OT: Jury duty

[schweig]

Anyone done it here, is it anything other than a pain in the ass? I'll do my duty, but yeah. A couple people told me they were called and cancelled before the date came. Apparently you have to pay to park with the construction.

[bigkurty]

They reimburse your parking I thought. I have done it. I actually thought it was pretty cool and a lot of fun to take part in. It's definitely something I recommend doing at least once. Unfortunately my jury ended up hung even though the guy was guilty as hell. Mine was about a guy fleeing the police. Um he drove into oncoming traffic, sped up to what the officer estimated was 60 in a 35, and did this all during rush hour. Eventually he pulled over since he realized he couldn't get away. His excuse was the music in his car was turned up too loud so he couldn't hear the siren and he had his center rear view mirror down since he drives at night a lot. It was total BS that two completely whacked out people wanted him to get off cause well you know there is a 0.00001% chance what he was saying was true and he just happened to drive into on coming traffic and speed up at the precise moment in time when the cop was trying to pull him over. Milwaukee county sucks because you get such a crazy mix of people, no one can ever agree. Its sad how people fail to use common sense in these occasions. BTW, I looked up the guys criminal record when it was over and his rap sheet is about a mile long. his own father had a restraining order against him. His ex wife has the same. He is been arrested for fleeing the police 2 or 3 times before. Many disorderly conduct tickets, etc. What a loser we let go.

[MajorDad]

I did it in Florida. We all went to a big auditorium and waited around for about 4 hours to see if we were needed for any ongoing trial. Then they let us go at lunch time saying thanks , but no thanks, they didn't need us. i would definitely bring a book or something to do. You will be bored. if you bring a newspaper, they may not want you to serve as you may have formed a pre-trial opinion - some food for thought.

[Buck You]

I did it in Florida. We all went to a big auditorium and waited around for about 4 hours to see if we were needed for any ongoing trial. Then they let us go at lunch time saying thanks , but no thanks, they didn't need us. i would definitely bring a book or something to do. You will be bored. if you bring a newspaper, they may not want you to serve as you may have formed a pre-trial opinion - some food for thought.

Oh my god, that's horrible. You waited four hours just for them to say they didn't need you? Even if they do need you, that's 4 hours of waiting plus maybe more of sitting in the court room and then deciding the verdict. Man, I hope they miss me on the list. I'm 18 now so I have to watch out for this stuff.

[schweig]

Thanks everybody for the input. I'm not too opposed to it in general but was disappointed when I saw the letter because my job's not one that'll have any allowances for it, and I don't want to have to catch up around weekends and stuff for it. Other than that I wouldn't really mind being part of the process even with all the time sitting around. Haha that's a good thought about the newspaper, gotta stay informed, whoops. I wouldn't have thought to bring anything along for the down time either. It's not worth it to me to pull anything crazy but that doesn't sound too crazy.

Kurty did you do it before the Marquette Interchange stuff? It looks like they pay $16 a day or whatever for the duty, but it looks like parking'll come out of that, they make it sound like it's different now for a while with the construction. Or I could use the free bus pass they sent to "help out" with that situation.

[bigkurty]

like they pay $16 a day or whatever for the duty, but it looks like parking'll come out of that, they make it sound like it's different now for a while with the construction. Or I could use the free bus pass they sent to "help out" with that situation.

Actually yeah you are right I think. I did it 2 years ago so the interchange thing was going on. I lived by water st. so I cabbed it over there to avoid the hassle of finding parking so my $16.00 probably covered that. My work gave me paid leave for that though. Who the heck do you work for where they don't give you paid leave for jury duty? I could see if its a part time thing but if you have a full time job and they wont pay you, thats some BS. Companies have to legally give you off to do it but they don't have to pay you the missed pay but most do in my experience.

[MajorDad]

the thing about jury duty is that the county has to have a lot more prospective jurers than they will use. So they develop what amounts to a pool of prospective jurers who may or may not be called upon to be in an actual jury. You've probably seen on TV how a lawyer can reject a jurer without any real cause. So the county has to ensure there are extra people on hand to replace that jurer. dependent on the county and the time of year, you could have 0 -10 trials taking place in one week. the trials are scheduled way in advance. So the county draws in what they think will be enough jurors to handle all of the scheduled trials. I was one of about 100 potential jurors that had to sit and wait. They picked about 20 at random and those people got to be on a jury trial that week. While not being selected to be on a jury, I found it to be an interesting process.

