Effing jury duty

[Gil Bang 25980]

On jury duty right now. The fucking cafeteria is closed and all of the vending machines are empty because the county is “seeking bidders” for them.

FML I’m hungry.

[Gil Bang 25980]

So, they called a shit-ton of prospective jurors in today.

Right out of the gate, the called 40 names and sent them to a courtroom.

Then an hour or two later, they called 75 names, and gave them all written questionnaires to fill out.

Then, at 11:30, they called another 40 names and sent them to another courtroom.

Immediately after, they said "if we haven't called your name, your service is complete, you may leave".

[High Plains Drifter 11050]

 

I got a summons for federal court. I have to call in on Sunday to see if I have to go in the next week. Every sunday from last Sunday until June.

 

I certainly don't mind doing my civic duty, but damn, am I not supposed to make any plans for the next two months.

 

 

[Speedtrucker 2071]

 
I got a summons for federal court. I have to call in on Sunday to see if I have to go in the next week. Every sunday from last Sunday until June.
 
I certainly don't mind doing my civic duty, but damn, am I not supposed to make any plans for the next two months.
 
 

What district are you?

Can’t be eastern, that’s not how they do it up here

[TwiceHorn 31509]

Got called in Tuesday a week ago for my biennial jury duty.  Tuesday was a good sign to start with.

They just grabbed one random batch, the "right side of the room" and sent them up to a court, waited until about noon and sent the rest of us home.

[Hate 20120]

My wife just got called for a 5th time. I still remain free of having been called.

[HenryJames 66133]

Have to report on Monday. Filled out the questionnaire they sent today.

[Hank Scorpio 17729]

Was juror #10 on a panel for a capital murder (but no death penalty) case, which means if one of the parties didn't strike me I was fucked. Luckily my extreme opinions and off putting personality saved the day and I was dismissed. 

[Hate 20120]

On 4/10/2023 at 8:49 AM, Hate said:

My wife just got called for a 5th time. I still remain free of having been called.

I guess I finally jinxed myself.  I got called last month but didn't get chosen.  I'm off the hook for the next couple of years now. 

[South Austin 52521]

I'll say this about jury duty -- I had a week long jury trial earlier in the year.  As you would expect, many of the folks upon hearing from the judge that they were selected as jurors looked about as thrilled as going in for a colonoscopy.  It was a pretty complex real estate case, both sides tried their best to present the case in a way that was easy for the lay juror to understand, and they seemed to be paying attention throughout the week, but you never know.

After they reached their verdict around 8:00 p.m. on Friday, the judge tells them they are released and free to go, but that the lawyers may want to spend some time with them to get their thoughts on the case and feedback on what they could have done better.  It's pretty great information to get as a trial lawyer, especially since so few cases these days go to trial. 

You'd think that most jurors would flee the courthouse as fast as they can, but most of them stayed with the lawyers and chatted about half an hour.  Their discussion of the case and recollection of the witness testimony throughout the week showed they indeed were paying attention.  And most of all, they all expressed that at the end of the week they felt good about serving on the jury and were glad to have that experience.  That's pretty much been my experience with jurors over the course of my career.

So that's my discourse in civic duty.  I'm among you as someone who'd rather not spend a week or more away from my job.  But if you're called, I think you'll enjoy the experience. 

[TwiceHorn 31509]

25 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Was juror #10 on a panel for a capital murder (but no death penalty) case, which means if one of the parties didn't strike me I was fucked. Luckily my extreme opinions and off putting personality saved the day and I was dismissed. 

I was called for a death penalty jury, but I was one of about 600 people called to fill out a 40-50 page questionnaire and sent home to be called back if needed.  This guy. https://www.texastribune.org/2020/02/06/texas-execution-abel-ochoa-death-row/

I answered honestly that my views on addiction might well color my thinking regarding criminal liability and certainly death.

An horrific crime, but even that remote brush with capital punishment started to seal my views against the death penalty.

 

[Gil Bang 25980]

1 hour ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Was juror #10 on a panel for a capital murder (but no death penalty) case, which means if one of the parties didn't strike me I was fucked. Luckily my extreme opinions and off putting personality saved the day and I was dismissed. 

