Jury Duty!!!! To protect and .......

newbie101

Had Jury Duty today. Last time (6-8 years ago) was a very different experience. I found that the people in charge (the major speakers) were very helpful.( The video of "OLD JUSTICE" was terrible and I wish we went back to that system at various times during the day). I got in at 8:15 (because I'm always early) and parked myself next to an outlet so I was able to plug my laptop in. (The WIFI is restricted. No game playing!!!) The Bench MC was funny (I especially liked when he asked "ANYONE THAT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ENGLISH!" to see him.... When he saw people approaching the bench, he clarified himself by saying "If you understood what I just said.....)

Four Random people start calling out names and area's for the 300+ people to go. OK!!!
We have:
1. MUMBLES: The guy we cannot understand
2. BROOKLYN BLACK GIRL: Terrible Brooklyn accent and Grammar
3. TALKS TOO LOUD INTO THE MIC GUY: He distort, because he talks too loud into the mic
4. THE COP ON THE MIC IN FRONT: .. He was actually really good. (maybe the "room 261 announcement" need's to be dropped (WE WERE IN ROOM 261))

NEXT AREA:
We file into a 16X16 room with 20 chairs. I sat and I immediately notice that my "rolling adjustable" desk chair is attached to the "rolling adjustable" desk chair next to me making me a"rolling non-adjustable"team. (I guess they do this to break us down for the jury selection portion of the experience) They let us stew for 20 minutes and then the "funny guy" from the bench came in. Took roll and told us to go to lunch. Be back at 2!!!!!

Back from lunch:
I'm early(I gotta work at being late from now on). At 3:45 (yes that means we were sitting for 1:45) A clerk tells us the case settled (Great!!!) now go back to the pit and sit and wait for further instruction (In reality it wasn't that harsh but after waiting ALMOST 2 HOURS for someone to tell us what's going on (and being strapped next to a person you don't know) I felt that she said that.)

Back in the pit:
A very nice and diplomatic woman announces that most of us are done. For 8 years we will not have to worry about Jury Duty in Brooklyn.

--Fin--

apple pants

The courts got a lot better once everyone was made to serve. When you end exemptions, you “encourage” change by making city officials subject to the same abusive and rude treatment that the general public suffered for years. Also, groups like the Vera Institute with the support of influential judges did a lot of good work to improve how jurors and prospective jurors are treated.

witch-king

I've been called for jury duty twice in 9 years. My experience in voir dire -- hearing the prejudicial views of my "peers" once the lawyers left the room -- guarantees I'll never commit a crime and subject myself to their judgment. My experience waiting was not unpleasant. I recommend heading to the room off to the left of the "great hall."

duffyssis

Wait, you can bring your lap top and check e-mails in the jury room?

tapdame

Wait none of you were ever called to the judges chambers? Why do I get to have all the fun? :P

ringrunner

I did it twice, once civil the other criminal. It was a fun ride, I can't wait to do it again.

I decided to stop acting like it was the end of the world and had a good time. I met some of my fellow "citizens of Brooklyn". We went out to lunch and realized we had more in common than riding the 2 train

molly9094

I've always had a great time when on jury duty. Don't forget, you can always volunteer to be a juror and be put on the list.

lnelson

They did a major overhaul of the Jury Duty system quasi-recently, going so far as to bring in some Cornell operational engineering students and crazy-fancy professor to figure out a more efficient/less miserable way of shuffling people through. They'd all be very delighted to hear of this up at the Office of Court Administration. (Note here: I'm not a schill, I just wrote about the NYS courts for way too long).

jamzer

Agree - jury duty is no big deal. Go, get the most out of it you can and move on. Its not like you get called every week, every month, or every year.

However, can we talk about this poll for a second? If you are going to go through the trouble of creating a poll, why don't you at least add a reasonable range of answers? If the question is "Want to Serve" I would think "yes" would be one of the options.

armchair_warrior

they should have a opt out option.

ringrunner

armchair_warrior wrote: they should have a opt out option.

That would be nice, but then you should not get the benefit of a jury if you are accused of a crime or involved in a civil suit.

ljnd

I served recently and met one of my very favorite bloggers ever. Otherwise, just boring, that's all.

armchair_warrior

ringrunner wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior]they should have a opt out option.

That would be nice, but then you should not get the benefit of a jury if you are accused of a crime or involved in a civil suit.


just have a bunch of professional judges instead of juries if you wish to have it.

mpmav1

armchair_warrior wrote: [quote=ringrunner][quote=armchair_warrior]they should have a opt out option.

