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August 24, 2008
Jury Duty...Yay?
Second time in six years. The county hates me.
This time, I was called to serve on a grand jury. Maybe if I just shout "INDICT THEM" all day, they'll let me go. Or make me foreman. Either way, I've stocked up on books and I'm ready to go. Hurry up and wait always goes by faster when you can bury your nose in a novel.
Well that was easy... - Yup, I got picked. It was inevitable, though. The size of the grand jury is 23. The size of the pool? 31. A lot less waiting, though. Entered the room at 9 a.m. and was indicting people by 10:30. So I spent the morning listening to dozens of crimes being committed by people in my community. One month down, 11 to go.
Posted by slublog at August 24, 2008 11:01 PM
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Comments
Just start talking about jury nullification and they'll drop you like a bad habit.
Posted by: Brass at August 25, 2008 12:39 PM
You need an overnight job. They don't seem interested in you if you're going to sleep through it. I'm a contractor and work days through the nights/early mornings. Their 5$ a day is way below my pay grade.
Maybe if it was more like a job people would be more willing. Lets say 50-100$ a day?
Posted by: Droo at August 25, 2008 01:24 PM
I *love* that movie. And I never get called for jury duty - I've only been called once and was dismissed even before voir dire. But grand jury's quite a different matter than a regular jury trial - a huge time commitment.
Posted by: Laura at August 25, 2008 02:13 PM
I got picked for jury duty in Miami, one time. It was a criminal case involving a drug dealer who looked like Charles Manson. We wound up with a hung jury because one jury member - an elderly woman - claimed that the Holy spirit had come to her in the middle of the night and told her the guy was innocent. From that day I have vowed that I would confess to the crime, myself, rather than serve on another jury.
Posted by: Paco at August 25, 2008 05:07 PM
It's true, it can be the MOST annoying and excrutiating thing you've ever been through -- but you never forget it!!
In my state, the Federal Grand Jury that you can get picked for lasts 18 months. These are the people that decide if a crime has even BEEN committed and vote on an indictment.
Yep, one day a week for 18 months.
The people that do it are not always thrilled becasue it's hard if you have a job -- imagine being away from your job for that many months one day a week.
But you will learn things that you may not want to know, but it is your community, it is your neighborhood and these are your leaders.
It helps if you just keep thinking -- what if a crime happened to my family or someone close to me and they knew who did it, but couldn't get a jury together to convict the bad person?
Good luck, Sublog, if you get picked. And, good luck going thru the process until you either get picked or finally get sent home.
Posted by: Kath at August 25, 2008 06:05 PM
oh, I'm sorry, typed too fast --
good luck, S L U B L O G.
Posted by: Kath at August 25, 2008 06:07 PM
Bummer, Slu.
When I was 19 I sent back a summands and I wrote--in chicken scratch-- that "I am a very violent and racist person."
Over ten years later and I haven't been bothered since.
But your best chance at early release now is to mention that you are a steadfast believer in law and order.
Posted by: runninrebel at August 26, 2008 08:59 PM