So, the traits that disqualify you as a juror are the same ones that make you an ideal Surly poster?

[conVINCEd 21469]

1 minute ago, Gil Bang said:

So, the traits that disqualify you as a juror are the same ones that make you an ideal Surly poster?

Masturbating during jury selection gets you sent home every time.

[deadshank 24653]

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

I'll say this about jury duty -- I had a week long jury trial earlier in the year.  As you would expect, many of the folks upon hearing from the judge that they were selected as jurors looked about as thrilled as going in for a colonoscopy.  It was a pretty complex real estate case, both sides tried their best to present the case in a way that was easy for the lay juror to understand, and they seemed to be paying attention throughout the week, but you never know.

After they reached their verdict around 8:00 p.m. on Friday, the judge tells them they are released and free to go, but that the lawyers may want to spend some time with them to get their thoughts on the case and feedback on what they could have done better.  It's pretty great information to get as a trial lawyer, especially since so few cases these days go to trial. 

You'd think that most jurors would flee the courthouse as fast as they can, but most of them stayed with the lawyers and chatted about half an hour.  Their discussion of the case and recollection of the witness testimony throughout the week showed they indeed were paying attention.  And most of all, they all expressed that at the end of the week they felt good about serving on the jury and were glad to have that experience.  That's pretty much been my experience with jurors over the course of my career.

So that's my discourse in civic duty.  I'm among you as someone who'd rather not spend a week or more away from my job.  But if you're called, I think you'll enjoy the experience. 

I like colonoscopies. 

[wild_turkey 3167]

I like colonoscopies. 

NowThis?

[NeverMarryAStripper 21909]

4 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Masturbating during jury selection gets you sent home every time.

Not if you’re the judge

[MonkeyDoughnut 10326]

13 hours ago, South Austin said:

I'll say this about jury duty -- I had a week long jury trial earlier in the year.  As you would expect, many of the folks upon hearing from the judge that they were selected as jurors looked about as thrilled as going in for a colonoscopy.  It was a pretty complex real estate case, both sides tried their best to present the case in a way that was easy for the lay juror to understand, and they seemed to be paying attention throughout the week, but you never know.

After they reached their verdict around 8:00 p.m. on Friday, the judge tells them they are released and free to go, but that the lawyers may want to spend some time with them to get their thoughts on the case and feedback on what they could have done better.  It's pretty great information to get as a trial lawyer, especially since so few cases these days go to trial. 

You'd think that most jurors would flee the courthouse as fast as they can, but most of them stayed with the lawyers and chatted about half an hour.  Their discussion of the case and recollection of the witness testimony throughout the week showed they indeed were paying attention.  And most of all, they all expressed that at the end of the week they felt good about serving on the jury and were glad to have that experience.  That's pretty much been my experience with jurors over the course of my career.

So that's my discourse in civic duty.  I'm among you as someone who'd rather not spend a week or more away from my job.  But if you're called, I think you'll enjoy the experience. 

I hope before my time is up I actually get to sit on a jury. I actually do get excited to get a jury summons...maybe I put off the "please pick me vibes" but have never been selected (technically selected for a case where guy represented himself and was done in under 5 minutes as he didn't know how to submit evidence so judge threw case out) to sit and hear a case.

 

Adding to another's comment... I too look forward to colonoscopy as drugs are great and feel awesome afterwards. 😀

[Guest]

On 4/4/2023 at 1:00 PM, Gil Bang said:

On jury duty right now. The fucking cafeteria is closed and all of the vending machines are empty because the county is “seeking bidders” for them.

FML I’m hungry.

Sounds like a beautiful opportunity for a taco truck to make a bunch of people happy.

Never have seen even a vending machine section in a courthouse/ jury annex before.

 

[HenryJames 66133]

15 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Luckily my extreme opinions and off putting personality saved the day and I was dismissed. 

13 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Masturbating during jury selection gets you sent home every time.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

Knowing a lot about something relevant generally gets you kicked.  This board is in for the long haul.

