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Jury Duty

Darkwing Duck

Darkwing Duck

Well-Known Member
Got the notice today.

Yay.

Says my service is January-March. Wonder if there'll be many trials with COVID still in effect. I don't know the safety precautions they've taken for potential jurors.

Also looked at the compensation and I think it's the exact same as when I did it 13 years ago. Yuck.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
Got the notice today.

Yay.

Says my service is January-March. Wonder if there'll be many trials with COVID still in effect. I don't know the safety precautions they've taken for potential jurors.

Also looked at the compensation and I think it's the exact same as when I did it 13 years ago. Yuck.
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I'd assume this is a State of Utah summons?

Anyone know how it works to be called for jury duty for federal cases? Kind of random, but whatever.
 
I got called for jury duty one time. I've always wanted to be on a jury. I went to the wrong place, that old *** federal courthouse across the street from the City County Building. I went in the door and I was in like a little strong box. There was a guy behind some glass/plexiglass, whatever, framed out with some really nice old wood, metal, just overall some hardcore looking ****. He asked why I was there (obviously skeptical) I was like "I'm here for jury duty???" and he was pretty quick with, "Not here." I figured out it was like the next block over.

It was actually a case where the defendant was a woman who was an actress on a reality show about some ballet **** in SLC. She was driving her Escalade from the Utah Ballet something or other and allegedly hit a bicyclist.

I really wanted to make the jury but got booted in the first round of eliminations.
 
Please explain the "jury duty" thing for non US citizens :)
How is the notice "You have to do the jury duty" delivered and can you say something like "i have vacation planned and do not have any free time left" etc?
 
I was on jury duty for the county from July through September. Received a summons in the mail. Filled out a questionnaire online, including any times I would not be available. Since there are no trials at present, I never heard another word.

I've been on jury duty twice before. First time I was dismissed as I knew the defendant from high school. Second time I would have been on the jury but he decided to plead guilty.

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lauriandres said:
Please explain the "jury duty" thing for non US citizens :)
How is the notice "You have to do the jury duty" delivered and can you say something like "i have vacation planned and do not have any free time left" etc?
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Your notice arrives in the mail. You usually go online or call a phone number and answer questions about potential scheduling conflicts. The court may or may not excuse you for those conflicts. The last time I got a notice, my wife was 8 months pregnant. I was excused.
 
bigb said:
Your notice arrives in the mail. You usually go online or call a phone number and answer questions about potential scheduling conflicts. The court may or may not excuse you for those conflicts. The last time I got a notice, my wife was 8 months pregnant. I was excused.
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In USA - how the court knows your real address? I guess in like elsewhere in the world - in USA you might have a house or apartment in different locations and you actually might live in a place, which belongs to somebody else?
And then while being in the jury group - can you basically do a coin flip and decide randomly after that whether the accused person is guilty or not?
And is it OK to state "i am afraid of court and criminals, i do not want to be near the court house at all" or will you be forced to be in jury team?
 
lauriandres said:
In USA - how the court knows your real address? I guess in like elsewhere in the world - in USA you might have a house or apartment in different locations and you actually might live in a place, which belongs to somebody else?
And then while being in the jury group - can you basically do a coin flip and decide randomly after that whether the accused person is guilty or not?
And is it OK to state "i am afraid of court and criminals, i do not want to be near the court house at all" or will you be forced to be in jury team?
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I'd say well over 90% of Americans live at the address they put on their tax returns.

They send you a letter. You can ignore it because it's just a regular letter. But I think they will eventually send a certified letter. But honestly, they sort of make it sound like you can be punished for not responding but my guess is that it is really rare for them to actually fine someone let alone charge them with anything.

Jury's receive very specific instructions from the judge. I've never been on a jury so I don't know exactly what those are like but from my understanding besides just basic instructions on how you're supposed to do things and what you are supposed to consider and what you're not supposed to consider I think they essentially give you a questionnaire and as a group you go through and fill it out, at the end it's like "if you checked yes on box 3, 7 or 10 you must find the defendant NOT GUILTY." Something like that. If there are shenanigans, like a person is flipping a coin to make decisions, that can cause a mistrial and the case would have to be tried all over again.

During the jury selection process the judge gives potential jurors an opportunity to tell him/her if there is any reason they can not serve, it is up to the judge if that's a good enough reason.

But as for the jury selection, each attorney eliminates a few potential jurors that they don't want on the jury, the idea being that what's left is at least somewhat agreeable to both sides.
 
prodigy said:
I always get out of jury duty because of work issues or they dont need me. I would like to do it one time in my life.... but just once
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I would like to do it as well. I have only been contacted about it once and they didn't end up needing me

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lauriandres said:
In USA - how the court knows your real address? I guess in like elsewhere in the world - in USA you might have a house or apartment in different locations and you actually might live in a place, which belongs to somebody else?
And then while being in the jury group - can you basically do a coin flip and decide randomly after that whether the accused person is guilty or not?
And is it OK to state "i am afraid of court and criminals, i do not want to be near the court house at all" or will you be forced to be in jury team?
Click to expand...

