Jury duty

[YoDoug]

I'm at the courthouse again today for jury duty. Yesterday we had to do orientation in the morning. Then we had to come back in the afternoon for jury interviews and selection but after another hour and a half of waiting the judge decided it was too late to start. So they split us into two groups for jury selection today. I'm in the morning group. We had to fill out a survey related to the case and I would be really surprised if I got picked with my answers. I postponed it three times in the last 6 months because of all my work travel. They said I couldn't postpone it again without notarized documents from my job.

[Tim Johnson]

I've only been called for jury duty once but it was federal level. The dates were January 2,3 and 4. I didn't expect to go with those dates and we were called off.

[RobertELee]

They getting ready for another Trump trial? Mayhaps that's why he's coming to MN this week?

[RobertELee]

I've been called for jury duty 4 or 5 times, never had to physically report however. Only had to call in each day during a 2 week period.

[YoDoug]

The thing is, with my personal experience with the justice process, I don't think I could ever convict anyone regardless of how much evidence is presented. I fully believe the system is corrupt and only works if you have money to hire a lawyer.

[Del.]

The thing is, with my personal experience with the justice process, I don't think I could ever convict anyone regardless of how much evidence is presented. I fully believe the system is corrupt and only works if you have money to hire a lawyer.

You ought to tell the judge that. You have no business being a juror.

[YoDoug]

You ought to tell the judge that. You have no business being a juror.

I plan to. I don't want my personal bias from keeping justice being served

[CNCAppsJames]

Been called to jury duty a half-dozen times or so. Been on one jury. We convicted a child molester. He molested a granddaughter and a few nieces.

There was nothing rigged about it. He was a piece of shit and REALLY needed a wood chipper, but due to his age, most likely spent the rest of his natural born life in prison.

[mkd]

[mowens]

I was on a jury in my 20s. A woman shot her cheating boyfriend, then claimed self defense. Her court appointed attorney did a great job and we deliberated for over a day before finally voting to convict. The fact that she had the gun hidden under the cushion of the chair she was sitting in, sort of like she was waiting for him, and went to the door and shot at him several more times as he was running away pretty much did her in.

[Jeff]

I would be really surprised if I got picked with my answers

Tell them you're vegan, they'll dismiss ya.

[Jim at Gentex]

The thing is, with my personal experience with the justice process, I don't think I could ever convict anyone regardless of how much evidence is presented. I fully believe the system is corrupt and only works if you have money to hire a lawyer.

Yes, the system is corrupt to its core, but it does work for the most part, and it is the only thing that stands between decent law-abiding people and those who would deliberately do harm to others.

If you are waiting for a 'perfect' system, it ain't gonna happen. 

Been called to jury duty a half-dozen times or so. Been on one jury. We convicted a child molester. He molested a granddaughter and a few nieces.

There was nothing rigged about it. He was a piece of shit and REALLY needed a wood chipper, but due to his age, most likely spent the rest of his natural born life in prison.

^^^This + eleventy billion.^^^

I was on a jury for a home invasion / rape / robbery case that happened right here in my hometown.
Hearing the direct testimony of the victim was one of the most gut-wrenching experiences of my life.

Then seeing and hearing the MOUNTAIN of physical evidence left at the scene (DNA, fingerprints, etc.) against the man who the police ultimately arrested and charged left ZERO room for doubt in the minds of the jury.

He did have a lawyer representing him, but she really didn't have much of a defense to work with.
She tried to assert in her opening argument that the police got the wrong guy, so we as the jury took that to mean she intended to prove that.
She failed to do so, quite miserably at that.

The only thing she could do was question the credibility of state's expert witnesses, and the chain of custody of all of the physical evidence.
Long story short, everyone did their job properly in securing the evidence, and the expert witnesses gave detailed, scientific analysis of said evidence, and how it pointed to one man, the defendant.

Even his own alibi was contradicted by his own testimony compared to that of his girlfriend who was called to testify as to his whereabouts at the time the crime was committed.
Their stories didn't even match, so that, along with all of the evidence was more than enough to convict him.   

Sometimes the cops DO GET IT RIGHT, and if God forbid it were your or my wife or daughter sitting on that witness stand describing how she was brutalized and raped, we would be thankful that the police did their job in finding and arresting the guy who did the crime, and to the prosecutors for proving it FAR beyond a reasonable doubt. 

[Del.]

Tell them you're vegan, they'll dismiss ya.

Might even get him the death penalty. 😂

[beej]

My wife is a court clerk. She is always impressed by how well the attorney's from the public defenders office represent even the most reprehensible people. our small town might be different than big cities. I'm not sure about that. Around here a lot of the public defenders are young and wanting to establish themselves in a private business someday and they use the public defenders office to build a reputation for being good at what they do.

There are a lot of times though, she wishes she could get some counseling after hearing the things she hears in court especially cases involving child sexual assault.  She doesn't want to come home and talk it out with me because she doesn't want me to have the same pictures in my head that she has in hers.

[beej]

The thing is, with my personal experience with the justice process, I don't think I could ever convict anyone regardless of how much evidence is presented. I fully believe the system is corrupt and only works if you have money to hire a lawyer.

I would wager that there has never been a point in history, in any country, in any part of the world, that people thought they had a fair justice system. Even in England which has a reputation for being more civilized than most other countries, they would behead a person out of mercy rather than the usual drawn, quartered and flayed.

I agree with Jim that our system is not perfect, maybe not even great. But it is definitely better than what has existed throughout most of history, and still exists in a large portion of the world today. Thinking specifically, China, Russia, Mexico, most muslim countries, etc.