Jury Duty

[matthewb0051]

I have jury duty today. (Actually in it right now as I type) This is a first for me mainly because of being in the Army for so long that the only other time I received a summons I was out of the state. Another time after I retired I was a resident of Virginia but got a summons from Tennessee because I was on their rolls due to being executor of an estate in the county.

There is no exemption for attorneys in Texas, which I believe is pretty odd. I represent criminal defendants in every court in the county so I know the judges and ADAs fairly well. I also share office space with several plaintiff's attorneys. Pretty sure I'm not the juror either side would want, whether criminal or civil.

Today is just appear via Zoom. If you get selected then in person tomorrow. I believe voir dire is on Zoom as well. That should be a treat.

A couple of things that have struck me:

There are people on the Zoom that thus far I would not want deciding my fate nor that of any of my clients. Pretty sure one guy was driving a car/truck while appearing. Others looked like they just rolled out of bed. One woman didn't even know her address.

The best/worst/funniest thing that happened: Judge began swearing in all 400 people and shared screen the oath, telling everyone to raise their hands. At that moment a huge number of people raised their virtual hands and began actually reading the oath rather than raising their actual hand and letting the judge read the oath.

[john70t]

I've watched the "Bull" t.v series and gotten a fictional taste of jury selection.
Yeah, in this day and age..

[GH85Carrera]

I had Jury on the Monday last week after Daylight Savings just recently. So body time, I got to get up super early to be downtown Oklahoma City and be at the courthouse at 8:00 AM.

The parking garage is across the street from the courthouse. I walked down 6 flights of stairs and a worker was pointing the way to the tunnel that runs under the street. Down that tunnel and another employee points us down another tunnel that has foot shaped spots to stand every 6 feet. Every few minutes we move forward 15 people at a time. Finally down a long tunnel we get to the stairs to take us up into the security area of the courthouse. Off with the belt, empty my pockets, and go through security.

Go into a large room, get my summons bar code scanned and go find a seat. The seats are comfortable at least. We sat there and they had several announcements. About 10:00 AM they called about 30 names, all women's names, and they were all told they were done for today, but to report to Juvenile Court at a different location tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM. It seems weird it was 100% women they called.

Finally just before the lunch break they called 30 names and one was mine. We went into a room next to the big room, and he said several case had settled that morning, and we were done for jury duty, and we were released.

I have been called for jury duty 6 times, only once did I get to a jury. It was a second day of the trial and the judge told us to go stand in the hall. A few minutes later he said it was a mistrial. I have no idea why, but it did not matter, it was done.

[matthewb0051]

We've been on break for the last 35 minutes.

The number of people that ask questions is staggering but what is really staggering is how little people seem to know about the system. Stuff that it doesn't take a law degree to know.

[Scott Douglas]

I would think the majority of people are ignorant of how the 'system' works. It's not really something that is ever taught in school as far as I know.
I've probably learned more about how the system works by watching shows like Bull, SVU, Law and Order, oh and reading things here, and, how could I forget Judge Judy.
In the way distant past I used to like watching Perry Mason too.

[matthewb0051]

All the 'what if' questions gave me a flashback to basic training.

Drill sergeant was asked a 'what if' question and he replied: what if worms had machine guns?

Birds would be in deep $hite.

I've carried that with me since 1987. Just as funny and applicable now as it was then.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

I would think the majority of people are ignorant of how the 'system' works. It's not really something that is ever taught in school as far as I know.
I've probably learned more about how the system works by watching shows like Bull, SVU, Law and Order, oh and reading things here, and, how could I forget Judge Judy.
In the way distant past I used to like watching Perry Mason too.

I learned how the system worked when I was sued. Never lost,(was never wrong) but spent a lot of time and money over the years. Cost me $25k for a judge to dismiss the plaintiffs case and tell him he has never seen such a frivolous lawsuit in all his years on the bench.

I wish it was like the Judge Judy.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

I would think the majority of people are ignorant of how the 'system' works. It's not really something that is ever taught in school as far as I know.
I've probably learned more about how the system works by watching shows like Bull, SVU, Law and Order, oh and reading things here, and, how could I forget Judge Judy.
In the way distant past I used to like watching Perry Mason too.

I'm pretty sure that I learned the basics in school. Maybe Government class in the 11 or 12 grade? But then I know that education (teachers, curriculum, etc...) can vary greatly from place to place.

[Scott Douglas]

I remember a co-worker getting sued when some person claimed his dog bit her. What a total sham that was. Small claims court but still cost him time and money too but I forget how much. His dog was/is under threat of being put down if he ever bites someone else too.
One thing I learned from his experience is never put your name on the outside of your house.

[Scott Douglas]

I was picked as a juror on one of my jury duty summons in years past.
I was in the box and they were questioning alternates. They then asked if anyone had reason to believe they might not be able to give an unbiased judgement. I raised my hand and told them I had been laid off but it was probably more a case of age discrimination than anything else. Because the case was of that type, employee vs employer, I was let go, even though I said I'd like to think I could be fair and impartial.

Growing up I had friends often tell me they thought I should be a cop.

[matthewb0051]

I made it onto a panel for a felony court tomorrow. Voir dire begins tomorrow morning.

The stupid thing is I know the judge and the ADAs in that court and have cases in the court as well. It is very unlikely that I will be kept around.

So why allow me to get this far? Now I'm just a vacancy waiting to happen giving the two sides one fewer people to select a jury from.

In addition, I have a case going to trial on Monday. This is a nice distraction.