[South Austin 52521]

16 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Masturbating during jury selection gets you sent home every time.

I would say depends.  During voir dire I would ask the masturbating juror some follow up questions.

[Skipper 6136]

17 hours ago, South Austin said:

 

You'd think that most jurors would flee the courthouse as fast as they can, but most of them stayed with the lawyers and chatted about half an hour.  Their discussion of the case and recollection of the witness testimony throughout the week showed they indeed were paying attention.  And most of all, they all expressed that at the end of the week they felt good about serving on the jury and were glad to have that experience.  That's pretty much been my experience with jurors over the course of my career.

So that's my discourse in civic duty.  I'm among you as someone who'd rather not spend a week or more away from my job.  But if you're called, I think you'll enjoy the experience. 

I don't think I ever came back and posted on this thread but I was (as a lawyer, albeit a finance attorney) selected as a juror on a family felony violence trial this summer.  It was a pretty fascinating experience.  Nobody wanted to be there obviously, but once seated, everyone took it seriously.  The guilt/innocence phase was easy and we found him guilty in about 5 minutes.  But sentencing phase was tough.  We deliberated about 3.5 hours the first afternoon and again another 2 hours the next morning.   Extremely diverse jury group with all different experiences that led to strong opinions but everyone was very respectful and listened to each others viewpoint. Actually a pretty refreshing experience in this era of polarization how people from all walks of life can be reasonable and change initial opinions if they just sit and respectfully discuss something.  And more importantly it was pretty clear everyone took it home with them after we were deadlocked the first night, thought through counter arguments, and we found a compromise where I don't think anyone thought there would be one the day before.  I was one of those that were swayed by strong arguments from others that the more I thought about it I agreed with.

It sucked from a work standpoint and I was busy at night catching up on what I would have otherwise been doing during the day, but would honestly recommend it to anyone.   It was also great talking to the prosecutors and defense attorneys after.    

[wild_turkey 3167]

There should be a way for qualified individuals to volunteer for jury duty within a certain time slot during the year. It would give them a predictable time window vs getting a random summons at an inconvenient time on short notice.

And maybe if people do that and then get selected and serve on a jury, reward them with a meaningful tax break, instead of the joke of $12/day or whatever.

The system is clearly broken when a large percentage of intelligent working professionals make every attempt to get out of it. It seems like a fixable or at least improvable problem, if the system could update the terms to make it more favorable. Economists should be able to figure it out.

[HenryJames 66133]

36 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

The system is clearly broken when a large percentage of intelligent working professionals make every attempt to get out of it.

What does this have to do with Surly?

[MonkeyDoughnut 10326]

2 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

There should be a way for qualified individuals to volunteer for jury duty within a certain time slot during the year. It would give them a predictable time window vs getting a random summons at an inconvenient time on short notice.

And maybe if people do that and then get selected and serve on a jury, reward them with a meaningful tax break, instead of the joke of $12/day or whatever.

The system is clearly broken when a large percentage of intelligent working professionals make every attempt to get out of it. It seems like a fixable or at least improvable problem, if the system could update the terms to make it more favorable. Economists should be able to figure it out.

I've always thought they might be better served if they pooled that minimal daily stipend into some type of lottery system. Jury duty waiting room video could cycle through all the million dollar (or some amount) did my jury duty winners.  Power of "what if" combined with people who happened to know or heard of someone who won might increase participation.

[CHIEF 5094]

I was the first juror picked for a Grand Jury, in Travis county when I still lived in Austin in about 2002. We had one old lady that basically tried to play out a verdict on every person, she had to constantly be reminded that we were just responsible for determining if there was enough evidence to indict.

I get selected, in Hood county about every 3-4 years. I totally forgot about a summons in the Spring and called a couple of days after, the clerk was really nice and told me she would reschedule me for this last September. Made the summons, not selected.