That would be nice, but then you should not get the benefit of a jury if you are accused of a crime or involved in a civil suit.


just have a bunch of professional judges instead of juries if you wish to have it.

So much for our constitutional right to a trial by a jury of your peers. But who needs rights.

armchair_warrior

Mpmav1 wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior][quote=ringrunner][quote=armchair_warrior]they should have a opt out option.

That would be nice, but then you should not get the benefit of a jury if you are accused of a crime or involved in a civil suit.


just have a bunch of professional judges instead of juries if you wish to have it.

So much for our constitutional right to a trial by a jury of your peers. But who needs rights.


peers my ass, no such thing as peers, you know how smart the average joe is? i rather be tried by a professional judges(if i was not guilty) if i was guilty i'll take my chances with my peers, with a fancy lawyer i could probably get away with alot of shit.

eggcream

armchair_warrior wrote: [quote=Mpmav1][quote=armchair_warrior][quote=ringrunner][quote=armchair_warrior]they should have a opt out option.

That would be nice, but then you should not get the benefit of a jury if you are accused of a crime or involved in a civil suit.


just have a bunch of professional judges instead of juries if you wish to have it.

So much for our constitutional right to a trial by a jury of your peers. But who needs rights.


peers my ass, no such thing as peers, you know how smart the average joe is? i rather be tried by a professional judges(if i was not guilty) if i was guilty i'll take my chances with my peers, with a fancy lawyer i could probably get away with alot of shit.

Not sure I want to be tried by judges, IQ scores maybe, but I agree about the peers. I just finished up 3 days and am still amazed by the jurors chosen. Scary stuff. I had a similar experience 5 years ago. I was an alternate and luckily after a day the case was settled out of court. I was amazed by those chosen.

The system runs much smoother though ( except for my call to serve Long Island a few months ago that I was excused from). I was at 360 Adams which is a nice building and good places to have lunch in the area...Monty's.

armchair_warrior

eggcream wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior][quote=Mpmav1][quote=armchair_warrior][quote=ringrunner][quote=armchair_warrior]they should have a opt out option.

That would be nice, but then you should not get the benefit of a jury if you are accused of a crime or involved in a civil suit.


just have a bunch of professional judges instead of juries if you wish to have it.

So much for our constitutional right to a trial by a jury of your peers. But who needs rights.


peers my ass, no such thing as peers, you know how smart the average joe is? i rather be tried by a professional judges(if i was not guilty) if i was guilty i'll take my chances with my peers, with a fancy lawyer i could probably get away with alot of shit.

Not sure I want to be tried by judges, IQ scores maybe, but I agree about the peers. I just finished up 3 days and am still amazed by the jurors chosen. Scary stuff. I had a similar experience 5 years ago. I was an alternate and luckily after a day the case was settled out of court. I was amazed by those chosen.

The system runs much smoother though ( except for my call to serve Long Island a few months ago that I was excused from). I was at 360 Adams which is a nice building and good places to have lunch in the area...Monty's.

when i think of judges normally i hope they have some sort of higher education, to get a higher education you need some brains, hopefully they are slighter higher IQ than the average joe. the average joe scares the turd out of me.

lnelson

you CAN be judged by judge, at least in NY state courts. it's called a bench trial. only one judge though; the one who would have presided over your jury trial. the cops involved in the sean bell shooting went with that option because they though a judge would be more likely to be persuaded by the law as written than by moral outrage at yet another killing of a minority at the hands of the NYPD...anyway, the judge in the sean bell case found the cops not guilty. then retired.

slope4-35yrs

Subject: Federal Court Jury Duty

I have lived for decades in Park Slope but just last month got a notice to serve on a Federal jury --- in Central Islip! Yes, I realize that Eastern District takes in the four counties on Long Island but why make a Brooklynite travel the distance? It has a happy ending: I pointed out recent surgery, the almost-50 miles distance, and the need to take at least 3 modes of transportation and was excused, but with the notation: "To Brooklyn" (which I have no problem with)

lnelson

There was a thread about that a while back - I think it's pretty easy to get moved to Brooklyn even without surgery as an excuse. The Eastern District of the Federal Court includes Nassau & Suffolk and sometimes meets out there, but my understanding is they don't make Brooklyn people come (since the main Eastern District courthouse is in downtown BK).

opossumqueen

Just returned from my (postponed) jury summons. Not too bad of an experience.

Sat around a frigid room that at least had decent seating and tv's with closed captioning on. I got some work done without the regular distractions.

