Jury Duty – Duty or Joke

[AlkiRagdoll]

I have been summoned twice just this year to serve jury duty. Got out of city, but today I had to do my KC duty. I am self employed and with today’s economy, this is a real hardship — the county does not excuse the self employed as is done by City. Driving to Kent and not working, coupled with not working for a week in December due to the snow is having a real impact on me. I know this is my civic duty, but the County needs to find a better way to do this. They tried to seat me for a rape case, and missing 2+ weeks (da judge warned us first) would have been impossible (the meager fee would not come close to paying half of my mortgage). Seems to me professional jurors might be a good thing — as suggested by my attorney cousin. Sitting around for the day, except for 1 attempted panel, in a room with over 100 others was a real waste of time/joke.

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[Yardvark]

I hear ya, but I’ve a couple tidbits to add:

Sitting around is actually participating. The lawyers upstairs are using the threat of your presence to plea bargain.

You won’t ever have to serve more than a day if it would be that large a financial burden to you.

I’m pretty sure you only have to do jury duty once every year or two, regardless if it’s for the city or county. You probably don’t have to go this time at all.

As for professional juries…most folks call them judges.

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[Yardvark]

Didn’t intend to tell you to blow off a summons. Ya might just call them to cancel the second jury duty.

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[christopherboffoli]

I hear you on the hardships. But it IS an important civic duty. Juries can serve a vital role in the administration of justice. Sometimes they can be better at making tough decisions than judges are, for instance, when judges might be concerned about making a ruling that will come back to haunt them when it is time to be reelected.

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[add]

I agree with AlkiRagdoll AND christopher. I am also self-employed and jury duty is a real hardship – particularly because of the uncertainty of the length of time you “might” be required to serve. I’m not sure where Yardvark is getting the info, but you have to serve a minimum of 2 days provided you are not selected for a jury. If you are selected you are required to remain for the full length of the trial and deliberations. I served a month ago after postponing twice, finally just biting the bullet and blocking out two weeks (meaning I could not contract any work for fear of having to cancel). In the end I was on a case that last 3.5 days and it was very interesting, but I did resent having to give up so much time and revenue (you are paid $10/day plus mileage or a metro pass). I would love to be on a jury if I had an employer who covered my time or when I’m retired, but the court system doesn’t see it that way.

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[Sue]

I haven’t had the “pleasure” of jury duty here yet, but in NYC and in Passaic County, NJ I was called many times. I considered it the biggest waste of time. I work in a law firm and while not exempt from serving, no lawyers would ever use me since I have worked in criminal, accident and corporate law over my career. So they have me sit, they call me in, they question me, they toss me back into the waiting pool, and I wait some more to repeat this over and over again for several days. It was a waste of my time and a waste of theirs. I’m grateful my firm pays me to attend, so it wasn’t a financial hardship, but it was amazing how they’d never, ever sit me on a jury and still call me every year, but then I had friends who’d never been called and were dying to get out of work and serve. I always wondered why there wasn’t some sort of database of people who volunteered to do it who might be called first, before going after those who don’t want to.

Maybe Seattle/KC jury duty will be a different experience for me, but I’m praying I continue to not be called anytime soon to find out.

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[Trick]

I served a week and a half in Superior court, while my employer had me work afterwards until sometimes midnight to only wake up to arrive at the courthouse at 8am.

After the trial, the judge did thank all of us and explained that only about 25% of called jurors even respond and that so far, it is enough to create a jury pool. He also explained that they don’t persue those that don’t show up.

After about 6 months, I was called in again, and I wrote that I had just served 6 months ago and never heard back from them.

I do believe it is “not a waste of time” and even though it may seem dysfunctional, it truly is rewarding to feel you are contributing in a small way to our justice system. I kept thinking if it was me up there, or a family member. Would I want the best jurors to be present?

I personally would be concerned if jurors were not from all backgrounds and demographics. Having spent 4 days deliberating due to one member of the jury who was sympathetic to an obvious thug and violent defendant was exhausting to say the least.

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[christopherboffoli]

I was called for jury duty in NYC too. The best thing about doing jury duty in Manhattan was that the courts are adjacent to Chinatown. So during breaks we could pop out for excellent dim sum and roasted duck.

I got an interesting case with a purse-snatcher who had been working in my neighborhood. NYPD had put a bait purse on the back of a chair in Starbucks and this guy came along, grabbed it and headed for the door. Of course he claimed he was going to go try to find the owner. Um, yeah.

Unfortunately, I never got to hear the outcome of the case. The defense attorneys booted me off the jury panel during voir dire because they thought I’d favor the prosecutor’s case.

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[Yardvark]

Right. Two day minimum here in WA if you are not picked. But they won’t seat you on a long case if you honestly claim it would be an excessive financial burden. Simple cases can last less than a day.

I am self employed and I only had to serve one day of jury duty on a straight forward drunk driving case.

Interesting way to spend a day actually. But I had to make up the lost work ($350 worth) on the weekend.

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[JoB]

while jury duty may seem like a waste of your time… it is still your civic duty… and it serves a very real purpose…

the cases that make it to trial are those in which no plea bargain could be made… so they really do require the eyes and ears of a jury…

it is frustrating to be one of those that for a myriad of reasons the attorneys will never allow to be seated..

i think it would make sense to submit jurors to a questionnaire before they become part of the jury pool.. but then it is doubtful that enough would remain to form a pool..

catch 22.. isn’t it:)

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[saney]

::knock on wood:: i have not yet been called for jury duty. honestly, that is fine with me. my company doesnt pay for us to go, and $10 a day just wont pay my bills. they need to compensante people better for their time, or at least not make it so hard to be excused from jury duty. i like the idea of having registered volunteers be called first. if you were on trial, do you really want a jury full of people that dont want to be there???