Mrs. CHIEF still has trauma, to this day. She was on a high profile murder trial, here, in Hood county. The defendant didn't own a gun with the barrel twist of the firearm used in the murders, and there was evidence that wasn't admitted that matched the description of a second suspect, and his vehicle. One juror was next door neighbors with the prosecuting attorney, and didn't disclose their friendship. She was the last juror to hold out for a "not guilty" verdict and got Allen Charged. With a young child at home, she wasn't prepared to hold out, even though I encouraged it. Luckily, the verdict was later overturned. That was probably 13 years ago, and she has never received a summons since.

CHIEF

[Guest]

15 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

The system is clearly broken when a large percentage of intelligent working professionals make every attempt to get out of it. 

Jury duty or elections?

[HouTex 1886]

I have jury duty on Monday.  In municipal court.  Everyone gets a jury trial in Texas.  

[Knoxtnhorn 6061]

On 10/27/2023 at 10:39 AM, Skipper said:

I don't think I ever came back and posted on this thread but I was (as a lawyer, albeit a finance attorney) selected as a juror on a family felony violence trial this summer.  It was a pretty fascinating experience.  Nobody wanted to be there obviously, but once seated, everyone took it seriously.  The guilt/innocence phase was easy and we found him guilty in about 5 minutes.  But sentencing phase was tough.  We deliberated about 3.5 hours the first afternoon and again another 2 hours the next morning.   Extremely diverse jury group with all different experiences that led to strong opinions but everyone was very respectful and listened to each others viewpoint. Actually a pretty refreshing experience in this era of polarization how people from all walks of life can be reasonable and change initial opinions if they just sit and respectfully discuss something.  And more importantly it was pretty clear everyone took it home with them after we were deadlocked the first night, thought through counter arguments, and we found a compromise where I don't think anyone thought there would be one the day before.  I was one of those that were swayed by strong arguments from others that the more I thought about it I agreed with.

It sucked from a work standpoint and I was busy at night catching up on what I would have otherwise been doing during the day, but would honestly recommend it to anyone.   It was also great talking to the prosecutors and defense attorneys after.    

I was on a jury related to this case.  (The case was civil - Park Place suing Wiggains - in, I think, 2018.)

https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/park-place-motorcars-says-preston-hollow-man-business-partners-stole-dozens-of-luxury-cars-7127662

The guy was 100% guilty.  There was really no grey area.  He was doing some trick with car titles, moving them around, not sending some, using fake bank accts, etc... Eight of us were on board; the other decided to be a total c*&^ the entire time.  She hated "the man" - i.e. the Park Place and Sewell owners - so she decided it was the fault of the accounting department for not identifying the scam earlier.  Not only would she not budge, she was a complete bitch to everyone else in the room.  

The trial, itself, was pretty cool.  At one point, it appears as if one of this dude's business partners may have been offed by the mob.  As a first time jurist, I was kind of surprised that, after the verdict was read, we were allowed to say whatever we wanted to the media outside the courtroom.  (I chickened out and took the stairs.)

[Dbeasy 15073]

8 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

I was on a jury related to this case.  (The case was civil - Park Place suing Wiggains - in, I think, 2018.)

https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/park-place-motorcars-says-preston-hollow-man-business-partners-stole-dozens-of-luxury-cars-7127662

The guy was 100% guilty.  There was really no grey area.  He was doing some trick with car titles, moving them around, not sending some, using fake bank accts, etc... Eight of us were on board; the other decided to be a total c*&^ the entire time.  She hated "the man" - i.e. the Park Place and Sewell owners - so she decided it was the fault of the accounting department for not identifying the scam earlier.  Not only would she not budge, she was a complete bitch to everyone else in the room.  

The trial, itself, was pretty cool.  At one point, it appears as if one of this dude's business partners may have been offed by the mob.  As a first time jurist, I was kind of surprised that, after the verdict was read, we were allowed to say whatever we wanted to the media outside the courtroom.  (I chickened out and took the stairs.)

This ticks me off. For the most part, car dealers are vermin, but Park Place Sewell is actually a pretty good dealership. Have bought several cars there. 

[TexasCPA 102]

Got my first summons ever earlier this year. Went in not knowing what to expect, and thought the process was pretty smooth for the most part.