[MRM]

Matthew, haven't you selected a civilian jury yet? Do you handle criminal defense exclusively? I've had two or three civil juries where I deliberately left lawyers on the panel. I thought both cases were ones where a lawyer would recognize the correct result and it went well for me. I wouldn't be surprised if they left you on. If I were the defense I certainly wouldn't strike you, and depending on the type of case and who else to chose from I would be inclined to keep you if I was the prosecutor.

Speeder's dad was the one who actually taught me how to chose strikes from the jury panel. He would have recommended striking you because you would be a leader in the jury room and he advised that the only one you want leading the jury is you (as the lawyer). I left the lawyers on my juries despite his admonition because I thought they would understand my case and would lead the jury to the right conclusion. One of the lawyers was a very established plaintiff's PI attorney when I was defending an accident case on liability grounds, but the plaintiff pulled into oncoming traffic, so I felt pretty confident that any lawyer would find liability in my driver's favor and I felt better putting the decision in the lawyer's hands rather than a lay jury that could have gotten confused.

P.S. Good luck on Monday. Let us know how it goes.

[matthewb0051]

One of the questions/concerns that I heard expressed numerous times was the length of jury duty. There were people under the impression that today was IT and nothing further was going to happen. Another question was: "So, after I show up tomorrow that will be all?"

I looked back at the summons and it did not state how long to expect, literally contained no guidance to help folks manage their expectations. So I'll cut them some slack. But I bet most of them followed the OJ trial or any other big trial that lasted weeks/months. How can you not make the leap that you could get locked up on a jury for a long time, not just one day?

[ramonesfreak]

no exemption here either. just got called but didn’t have to serve. that’s twice now.

i think it’s every 6 years here

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by matthewb0051

One of the questions/concerns that I heard expressed numerous times was the length of jury duty. There were people under the impression that today was IT and nothing further was going to happen. Another question was: "So, after I show up tomorrow that will be all?"

I looked back at the summons and it did not state how long to expect, literally contained no guidance to help folks manage their expectations. So I'll cut them some slack. But I bet most of them followed the OJ trial or any other big trial that lasted weeks/months. How can you not make the leap that you could get locked up on a jury for a long time, not just one day?

one of my paralegals got stuck on a murder trial for 3 months. gone the entire summer - at least that’s where she said she was 🤪

[rumlyne]

I'm 70
when I was in grade school (elem.) it was called "CIVICS" If you read the
news, they clearly no longer teach how our government USED to work.

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by MRM

Matthew, haven't you selected a civilian jury yet? Do you handle criminal defense exclusively?

Speeder's dad was the one who actually taught me how to chose strikes from the jury panel. He would have recommended striking you because you would be a leader in the jury room and he advised that the only one you want leading the jury is you (as the lawyer). .

I only do criminal work. Wait, that didn't sound good. Criminal defense. I've selected a bunch of juries in the Army, but never a civilian jury. The real difference is that the Commanding General selects a pool of potential jurors from his/her entire command. Then that is whittled down by voir dire just like any other court. The Army got smacked around a few years ago by an appellate court for having a regulation that specified no lawyers, doctors, dentists, would even be placed in the jury pool. After that, I seemed to always have some dentist on my jury.

The thing about striking lawyers and not wanting them to be a leader in the jury room seems to be a pretty commonly held belief. I'd hate to have someone back in the room that could say whether I was right or wrong on something.

[GH85Carrera]

The told me after getting called last week that I was exempt for the next 5 years. If I get called I can tell them I was called in 2022, they can verify it and let me off. Heck I would not really mind being on a jury, but I have never been that far in the process. After age 70 a citizen does not have to serve, it becomes optional.

I figure if they were arrested they must be guilty, life in prison!

[pwd72s]

I HATED jury duty...the thought of having that much power over other lives really bothered me.

One of the few pluses of being an Oregon old fart. Once past your 70th birthday, you can say no thanks.

[MRM]

Originally Posted by matthewb0051

I only do criminal work. Wait, that didn't sound good. Criminal defense. I've selected a bunch of juries in the Army, but never a civilian jury. The real difference is that the Commanding General selects a pool of potential jurors from his/her entire command. Then that is whittled down by voir dire just like any other court. The Army got smacked around a few years ago by an appellate court for having a regulation that specified no lawyers, doctors, dentists, would even be placed in the jury pool. After that, I seemed to always have some dentist on my jury.

The thing about striking lawyers and not wanting them to be a leader in the jury room seems to be a pretty commonly held belief. I'd hate to have someone back in the room that could say whether I was right or wrong on something.

Well, good luck. You're likely to find your military trial experience transfers to civilian court 100%. I also think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the quality of jury you end up with. It always seems bad until you get the final group seated. There's a reason the jury system has been around for so long. At the end of the day there's more common sense in a random jury than seems possible.

Just remember that it's all showtime to the jurors. What we take for granted and have seen a million times before is brand new to them and they're seeing it for the first time. Also, jurors make credibility decisions on the strangest things. They start the second they come into the room and look at counsel and the client sitting at the tables. They want to see someone who is paying attention to them as they walk in and someone who looks organized, whether you are or not. I always keep a banker's box under my table with all my junk in it so the top of my table that the jury can see is clean and has only the exhibit or my notepad or whatever I need right on top. And if you can, memorize the names of the members of the jury panel. Nothing impresses the jury more than a lawyer who steps right up to the jury box and handles voir dire by name. If the judge allows, engage each one in conversation. If you have a bad gut feeling about anyone, strike them. And defer to your client on who to strike. Client's guts are uncannily accurate.