I have jury duty today in the Dade County Circuit Court, down on West Flagler.
I've been called once before, a couple of years ago (see Called for Jury Duty and Jury Duty), but that was for the criminal court. I was part of the venire for a truly horrible case of child molestation, and while prepared to do it, I was very relieved not to be chosen as it sounded as if the evidence would be very graphic and upsetting.
This time it is civil court. Again, though, we have a one-day one-trial system, so if I don't get picked for a case, that's it until next time.
You might think that a law professor has no chance to be on a jury, but in fact that's not the case. A few of my colleagues have sat in actual trials.
See you in court. Maybe.
Jury duty? That’s interesting that some of your colleagues have sat on juries. I am not a lawyer, but I took constitutional law as an undergraduate student on the way to a liberal arts degree. I’ve found out that here in our area, there is no faster way of being purged from the jury pool than to put down that piddling little bit of law knowledge on the jury member form.
I’ve also argued that jury pools should be taken from motor vehicle license databases. A number of my acquaintances refuse to vote, claiming that doing so puts them in jeopardy of being placed on jury duty.
Here in DC, the jury pool is small enough that you can count on being called every two years or so. There are no automatic exemptions for practicing lawyers or administrative judges. I’ve been on two juries since I became an administrative judge.
Good luck in your public service.
I was called in my third year of law school, and in this particular Northern city the obligation was one week.
I went every day but one, reading an impressively large tome with the time alloted.
I was brought in on a case on the second to last day. It was not a particularly impressive case, as I recall.
I had been assured by several people over at the law school that I would not be chosen because I was a law student. And indeed that turned out to be the case; I waited expectantly for my chance to speak, and once I let the cat out of the bag, that was that.
Very interesting to hear that things have changed somewhat. Or perhaps these are regional distinctions.
Oh, and let’s not forget the Fully Informed Jury Association, http://fija.org/
Juries are often railroaded by the rules of evidence into their decisions. Fully informed juries are a better hedge against tyranny…
What case did you hear? What decision did the jury make?