Got called back for voir dire for a capital murder case. I was juror 50 something and thinking there was no way they get to me. I was picked as the last alternate.  
 

All the jurors showed up during the trial so I stayed an alternate, which was nice. The only thing the alternates didn’t do was sit in on jury deliberations. We still went back into the courtroom when guilty verdict was rendered.  It was intense.
 

I’ll say after going throughout the process, I have much more respect for the system and people involved. Especially the prosecuting attorneys. That seems like a tough job. 
 

I’m glad I did it, but I’ll probably not respond to a summons again unless I’m retired. 

[Knoxtnhorn 6061]

1 hour ago, TexasCPA said:

All the jurors showed up during the trial so I stayed an alternate, which was nice. The only thing the alternates didn’t do was sit in on jury deliberations. We still went back into the courtroom when guilty verdict was rendered.  It was intense.

I imagine so.  In my case, the guy was obviously guilty, and the judgement was only for money; however, I couldn't even look up when the judge began reading the verdict. Possibly, the most nervous I've ever been.

[NAVY 6747]

I’m on the summons hot list apparently. Get them once a year at this point. Served on a Travis county jury last November so exempt from the summons I got Friday 

[HenryJames 66133]

Soon.

[Celery Man 20973]

1 hour ago, HenryJames said:

Soon.

[HenryJames 66133]

[Native Horn 3504]

On 10/30/2023 at 8:53 AM, HenryJames said:

Soon.

Good old District Court 5?  Served on a jury there about six weeks ago.  Judge sitting in for the normal judge was pretty cute (Bianca Garcia, I believe).

[Knoxtnhorn 6061]

And I'm up again.  November 28th.  

[Fudge Nuggets 19208]

On 10/26/2023 at 4:24 PM, Hank Scorpio said:

Was juror #10 on a panel for a capital murder (but no death penalty) case, which means if one of the parties didn't strike me I was fucked. Luckily my extreme opinions and off putting personality saved the day and I was dismissed. 

My novella on my one and only (so far) experience with jury duty.  Spoilered for long cats.

 

Last year I got called in and was juror #5 in the panel for the sentencing phase of an aggravated assault case.  It was homeboy's third offense (or more, can't remember) so the prosecution was making a big deal about "Three strikes and you're out."  That shit grinds my gears something fierce.
 

Spoiler

Anyway, there's probably about 100 of us in all in the courtroom and the lawyers ask a couple of easy questions then pop one that I found to be a doozy.  "If you are unable to recommend the legal maximum life in prison, raise your hand."  I'm all like:

I guess being in the middle of red ass Montgomery County, the prosecutors figured this was another softball question and were not expecting anyone to raise their hand.  It took a second for them to even look up and see that I was on to their bullshit.

So, one of the four prosecutors... young female... not bad looking, decent hooters if I recall, asks me why I have a problem with it.  I tell her "I believe the three strikes your out system is rigged and definitely biased against minorities and poor people."  Lawyer girl wonders why I think the system is rigged, so I point out that on her side of the courtroom there are four fancy-dressed lawyers all with pretty decent laptops at the ready while over on the other side there is the defendant and his scruffy lawyer armed with a notepad and pencil.  I throw in there that maybe his lawyer is one of the great legal minds in our area, but I'm pretty sure the State of Texas / Montgomery County has a lot more resources to pull from than the defense team.

Ms. Thang can't believe it and so launches into what I'm sure is a canned response about "Well, if a batter in a baseball game gets three strikes and is out, do you think that batter should keep on batting?"  I said "Well first of all, that's a pretty terrible analogy since yes, said batter will bat again the next time his spot in the lineup comes up - so let's consider the time his other teammates are batting as the time he's serving his sentence."

She was a bit flustered and sarcastically asked, "Well, if you're unwilling to recommend the maximum sentence as allowed by STATE LAW (emphasis hers), then what are you willing to recommend?"  I said "Someone a lot smarter than me decided sometime ago that there is a standard maximum sentence for the crime the defendant has been convicted of.  Depending on the seriousness of his specific case, I might be willing to recommend the maximum sentence ex 'Three Strikes'."

