I have been summoned many times but the only times I was selected, the case was settled almost immediately after the jury was seated. It always felt a bit anti-climactic, but it is a part of the process. Once the lawyers saw who was on the jury, and what kind of issues and responses came up during voir dire, I guess they were more motivated to settle. The first time I went to jury duty, I was interested in the process and not at all disturbed about missing work as I was just out of college and in a job without much responsibility for how the work would get done without me. I really thought I was going to be seated on that case (a civil case) as the day wore on. I had been seated in the first batch and various potential jurors were dismissed and new ones brought in, over and over, and I was still sitting in the jury box. Finally one of the lawyers spent some time studying our questionnaires and used the last peremptory challenge to get rid of me. I was also dismissed for cause because something about my answers in voir dire or on the questionnaires gave one of the lawyers a reason to object to me and the judge agreed. It wasn’t clear to me exactly why, though. I wasn’t giving answers that were aimed at being dismissed. I tried to answer thoroughly and thoughtfully. It was a murder case. Most of the time when I’ve been summoned, my group has not been required to show up when I’ve checked the night before. It’s still kind of a pain just for the scheduling uncertainty but it’s OK. We have to have jurors if we’re going to have trial by jury.
1 Like