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[homedk]

As someone who is also self-employed, I can empathize with the financial hardship issue; but I also I agree with Trick’s comments about the value of having good jurors from all backgrounds.

I also served on a Superior Court jury in Seattle, an experience that is still vivid although it was some time ago. I had many takeaways from that experience that went far beyond the details of the two trials on which I was seated.

I think jury duty is one of the few experiences that can get people out of their own comfort zone & into a new role. It’s important that people periodically have to interact with people of other backgrounds, & give their critical thinking skills some exercise. Jury duty gave me insight into the nature of people & it really emphasized the importance of education. There were some very thoughtful people that put a lot of effort into making good & fair decisions. On the downside, one of the scariest people that I encountered was one of the other jurors, not the person on trial.

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[Yardvark]

Definitely cool to have to work with folks from so many backgrounds on the jury to come to a consensus opinion.

Also insightful to see the real human side of a alledged criminal. I guess we often just hear the accusation and the verdict in the news and simply deem the criminals evil doers. While sure that’s often accurate, it doesn’t exactly encourage understanding…or, more importantly, insightful ideas for crime reduction.

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[MrsL]

The last time I was on jury duty I didn’t make it past the jury selection process. But my first jury duty experience in Seattle I served on a 3 week civil trial. It was an interesting case, with a wide range of people serving on the jury, and it was neat to see the judicial system working in real-time. One guy was selected as an alternate juror who’s employer did not pay his wage while he served. He stuck through all the witness testimony and evidence even though ultimately he could not join in deliberations. I think everyone should sit on a jury at least once in your lifetime. Plus you may even meet your future spouse, like I did. :-)

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[squareeyes]

I served on a jury for an assault on a police officer case. Jury duty, for me, was like going to the theater – the defense tried to play on our sympathies by making sure the defendant was in the hallway with his baby as we filed in after the lunch breaks, the defense attorney/public defender was melodramatic in her speeches, and the arresting officers – we all felt that the testimony of the arresting officers was creative at best. I had to remind myself to stay focused, not be distracted by the theatrics of the process, and keep my emotions out of it. We aquitted the defendant.

While I was fascinated by the process, and very impressed with the judge, I was disturbed to witness a dark side to the police force.

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[christopherboffoli]

homedk & squareeyes: You’ve both hit the nail on the head with your excellent comments. The process of being a juror can be a fascinating and educational experience on so many levels. Not only does the situation present challenges in terms of interacting with other jurors, but the life-changing aspects of the situation (for the plaintiffs and defendants) can force you to confront your own biases in the process of trying to view the merits of the case with objective, independent thinking. In my mind it is always jury duty is always a valuable exercise, despite the temporary loss of income.

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[The Velvet Bulldog]

I had a very negative jury duty experience, unfortunately–a murder case in KC Superior which lasted nearly four weeks. Went into work before court, during lunch break, and after. I was fortunate that my employer was paying me even though I wasn’t there full time. This case made me lose sleep and has haunted me ever since. Because the prosecution’s evidence wasn’t completely solid, and the public defender was lazy and ridiculous, we ended in a hung jury. Ultimately, we found out the defendant admitted to the murder, but did so as a juvenile without a lawyer present so the judge threw it out. I NEVER want to go through anything like that again.

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[Julie]

AlkiRagDoll, thank you for your service.

I think jurors should be much better compensated, but that means raising taxes–a hard sell, as we have seen….

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[Sky2625]

I’ve got KC jury duty scheduled for the middle of June. I did it about 7 years ago, too, but wasn’t selected for a jury. Got a lot of reading done though.

It’s definitely a civic duty. The right to be tried by a jury of our peers is one of the oldies-but-goodies found in the un-amended Constitution.

Pleasurable or not, convenient or not, performing this duty is a very easy way that each of us can safeguard one of the most fundamental civil rights of our fellow citizens.

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[HMC Rich]

If you can’t afford to do it, then do not go.

I enjoy performing my civic duty. It is fascinating to see how the process really works. I love the Voir Dire process of picking jurors. I usually get thrown out immediately after answering the lawyers questions but once in a while I have gotten picked.

I also find the officers testimony very important. Some of the lawyers are brutal while questioning them. I also know too many people take the officers account as gospel. I like cops but they are not the Judge and jury, they just try to enforce the law. I value what they do for us, except when I get a speeding ticket.

Just be careful when you are deliberating to shut the doors. One time a gang-banger came into our room to get some coffee. There was a minor arguement with him. You never know what might happen at court.

Some people get jury fever. Your there so you want to help. Also, I think they should make people take a hearing test. Some people just can’t hear that well and unfortunately, if somebody misinterprets something in the trial, it could affect the outcome.

I haven’t had to do it in awhile. Maybe they have wifi these days. I know I caught up on a lot of reading when I did go.

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[Erik]

HMC Rich – I’m glad you brought up the hearing aspect of it. As a profoundly deaf person I’d be asking my fellow jurors what was said. However, my ability to read body language is highly refined (probably because I’m deaf) and I’d most likely come to an opposite conclusion than the others based on that.

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[elisabethf]

I’ve got Superior Court duty in June. Hoping either 2 days or a really interesting, not too grisly trial. Tell ya what I resent… Seattle Municipal Court! What a waste of time. Last time I served, there was one trial with a married couple over a pseudo-assault charge (we witnessed the couple snuggling in the hallway) and one involving two ladies who’d gotten into a street fight over some dude. In that one, we learned what happens when you are defending/attacking with glued-on fingernails… ick! And we were there to decide on misdemeanor charges! Not felonies. I agree with those who are in favor of professional or volunteer jurors for Muni Court, at least.

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