Jury Duty

Well I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one Fred.

My first experience with the legal system was when I was 16. Local yokel gave me a ticket for a load exhaust. After pulling me over, that was the only thing he found questionable on the truck. Went to the local Justice of Peace at the time to fight it. Local JP lived in the area where I was cited and hated the noise everyone was making and "wanted to send a message to all my friends" I was not even in my home turf. I fought the ticket because I was driving the shop truck, a commercial vehicle, and the law was on my side. Took me 3 trips to him before he threw out the ticket which should have been done the first time IF HE HAD READ THE FREAKING LAW HE WAS SUPPOSED TO UPHOLD.

2nd occurence. We repaired a vehicle for a customer, were paid and no problem. My dad owned the shop at the time. Several months later we get subpoened for all shop records of the repair along with someone to explain everything about the repair. Seems like the customer was a city of Reading councilman who may have been drinking when he had the accident. The local DA was out to get him. All political implications. First hearing I sat outside and was not called and the hearing was continued. After 3 more hearings in which we were subpoened again for each, they went to trial. Now again a subpoena to appear in the morning. Sat there until lunch when they decided to break. I cornered the DA asking when the hell they were going to get to my testimony. I was then informed that he didn't believe that I would be needed. I really flipped out on him right in the courtroom. I explained how much time I had already lost through the prelim hearings and now all morning at the trial and I could now go home without ever testifying to anything. How dare he waste my time !!! How much it had cost my father to send me to court and how little work we had done on the vehicle that any profit was lost long ago. And that all the time he was playing his little game he and all the others were getting paid, while the normal law abiding hard working citizens paid for his witch hunt. I told him that the next time he ever needed any help, he had better send deputies who would physically take me to testify !!!!!!!

Then I get involved in the before mentioned trial. We had a freaking pool everyday to see exactly when the trial would begin each day. How pitiful is that ?? After the trial we learned so much more detail about the trial testimony then we actually heard during the trial. This whole damn legal system is a sham. Shouldn't mall the cards be on the table before making decisions on guilt or innocence?? It boils down to who can out maneuver the other. Who can use the right words to twist the meaning of another's words. Long gone are the days of right and wrong. And I think Bill Clinton made that quite clear.

I think it was 2 years ago down here where a former DA was deer hunting with his nephew when his nephew shot and killed another hunter who was either dragging a deer or gutting it by a stream. Now this former DA not only waited to call the police, he didn't come right out and tell the responders what had happened. He also instructed his nephew on how to damage the gun used to kill another so that they could not trace the gun as the weapon used. They along with another were hunting with rifles in a shotgun only area. And the nephew as a convicted felon was not allowed to own guns but had amassed quite the arsenal. All under the knowledge of the former DA. Scumbags all of them. And these are the people who are supposed to be upholding the law ????? Gimme a break......

And as a small business man like Terry, I can not afford to play these damn games.I and my employees are not at the point where I could leave for more than 1 day without my guidance to keep the work flowing and the money coming in to the checkbook. Years ago when these brushes with the system happened, I was just an employee and we had enough cross training to keep the shop's workflow going. It is not that way right now. If an amployee received a notice to appear, it would be honored. But not for me !!!!



Rick

I haven't been notified in over 15 years. Last time I went they put us all in a room where we had to take a written "test", asking us questions pertaining to the type of business implicated in this particular case. Basically they wanted to see if anyone was biased against this type of business .. or not.

I got in there all pissed off because I had just spent 15 minutes driving in circles & wasting fuel I couldn't afford trying to find a god damn parking spot. Par for the course in that *censored* of a city. Finally I said *censored* it & just parked in the middle of one section of the lot. There were other ways out of the lot for the other people, so I wasn't concerned .. but a ticket, especially in Worcester, was guaranteed. SO we take the stupid 5 page test, then sit in a room for hours & HOURS .... then we finally get called into the courtroom where the plaintiff & lawyer were. The judge explained that they could challenge anyone present for any reason, & they would be removed from the process. I was still pretty irritated about just getting there, so I may have had a slight scowl on my puss. For whatever reason I was challenged .... and I haven't been "invited" back since. Could've been my ripped up jeans & battery-acid tattered Iron Maiden shirt ... or the scowl ... can't be sure ...

Got paid a whopping $7 by the state for my trouble (an hours pay at the time) .... and had to pay a $15 parking ticket when I got out. Perfect ....

You ought to see the new courthouse they just built that was completely unnecessary. Millions upon millions of dollars .... and even LESS parking than the old one. Unbelievable .... even by MA standards ....

I guess being from a small area, even our close by big city is nothing compared to what you guys are talking about.The court people actually try to help you out here. When they set a time frame, they stay pretty close to it. Sounds like they just play power games elsewhere>

gaw wrote:I was on a jury a little over a year ago, just as an alternate. I found it interesting, educational and it gave me a 3 year pass on any other jury duty summons. I used it once already just a couple of months ago.
You have to ask yourself “what if it was me sitting at the defendants table?” Someone has to be a juror, its comforting to know that your fate will be decided by the twelve people too dumb to get out of jury duty.

I like that phrase, "12 people too dumb to get out of jury duty". used it myself. never, ever been called to jury duty, after, 25 years ago giving them the idea that I was nuts, unable to make a rational decision due to my, at the time, hatred of lawyers. Of course I am better now.

Hope you guys never need the service of those 12 dumb people.

