Jury Duty - what are your experiences?

The first time I was ever called it was for two weeks and I was selected for three different criminal cases. And they all ended up as hung juries... I wonder why? :bash

The first case was a burglary in a home. The husband and wife were in bed and heard a noise. The husband got a pistol to investigate while the wife went out the bedroom door to the neighbors. The neighbor also came out with a gun.

They both confronted the burglar in the home with guns pointed. They told him to wait while they called the police. But the guy just walked out of the house with two guns pointed at him and escaped (crazy or huge cojones?).

Both guys with the guns identified the guy in court. Open and closed case? Well, he had a pretty solid alibi and evidence he had a beard when the two guys said he didn't have a beard. Plus there was evidence about his car which the prosecution never explained. Ended up a 6-6 hung jury and lasted 3 days. Don't know if they retried it.

The second was a stolen credit card. It was stolen in San Francisco and used in Southern Calif. The evidence of guilt was overwhelming, but it ended up a 10-2 hung jury. Two of the jurors figured the victim was a "queer" and didn't trust him. You'd of thought those two would of gotten screened out, but nooooo. The judge gave us on the jury a stern lecture afterwards saying it was the most obvious case of guilt he'd ever seen and that now it would have to be retried at the tax payer's expense. Two days wasted.

The third was a gang rape case and lasted a week. There were multiple counts. We did reach a verdict on one of the more minor counts, but were hung 11-1 or 10-2 on the others.

So after that experience, I wondered how you can ever get 12 people to agree on any verdict. At least I was always with the majority, other than the 6-6 verdict.

After that, I got called for a single case which was projected to last 5 months. The good news is that I had heard of a related case and got dismissed simply because I had read about it (not that I had an opinion).

Next was a drug case, but I got dismissed when I was asked if I had ever been on a hung jury.

And the most recent was here in Park county at Fairplay. It looked like I might get on that case (it was a civil suit over property) but I had to be at home because I had contractors there doing some work and I was the one with the permit and was considered the primary contractor. After I explained the situation, I got dismissed. Also, that's a 1 hour drive and I wouldn't want to do it in the winter with snow warnings.

So good luck with the jury duty!

called for jury duty a couple of time

I have served on one jury and value the experience to this day. to get so many different people from different walks of life to hear and see things in a way to reach an agreement is a difficult thing. I went to observe human behavior as well as of course hear the case. the defendant had an attorney that was new and wanted to get a job with the state and wanted to "show his stuff" so he took the case for free. this guy? arrogant, loud and talked down to us, the jury. we mostly did not like this guy. the da attorney? polite, respectful, organized (pulled out 3 full binders and laid them on the table in front of him). the case was about property damage from someone that ran into the brick wall and flower bed of a yard. the defendant, was at a super bowl party all day and drove home by this house. the allegation was that he was drunk and hit the brick wall and left the scene. he drove home and drank a bunch of beers right then and was "drunk" when the cops got there. so we learned about breathalyzers and how you get drunk and how long it takes, etc. the evidence? well, the guy's license plate was found in the ivy at the brick wall. his attorney tried to turn the case into discrimination against the defendant since he was black. I could not believe how many people on the jury bought that and were against voting guilty. this was where I also learned about where the phrase "red herring". We finally found him guilty, but it took HOURS. Afterwards, we could stick around if we wanted and talk to the attorneys. I stayed and asked what they knew that we never learned during the trial. the guy had many prior dui's. Since he did not testify, we never learned this. so, in the end, we voted correctly.

Only one time loose dog and they didn't choose me for the jury. Sort of happy I got to go back to work but also a little upset I didn't get to sit on the jury. What do I find funny? How some people always get called for jury duty and I have only been called once in decades

Pacamom, your experience sounds interesting. I was amazed at how complicated a simple dui hit and run property damage case was; I could not imagine a grand jury case. I would be interested in hearing it.

I served on one jury (I've been called in and made it to the Voir dire a number of times).

To make a long story short... it was a 6 person jury, case was a male on male rape in a pod at the Denver juvenile detention center... supposed victim and alleged perpetrator both were under 16. It was evident to the whole jury that the defendant was guilty... our 1st vote was 5 to 1... yes, I was the holdout. The problem was the prosecution was sloppy, the employees at the detention center were sloppy,they didn't dot their "i's" and cross their "t's"... things like the a missing date on the incident report. I requested all the official paper that related to the alleged crime... I showed the other jury members where there were problems... after a couple of hours... the vote was 6 all for acquittal.

I let the courthouse feeling horrible, since I knew the defendant was guilty... we all knew... the defendant was so flip on the witness stand, he almost accused himself.

That's our system... and it works because of trials like this. Hopefully all involved were more careful the next time they had to report an incident and convict a criminal.

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote: I served on one jury (I've been called in and made it to the Voir dire a number of times).

To make a long story short... it was a 6 person jury, case was a male on male rape in a pod at the Denver juvenile detention center... supposed victim and alleged perpetrator both were under 16. It was evident to the whole jury that the defendant was guilty... our 1st vote was 5 to 1... yes, I was the holdout. The problem was the prosecution was sloppy, the employees at the detention center were sloppy,they didn't dot their "i's" and cross their "t's"... things like the a missing date on the incident report. I requested all the official paper that related to the alleged crime... I showed the other jury members where there were problems... after a couple of hours... the vote was 6 all for acquittal.

I let the courthouse feeling horrible, since I knew the defendant was guilty... we all knew... the defendant was so flip on the witness stand, he almost accused himself.

That's our system... and it works because of trials like this. Hopefully all involved were more careful the next time they had to report an incident and convict a criminal.

You are a class act. Hope you are proud of your service.
Cranks like you need to be weeded out of jury duty.

what the hell is that supposed to mean?

dropout wrote:

The Liberals GOP Twin wrote: I served on one jury (I've been called in and made it to the Voir dire a number of times).

To make a long story short... it was a 6 person jury, case was a male on male rape in a pod at the Denver juvenile detention center... supposed victim and alleged perpetrator both were under 16. It was evident to the whole jury that the defendant was guilty... our 1st vote was 5 to 1... yes, I was the holdout. The problem was the prosecution was sloppy, the employees at the detention center were sloppy,they didn't dot their "i's" and cross their "t's"... things like the a missing date on the incident report. I requested all the official paper that related to the alleged crime... I showed the other jury members where there were problems... after a couple of hours... the vote was 6 all for acquittal.

I let the courthouse feeling horrible, since I knew the defendant was guilty... we all knew... the defendant was so flip on the witness stand, he almost accused himself.

That's our system... and it works because of trials like this. Hopefully all involved were more careful the next time they had to report an incident and convict a criminal.

You are a class act. Hope you are proud of your service.
Cranks like you need to be weeded out of jury duty.

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Just WOW......are you saying that ACCURACY and doing your job EFFICIENTLY do NOT count when a life is hanging in balance? Are
you REALLY saying that those in positions of POWER should NOT be called upon to be accountable for their work......BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT....ponder upon those words for a moment......they are placed in the instructions for a reason.....to ENSURE that
due diligence was performed.....JMO