[ReddManBogieMan]

I did it 3 years ago when i was 18. It was a great experience. They took a group of 40 and narrowed it down to about 25 after asking basic questions. Then both attorneys and the judge asked questions and narrowed it down to 12 jurors.

got payed for the whole day even though I was only there for 6-7 hours with a free lunch in there too.

It was such a obvious case that it only took like 10 minutes to decide that he was guilty.

He was drunk as hell, crashed into a traffic light, pissed his pants, and blew twice the legal limit. Duh, I think he is guilty of DWI.

[schweig]

where they don't give you paid leave for jury duty?

[]D [] []\/[] []D

Naw, but I'm classified as an independent contractor so some of the employment rules don't stretch across all the time. I've guess I've got reasons for not posting exactly what here but it's no big deal or secret, I'd tell you at a postgame some time.

ReddBogie, that's crazy that 10-minute case took 6 hours, but that would be fun in a way to have a case so clear, take some of the weight and wondering off it. "...Exhibit F, the defendant's peed pants."

[th87]

I really liked jury duty. I'd never done it before, so it was something new, and the process was fascinating. Actually met some girls too.

I was called over for a grand theft auto case, and it turned out that I knew both the alleged thief AND the victim. What are the odds? Needless to say, I wasn't selected.

Fun times though.

[Cobalt]

I was called as a "reserve" once. Had to phone in everyday at Noon and some time in the evening to see if they needed me. Half the times the phone number didn't work or the message was still from the previous time we had to call. Regardless to say, I never had to go in.

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

I did it when I was a college student in Boston. Didn't get paid because I didn't have a job at the time; I think it would have been possible to get the state to pay me minimum wage or something like that, but there was paperwork involved.

It was a worthwhile experience. The case I was on lasted two days - I had never been in a court room so it was nice to see how everything works.

[Chapter29]

Oh my god, that's horrible. You waited four hours just for them to say they didn't need you? Even if they do need you, that's 4 hours of waiting plus maybe more of sitting in the court room and then deciding the verdict. Man, I hope they miss me on the list. I'm 18 now so I have to watch out for this stuff.

4 hours?

I waited 2 days only to be sent home.

The only good news was that a coworker of mine was called too. We just hooked our laptops up and gamed against each other, so it wasn't all bad.

[upnorthfan]

I was on a jury a few years back. Made the cut and then was voted "foreman" by my fellow jurors. They gave us a McDonalds lunch and a paltry salary.

If I recall correctly, I was in the jury pool for like three months, meaning anytime over that time you're like "on call".

Good experience, but it takes your time. I didn't get paid by my employer, perhaps because I always worked on commission? I dunno know I never thought about it.

[yuedar]

Ya I have jury duty in April (was supposed to in january but extended it to a slightly warmer time...) I am not looking forward to it. I don't think my job gives paid leave but I havent brought it up with my boss yet.
I suppose it could be interesting but I really don't wanna do it. Atleast im a backup so I have to call some hotline to see if im needed.

[Buck You]

-= original quote snipped =-



4 hours?

I waited 2 days only to be sent home.

The only good news was that a coworker of mine was called too. We just hooked our laptops up and gamed against each other, so it wasn't all bad.

I hate waiting so much, but I always wanted to help solve a crime so hopefully when I get called I don't have to wait too long.

[Mags FTW]

Tell them you hate everyone but white people and you'll get to go home.

[schweig]

Yeah that's a little crazier than I'm willing to get, or showing up in an executioner's suit like that commercial a few years back...

The process sounds interesting enough beside the waiting, and also knowing that Omar from The Wire wouldn't be a witness saying stuff like "he's too trifling to throw the gun away!" and nodding when the prosecution tries to put him down, that takes something away from it too.

[crkone]

You just say you recognize the defendant from somewhere and you're out if you get picked.

[mpg]

Jury duty is just boring. I sat in there for two days and didn't get called. I read a book and we got to go to the museum for free during lunch which was 1.5 hours I think.