Got called around 11:40 to a room. Around noon lawyers and a judge came in. The judge gave us a summary of the case, then left and the lawyers pulled a group of ten of us to start questioning. We were asked specific questions and to tell any personal feelings related to the case that might cause bias in our judgement. Most folks were eager to say they could be completely fair, but I wasn't (honestly). Told them I thought this kind of lawsuit was often frivolous. After more questioning of our group, 3 were selected from the 10 and we left while the others remained for more selection. I was sent back to the juror pool and was not called again!!

Around 3:30 they announced no more juror selection would be taking place and we were all free and clear for 8 years and would be called to get a letter proving this should we need it. Not bad at all.

eggcream

"Around 3:30 they announced no more juror selection would be taking place and we were all free and clear for 8 years and would be called to get a letter proving this should we need it. Not bad at all."

I got my letter right after I was excused. I was there a total of 3 days.

Funny, the juror book you pick up outside rm 261 says 6 years for your next call and the clerk asks for people who have been there less than 4.

It was 4 1/2 years between my last and this week.

anastasia beaverhausen

I went about a month ago. After not being picked for the regular jury, the shuttled group of us off to the criminal Grand Jury building. The MC scared the shit out of me because he said they were picking for a 6 month/three days a week stint. I never even got questioned and was dismissed at 12:40. Awesome!

opossumqueen

Today she said they just recently changed it to 8 years, and that it used to be 4, then 6 and is now 8 b/c they are now so "efficient". So, I think it just depends on what the rule was when you last served.

ringrunner

molly9094 wrote: I've always had a great time when on jury duty. Don't forget, you can always volunteer to be a juror and be put on the list.

How do you volunteer? Does anybody know?

molly9094

http://www.moderncourts.org/CJP/Helpline/faq.html#6

the above is a link that will give you all the information about jury duty. You're allowed to volunteer if you haven't served within the last 2 years. For me, when my # was called by the clerk at the initial roll call, I was asked if I wanted to serve, and said yes. And that was that.

Just as an aside .. that case ran almost 2 weeks and was dismissed by the judge. What a real disappointment. The case was just very strange, and amusing most of the time (though I know that's not normal). It would have been nice to deliberate but the judge thought it was frivilous and put it out of its misery. But then that's what makes life interesting. #-o

ringrunner

I clicked on the above link. I got the opportunity to opt out of the "only once every 6 years" for jury rule. I had to sign a waiver that I understood that my employer is not required to give me the regular jury duty benefits.

I think my kids will give them to me anyway :-' :-'

willregistersoon

I served about two years ago. It was a car accident lawsuit that happened on PPW, about 1 block from my apartment. The lawsuit was total BS. I ended up being an alternate. The actual case lasted about 3/4 of a day, and then the jury deliberated for about 5 minutes and decided to rule for the defendant.

The funny thing was, after the case was done, the attorney for the person bringing the suit (is that the plaintiff?) was waiting outside to ask people to critique her, how she did, etc. Everybody booked out of there except me. I told her I thought she did fine but the case was total BS. She thanked me and that was that.

It was a pretty good experience actually - but I'm happy it only took 2 days out of my life. If I had to do a week or more I'd be seriously pissed.

Another thing to note - when they were questioning the jurors one by one, the first thing they asked everyone was if there were any personal reason they thought they could not serve on this case, they could consult the lawyers outside. Almost every single person took advantage of this and ended up getting off. I was just honest. I guess they want to weed out the people who just really don't want to be there.

molly9094

to Will Register Soon: all potential jurors on my last trial were asked if we were involved in any type of criminal activity against us. When my turn came, I said two of my cars had been stolen, that one was never recovered, the other was unfortunately found and was totally trashed. I was asked if this would affect my judgment and said it wouldn't and meant it. I was picked and am glad. It's one thing to work in a law office (which I did at the time), and another to actually see a trial in process. It's an experience that couldn't be bought and learned so much.

And to RingRunner... you have good kids.. and glad they'd encourage you to serve and they even would pay... you have it made *s* :roll:

ringrunner

ringrunner wrote: I clicked on the above link. I got the opportunity to opt out of the "only once every 6 years" for jury rule. I had to sign a waiver that I understood that my employer is not required to give me the regular jury duty benefits.

I think my kids will give them to me anyway :-' :-'

Zoom, I got my Jury Duty Notice. March 30

molly9094

ringrunner wrote: [quote=ringrunner]
I think my kids will give them to me anyway :-' :-'

Zoom, I got my Jury Duty Notice. March 30

what a great thing for you, and you'll have such a good time in so many ways. Write about it all when it's said and done please.