After the lawyers for both sides pow-wow a bit and discuss shit with the judge they come back and announce who was not picked for the jury pool.  Needless to say, my services were not required.  The funny thing is, there were others in there you could tell were trying to get out of it by going full asshole "We should burn his ass at the stake, right here and now."  Yeah... that really sets you apart in this redneck shithole - fuckers. 

To be honest, I kind of wish I had landed on the jury and held out to keep this guy from getting a life sentence.  Maybe someone else did, I never went back to see what sentence he got and don't remember his name to look it up.  Anyway, nothing I said was made up as an attempt to dodge jury duty.  I completely and fully believe with every fiber of my being that Three Strikes is an atrocity so I imagine the legal beagles saw I wasn't fucking around about it.

 

[TwiceHorn 31509]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

My novella on my one and only (so far) experience with jury duty.  Spoilered for long cats.

 

Last year I got called in and was juror #5 in the panel for the sentencing phase of an aggravated assault case.  It was homeboy's third offense (or more, can't remember) so the prosecution was making a big deal about "Three strikes and you're out."  That shit grinds my gears something fierce.
 

  Hide contents

Anyway, there's probably about 100 of us in all in the courtroom and the lawyers ask a couple of easy questions then pop one that I found to be a doozy.  "If you are unable to recommend the legal maximum life in prison, raise your hand."  I'm all like:

I guess being in the middle of red ass Montgomery County, the prosecutors figured this was another softball question and were not expecting anyone to raise their hand.  It took a second for them to even look up and see that I was on to their bullshit.

So, one of the four prosecutors... young female... not bad looking, decent hooters if I recall, asks me why I have a problem with it.  I tell her "I believe the three strikes your out system is rigged and definitely biased against minorities and poor people."  Lawyer girl wonders why I think the system is rigged, so I point out that on her side of the courtroom there are four fancy-dressed lawyers all with pretty decent laptops at the ready while over on the other side there is the defendant and his scruffy lawyer armed with a notepad and pencil.  I throw in there that maybe his lawyer is one of the great legal minds in our area, but I'm pretty sure the State of Texas / Montgomery County has a lot more resources to pull from than the defense team.

Ms. Thang can't believe it and so launches into what I'm sure is a canned response about "Well, if a batter in a baseball game gets three strikes and is out, do you think that batter should keep on batting?"  I said "Well first of all, that's a pretty terrible analogy since yes, said batter will bat again the next time his spot in the lineup comes up - so let's consider the time his other teammates are batting as the time he's serving his sentence."

She was a bit flustered and sarcastically asked, "Well, if you're unwilling to recommend the maximum sentence as allowed by STATE LAW (emphasis hers), then what are you willing to recommend?"  I said "Someone a lot smarter than me decided sometime ago that there is a standard maximum sentence for the crime the defendant has been convicted of.  Depending on the seriousness of his specific case, I might be willing to recommend the maximum sentence ex 'Three Strikes'."

After the lawyers for both sides pow-wow a bit and discuss shit with the judge they come back and announce who was not picked for the jury pool.  Needless to say, my services were not required.  The funny thing is, there were others in there you could tell were trying to get out of it by going full asshole "We should burn his ass at the stake, right here and now."  Yeah... that really sets you apart in this redneck shithole - fuckers. 

To be honest, I kind of wish I had landed on the jury and held out to keep this guy from getting a life sentence.  Maybe someone else did, I never went back to see what sentence he got and don't remember his name to look it up.  Anyway, nothing I said was made up as an attempt to dodge jury duty.  I completely and fully believe with every fiber of my being that Three Strikes is an atrocity so I imagine the legal beagles saw I wasn't fucking around about it.

 

Bravo, also did your part to poison or at least maybe make some of the less brain-dead jurors think a little.

[4th and 5 4914]

I was summoned to be a juror on a jury trial where I represented the defendant.