It’s tied to your voter registration. Whatever address you register to vote under is the address for your jury duty summons.
It is a court ordered summons. You can be punished for not showing up. Not sure if that actually happens though.
I’ve never been on a jury (would be interested to do it once) but my mom has been. She said as part of the jury selection, they ask questions like “Do you know the defendant?” or “What are your thoughts about illegal immigrants?” Based on your answers, you could be excused or accepted.


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Each attorney has a certain number of jurors they can eliminate for no reason whatsoever - they don't want black women under 40 on the jury, or whatever. There are also specific reasons someone can be excluded, like knowing the defendant.

I have also never been on a jury. I was never called when I lived in Utah, which was for the first 43 years of my life. Since I've moved to Oregon, I've been selected 3 times, but never had to report. One time I actually forgot to call the night before to find out if I had to go, and I called them the next day and found out I was in the clear, I wasn't actually needed. And, yeah, like everyone else has said, I would like to do it at some point.
 
bigb said:
It’s tied to your voter registration. Whatever address you register to vote under is the address for your jury duty summons.
It is a court ordered summons. You can be punished for not showing up. Not sure if that actually happens though.
I’ve never been on a jury (would be interested to do it once) but my mom has been. She said as part of the jury selection, they ask questions like “Do you know the defendant?” or “What are your thoughts about illegal immigrants?” Based on your answers, you could be excused or accepted.


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The closest I've come was being called for a jury was a murder case in California, made it to the questioning phase. Iirc the questions were actually posed by the judge rather than by the lawyers. One of the attorneys used a preemptive strike to kick me off though. Can't remember if it was the prosecuter (because I was a UC Berkeley student, he might have thought I'd be too easy on the defendant), or if it was the defense (because I said I had a brother in law who was an FBI special agent).
 
So I got picked from the pool. The judge, and the defense attorney and prosecutor then question people in the jury box. “Anybody have a problem with police”? So, I raise my hand: “Yeah, when my wife’s car was stolen, the cops from the town where the car was abandoned waited 3 months to tell her they had recovered it before we had even woke up and reported it stolen. 3 months of storage fees. I had a problem with that. But I would never allow that to influence my deliberation”. I was booted off the jury. Figured it had to be the prosecutor who tossed me. Wrong. The defense attorney tossed me because the break in that the defendant was charged with took place a couple of blocks from where we lived, and he must have assumed I would want his client off the streets.
 
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I have served on a jury once. It was a drunk driving case. Not terribly glamorous. The defendent was pulled over and had a large glass of vodka on ice in the car. Like Big Gulp size. When the cop lights were turned on he hurriedly gulped all the vodka down to get rid of the evidence. The cops obviously smelled the alcohol and proceeded to breathalyze him. The breathalyzer machine did not work and it took 20 minutes to get a replacement on scene. The defendant's argument was that he was not drunk when pulled over and became drunk while waiting for the replacement breathalyzer because he drank all the vodka once
pulled over. They were trying to get the charges reduced to driving with an open container.
 
Scat said:
I have served on a jury once. It was a drunk driving case. Not terribly glamorous. The defendent was pulled over and had a large glass of vodka on ice in the car. Like Big Gulp size. When the cop lights were turned on he hurriedly gulped all the vodka down to get rid of the evidence. The cops obviously smelled the alcohol and proceeded to breathalyze him. The breathalyzer machine did not work and it took 20 minutes to get a replacement on scene. The defendant's argument was that he was not drunk when pulled over and became drunk while waiting for the replacement breathalyzer because he drank all the vodka once
pulled over. They were trying to get the charges reduced to driving with an open container.
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The suspense is killing me! Was he found guilty or not?

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Scat said:
I have served on a jury once. It was a drunk driving case. Not terribly glamorous. The defendent was pulled over and had a large glass of vodka on ice in the car. Like Big Gulp size. When the cop lights were turned on he hurriedly gulped all the vodka down to get rid of the evidence. The cops obviously smelled the alcohol and proceeded to breathalyze him. The breathalyzer machine did not work and it took 20 minutes to get a replacement on scene. The defendant's argument was that he was not drunk when pulled over and became drunk while waiting for the replacement breathalyzer because he drank all the vodka once
pulled over. They were trying to get the charges reduced to driving with an open container.
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Until you said "he" I thought you might be talking about my sister in law.
 
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