestly as possible. If that means a day or couple of days of my time once every 10-15 years (I'm 51 and have served twice- one guilty and one not guilty), so be it.

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You could have not read it if it was too long to suit you. Not required reading after all. You serving (as a normal, intelligent person), is no guarantee of the type of people on the panel if you are a defendant or if a loved one was a victim. They are unrelated.

There are plenty though that really like to serve on a jury. For older folks, they don't have much to do so it occupies some time. For others, it is like looking under a skirt, or in an underwear drawer, because they get to look below the surface into the lives of others. Sort of peeping Toms.. For others it is a day or several days that they get paid and not go to work. I would not get paid if on jury duty so I chose to avoid it.

Of course it is no guarantee. It is more about not being a hypocritical dickbag for wanting a reasonable jury if I ever needed one while not being willing to serve as one.

I have been selected three times and first two I actually was chosen to sit for the actual trial We found the guys guilty both times. On third case I was asked a bunch of questions and his supposed case if you read between the lines during questioning was very similar to the case that we found the first guy guilty

The attorney asked me if I would be able to be unbiased about a person with a felony on his record being caught in a car with a loaded weapon

I told them I could try to but wouldn't guarantee it

They then called me up privately and asked again and I told the defense attorney that if his job was to protect his client then he might not want me as a juror and he promptly dismissed me