I was on a panel with a prosecutor who prefaced every question with “except for 4th and 5” and then asked the question. Some guy on the panel flipped out on the ADA about why he was doing that and demanded an explanation and told him to stop doing it. The defense attorney, who may have been even dumber, never asked me a single question. Like “do you know detective X who is a witness in this case?” Yes? “Would that affect your opinion on the credibility of his testimony?” “Yes, people say he is lazy and a liar. And by “people” I mean the prosecutors sitting right over there.” 
 

I once asked a panelist a similar question, if they knew the officer. Hands went up. Gotta be careful with an answer. I asked one guy how he knew him. Small town, just had a feeling. “He’s not honest and he has a quick trigger for taking people to jail.” “Perfect, thanks for your candor, sir, you’ll be out of here in no time.”

Edited November 9, 2023 by 4th and 5

[Speedtrucker 2071]

In fed court, that’s usually first up.

We all are introduced, ask if anyone knows us, same for defense.

We read our witness list, ask, defense usually doesn’t have to read theirs if they even have one.
In general if someone does know them, it’s a fine line of follow up to avoid tainting the jury perception…


Had someone recognize me once from grade school, I had him cut right away but his answers later were so dumb he was struck for cause.

Recognized a few teachers of my children that didn’t realize they were my kiddos teachers. But as I’ve said I don’t like engineers and teachers, those are usually straight peremptory strike if we can’t find cause…

[Knoxtnhorn 6061]

19 hours ago, Speedtrucker said:

 Recognized a few teachers of my children that didn’t realize they were my kiddos teachers. But as I’ve said I don’t like engineers and teachers, those are usually straight peremptory strike if we can’t find cause…

Good.  I'm a teacher.  I don't want to be picked.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm all about doing my part.  It's just that I called in to criminal court, and I don't want to see pics of murder scenes or hurt children.

[Speedtrucker 2071]

Good.  I'm a teacher.  I don't want to be picked.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm all about doing my part.  It's just that I called in to criminal court, and I don't want to see pics of murder scenes or hurt children.

Every trial team can have their own set of preferences but we are a district that potential jurors tend to be more conservative(it’s changing in one of my courtrooms but for the most part across most of the races, everyone leans much more conservative. So some don’t like young jurors, some don’t like senior citizens, some done like gun enthusiasts, some don’t like overly religious thinkers.

Teachers and engineers are my main concerns. Engineers are usually the smartest persons in the room and way too over analytical. Too many bad experiences where we’ve had to let one on and they end up reinvestigating the case and exhibits, or they use the white board in the deliberation room to create their own flowchart… questioning shit that wasn’t even brought up in trial. It’s a pain and can hang a jury when everyone gets frustrated.

Teachers, mainly elementary are often too opinionated and can hang a jury because they want to control the room and teach the “kids”/jurors that what they think is the only acceptable conclusion. They are adept at herding cats and it can be problematic in a jury room.

I mainly do drug trafficking and child exploitation cases. The kid stuff is usually pretty cut and dry, picking a jury is basically finding 12 that can stomach sitting on that jury(it sad how high a percentage of every jury pool has had familial experience with this stuff) and then the deliberations usually don’t take too long.

The drug trafficking takes more work to pick a jury because conspiracy is always a hard concept to explain to a lot of jurors. Which again is where engineers and teachers don’t help

[Knoxtnhorn 6061]

7 hours ago, Speedtrucker said:

Every trial team can have their own set of preferences but we are a district that potential jurors tend to be more conservative(it’s changing in one of my courtrooms but for the most part across most of the races, everyone leans much more conservative. So some don’t like young jurors, some don’t like senior citizens, some done like gun enthusiasts, some don’t like overly religious thinkers.

Teachers and engineers are my main concerns. Engineers are usually the smartest persons in the room and way too over analytical. Too many bad experiences where we’ve had to let one on and they end up reinvestigating the case and exhibits, or they use the white board in the deliberation room to create their own flowchart… questioning shit that wasn’t even brought up in trial. It’s a pain and can hang a jury when everyone gets frustrated.

Teachers, mainly elementary are often too opinionated and can hang a jury because they want to control the room and teach the “kids”/jurors that what they think is the only acceptable conclusion. They are adept at herding cats and it can be problematic in a jury room.