Jury Duty is another one of those fantastic ironies of our life here in the United States. I've never met anyone who was just gushing about being called to serve. I may sound like Florence Nightingale here,but I don't think those 12 folks were genuinely that ignorant to get out of serving. They may have grudgingly accepted loss of personal freedom,money,decent accomodations,decent respect and treatment of themselves just to uphold some of our basic principals of Justice. All this with the knowledge that our Justice System has become a corrupt,cash oriented and good'ol mean spirited mess when witnessed by the common U.S. Citizen. Damned shame,but alot of us just do it willingly to uphold the ghost of a great principal once believed in,that the little guy can get just as fair of a shake as the big guy........Amen....Oh,and I can thank the late Federal Judge Ann Aldridge for alot of my views...It was an honor and believe it or not,damn near a pleasure to have served in her Courtroom...R.I.P Judge

Hambden Bob wrote:Jury Duty is another one of those fantastic ironies of our life here in the United States. I've never met anyone who was just gushing about being called to serve. I may sound like Florence Nightingale here,but I don't think those 12 folks were genuinely that ignorant to get out of serving. They may have grudgingly accepted loss of personal freedom,money,decent accomodations,decent respect and treatment of themselves just to uphold some of our basic principals of Justice. All this with the knowledge that our Justice System has become a corrupt,cash oriented and good'ol mean spirited mess when witnessed by the common U.S. Citizen. Damned shame,but alot of us just do it willingly to uphold the ghost of a great principal once believed in,that the little guy can get just as fair of a shake as the big guy........Amen....Oh,and I can thank the late Federal Judge Ann Aldridge for alot of my views...It was an honor and believe it or not,damn near a pleasure to have served in her Courtroom...R.I.P Judge

But that's my point Bob. If SMART people starting serving on juries, maybe we could change reality!

http://fija.org/

Where is the protection for Jurors from becomming bankrupt. Are we trying to protect the murders and punish the hard working? Why are all judicial employees exempt? are they not citizens? are they not neighboors?

50/day? are you kidding me. How much are the lawyers making? Judge? Clerks? Bondsman?Sherrifs?

Whos getting the short end here?

Im sure the system made sense at one point but like all else it has become a corrupt bureaucracy.

Send me the video tape Ill watch it and email my verdict thanks.

Jpete,I'm glad we agree on the quality and continuity of a jury. We agree.......Valt,I cannot argue with you. Things blow as they now stand. In the end,it is us who have allowed the jurist process to slide right into the shi_ _er. However,much like so many glaring problems,no group has been formed to make this a high visibility problem that force the government sloths to fix it. People that stand up are picked off one by one,or become burned out and ostracised by the general public as "radical". Welcome to he Human Nature show. All successful groups and nations of Human Beings seem to display this destructive behaviour and collapse. If we don't buck the trend,we'll join them in the History books......

I have never been asked to serve, and I can't say I would look forward to it...BUT if the day comes and I'm on trial for some bullshit charge, I hope 12 hard working coal burners get dragged in to serve.

About 12 years ago I was called to jury duty.Drove 16 miles to the county seat,parked the vehicle and went thru the metal scanner etc. Took the paperwork questionaire and went into the "big room". Waited till lunch without being called. The bailiff announced we could leave the building for lunch and be back by 1300. As I was leaving to eat, I stopped to appreciate the paintings in the lobby of the courthouse.All of a sudden out of the blue, a bailiff began reading me the riot act about loitering in a place where active proceedings are taking place.The picture appreciation stopped. At about 1600 my name was called to go into a smaller room.In that room were more than 12 people,maybe 16 or 20. One by one they called us out of the room.I was one of the last to be called. When I was,it was directly to the courtroom. I was told that this was a capital murder case and the guy present with police guard was accused of raping,robbing and stabbing to death an 86 year old woman in her second floor apt.I was only asked a couple of questions,one was to state if I was ever in the military.answer yes. another was ,in my current employment did I have responsibility for or direct supervision of any employees. answer yes. How many employees, answer 27. Dismissed by the lawyer for the defense. If called ,I would show up again in spite of the fact that there is a chance that yet another productive day could be wasted .In my way of seeing it ,they should not be allowed to ask these types of questions. Mike

See what happens when you gotta go to Norristown. That is still the County seat, yes??? PS--good for you SPM

Yep Fred, Norristown is still the county seat for Montgomery County. That fine town that it is...............


I always liked the question "Are you inclined to give more credibility to a police officer's statement vs. a common citizen ?" Not knocking the police but c'mon. That is about the most loaded question there ever was. Isn't the whole purpose of a jury to decide who to believe more ? The state or the defendant ???

And then when you see how in some cases both sides bring in all these experts to just pick a damn jury ???

What ever happened to common sense?? Lay all the cards on the table and let them fall where they may.




Rick

I always liked the part where both sides swear to tell the truth but their lawyers don't & the lawyers do all the talking & don't allow the defendant talk in most cases. Where I live now wouldn't be bad for jury duty, Meadville is a small town. Pittsburgh on the other hand & probably the same for any large city is the pits, the way you were treated I felt like I was the one being accused of doing wrong.

Back in the early 70's while cruising through Bryn-Athyn ( pleasant lil town if you're not Swedenborg) on the old panhead and got pulled over. The local gestapo schmuck went through my handle bar bag & found an ounce of some nice Afghany opiated black hashish & for some reason figured it was mine Anyhow, ended up having to visit my P.O. in good old Norristown for the next 18 mos. I guess they gave me a break being a demented Vet. fresh back from the Nam. Yea, it wasn't all that pleasant of a Town back when.