I mainly do drug trafficking and child exploitation cases. The kid stuff is usually pretty cut and dry, picking a jury is basically finding 12 that can stomach sitting on that jury(it sad how high a percentage of every jury pool has had familial experience with this stuff) and then the deliberations usually don’t take too long.

The drug trafficking takes more work to pick a jury because conspiracy is always a hard concept to explain to a lot of jurors. Which again is where engineers and teachers don’t help

I get what you said about teachers, but am laughing because that's the opposite of me.  Believe it or not, the jury I served on was commandeered by two flight attendants fitting that description.

[Speedtrucker 2071]

I get what you said about teachers, but am laughing because that's the opposite of me.  Believe it or not, the jury I served on was commandeered by two flight attendants fitting that description.

Hah I forgot about flight attendants! They are batshit crazy. That’s more of a rarity in a juror pool but yeah.

And if it’s a white collar trial, never take commercial pilots. I always hear them say pilots love to avoid paying taxes and shit.. dunno, I don’t really deal with all that too much but you hear chatter

[boilerhorn 1393]

Wife was on a jury a couple of weeks ago in Travis County.  A guy went on a multi-hour crime spree involving crashing into cars, attempting to steal the car, and trying to force the car owner into the trunks of their own cars.  Everyone got away, fortunately.

This was the first case of attempted aggravated kidnapping in Travis County in over 10 years.  The ADA who had been working the case for over 1 year had a family emergency and handed off the case.  The new ADA had about 1 working day of prep.

Being able to speak to the judge and attorneys after the case was useful to her.  She expressed some displeasure that the ADA chose not to disclose his priors during the sentencing phase. ADA said he did not realize it would have affected the sentencing.  Huh?

Overall great experience for her.  

[Gladeite 375]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:27 AM, Knoxtnhorn said:

I was on a jury related to this case.  (The case was civil - Park Place suing Wiggains - in, I think, 2018.)

https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/park-place-motorcars-says-preston-hollow-man-business-partners-stole-dozens-of-luxury-cars-7127662

The guy was 100% guilty.  There was really no grey area.  He was doing some trick with car titles, moving them around, not sending some, using fake bank accts, etc... Eight of us were on board; the other decided to be a total c*&^ the entire time.  She hated "the man" - i.e. the Park Place and Sewell owners - so she decided it was the fault of the accounting department for not identifying the scam earlier.  Not only would she not budge, she was a complete bitch to everyone else in the room.  

The trial, itself, was pretty cool.  At one point, it appears as if one of this dude's business partners may have been offed by the mob.  As a first time jurist, I was kind of surprised that, after the verdict was read, we were allowed to say whatever we wanted to the media outside the courtroom.  (I chickened out and took the stairs.)

That brings back memories.  I used to have a dealership license and regularly bought/sold cars thru Wiggains and Park Place Porsche.  Never had any trouble.   Both were very professional back in the day.  Wiggins would ride with me when I took a car for a test spin.  I went thru an AMG phase and he always had inventory to sell or wanted to buy.  To clarify, it was a hobby for me.  There was a steep learning curve to not lose a fortune on a car deal.  By the end of 17 years, I was only losing a little on each car, maybe breaking even.

[TwiceHorn 31509]

On 11/11/2023 at 4:17 PM, Speedtrucker said:

Hah I forgot about flight attendants! They are batshit crazy. That’s more of a rarity in a juror pool but yeah.

And if it’s a white collar trial, never take commercial pilots. I always hear them say pilots love to avoid paying taxes and shit.. dunno, I don’t really deal with all that too much but you hear chatter

A lot of commercial pilots are engineers.

[Jerry Callo 8706]

I struck an engineer in a federal case a few years ago.  Just happened to be the only black person in the panel and the Plaintiff was black.  Judge Sparks took us back to chambers for a sua sponte Batson challenge.  I started to explain that he was struck because he was an engineer and the Plaintiff's attorney cut me off with his agreement.  No one wants engineers on the jury.