I was slightly acquainted with a person who served on the NYC “Preppie Murder” case back in the day. After a 2-month trial and 9 days of deliberation, a plea deal was struck. I think, but am not sure, that they may have been sequestered for at least part of that time. The juror felt as if they had just wasted months of his time.
I agree with Consolation about the ethics of “death-qualified” juries. Picking a "death-qualified’ jury is cherry-picking people who are more likely to convict. Of course prosecutors like it. I think it should be outlawed.
Colorado has very few death penalty cases, but when they have one they put a lot of time into the jury selection. My sister was called for one. 500 potential jurors called, 250 dismissed immediately because they wouldn’t impose the death penalty. Also, the jury would be sequestered for all of December so many others dismissed for hardship. My sister made it to almost the last round (and she was a practicing lawyer at that time). Many catholics asked to be dismissed. They really put a lot of time into selecting the jury. I think it would be very hard to hide your views about the death penalty and get on a jury if you coudn’t vote for death. The trial took weeks. After the guilty verdict, they did another hearing for sentencing with the prior criminal record, motives, lifestyle, etc. The actual discussion about sentencing took about an hour. This guy was that evil. I met another lawyer who had worked at the public defender’s office at that time and he said he’d never met a more evil family than this guy, his brother (also involved in the crime), and their MOTHER. These guys had kidnapped a woman, stabbed her, put her in the truck, bought hamburgers and ate them. They were found because there was blood dripping from the car. Evil.
The jurors aren’t ‘pro death’ just like pro-choice people are ‘pro abortions.’ The jurors just agree to apply the law even if they don’t personally support the death penalty or mandatory life sentences for 3 time offenders or deporting anyone convicted of a felony if they are undocumented. That’s the law and the jurors agree to impose the sentence if they find the person guilty. Usually jurors don’t impose a certain sentence, just decide guilt of innocence and the judge imposes sentencing. In fact, in Colorado now if it is guilty in a capital case, the jury doesn’t do the death phase, but it instead goes to a 3 judge panel for hearing and sentencing. The jury doesn’t decide anything but guilt.
In Florida, capital trials are held all the time. A co-worker (also a lawyer) was selected for a capital case and I said OMG, you were on THAT case? (it was fairly well known, in the news). Nope, on another capital jury at the same time. In Colorado we wouldn’t have 2 in the same decade and in Florida they have two at the same court house at the same time. No special juries called, just the next group up. Her jury didn’t impose death but the other one did. For the two defendants, just the luck of the draw who his jurors were.
Again I ask, are there circumstances in which the death penalty is mandatory? Because if it isn’t, then it isn’t “the law” that the person must be sentenced to death.
Well, in that case, I don’t see a justification for asking jurors about their feelings on the death penalty.
Anyway, I will drop this now, since as Skieurope is always saying, this is not a debating society. 
Just wanted to follow up with the outcome of my son’s jury duty. My husband took our son’s forms, documentations of schedule, breaks, and internship, and they agreed to move him FORWARD to his spring break - which is the best choice for him with his schedule! 
Yippee–hopefully that will be his only jury obligation for the upcoming year 2019.
From Ma here and my daughter who attends college out of state has been called for Grand Jury Service in a couple of weeks. If chosen Grand Jury can be for 3 months! H
Has anyone ever heard of an out of state student being made to serve on a GJ and been not able to return to back to school on time in the fall?
No, contact the phone number on the notice. She may have to prove that she is attending an out of state school. They may ask for her to list a time that she would be able to fulfill her obligation. She could list next summer. If they don’t allow that, she can report the first day with documentation her enrollment in OOS school.
When my D was called for jury duty the first time, I went to the courthouse with her summons and arranged for her to be placed on call in during her winter break. She called in but never had to go. The second time she was called was right after she moved to another county. In my state, you can only serve in the county in which you currently reside for state court. She hasn’t been called again.
My oldest son was called for federal jury duty. He had his courthouse changed to one he could drive to and he went out for two days and hasn’t been called again.
Third son was called for right before a trip abroad. We rescheduled it to September.
I have been called three times in state and once in federal. The first time, I was excused the first day. The second time, I was questioned but not kept. The third time, I actually heard two days of testimony on a robbery case. In federal court, I was called to the courthouse you drive to, but I called and asked to go to the one I could get to by public transit. No problem. I spent one day and was discharged.
I am a practicing trial attorney. I want to thank everyone who shows up for jury duty. Even if the case settles or a plea deal is struck, your presence and participation was a large part of the solution. Nobody should feel that jury service, no matter how short or long or what the outcome is, is a waste. Jury duty is a civic responsibility that is a large part of our way of government and life. I wish more saw it that way and not as an imposition into their lives.
^^^Another lawyer here echoing what techmom99 said. I greatly appreciate our jurors and a large part of why our legal system works (to the extent that it does) is because of attentive, thoughtful jurors.
We have lived in the same place for nearly 25 years. I get summoned every two or three years, DH has been summoned twice.
Most of the time the cases I was assigned to settled while we were sitting outside the courthouse for hours on hard wooden benches.
My county has improved the process vastly over the years. You can now go online and request a different week within the next six months, and request to be assigned to a sub-courthouse nearer your home. That one is huge, since the main courthouse is an hour away.
One time I served on a criminal trial that lasted three days. At the end of day three we were told to report in the morning to deliberate. The next morning one of the jurors said that she had prayed all night for an answer and the Lord had said that the defendant was not guilty. That was a new one…how do you debate that?
The response I’d try to give is that we have to follow the evidence that was presented as well as the instructions we were given by the judge. It can be challenging but if everyone remembers they are expected to weigh the evidence that was presented and the instructions they were given, it works fairly well.
Perhaps ask her what evidence the Lord gave to her that supported the defendant’s innocence?
That’s the kind of juror you should report if they don’t rejoin the logical world. There are usually alternate jurors.
When I was a juror, the only person who voted to convict insisted that “something” had happened. We all had to gently remind the juror that we weren’t being asked that question, but we were being asked if the prosecutor proved beyond a reasonable doubt all the elements that the defendant was charged with, as instructed by the judge. After a nice lunch brought in by the bailiff, we were unanimous.
There usually aren’t alternates. In bigger cases when there are alternates, they are often dismissed when the evidence is completed and the jury finalized.
We always have alternates. What if someone gets sick?
We never had alternates for civil trials (6 person). If someone couldn’t continue, the parties could agree to continue with 5 or there would be a mistrial. Even for short criminal trials, they’d have 12, or if alternates 14, but once the evidence concluded and the 12 on the jury chosen, the 2 alternates are sent home and then they are ‘contaminated’ and can’t come back.
When I was a practicing lawyer, we always had alternates on juries. No 6-person juries in my state – only 12 person juries. Alternates would not be “dismissed” until the time of the verdict, but they would usually be allowed to go home when the case was submitted to the jury, along with the usual instructions & admonition not to discuss the case or read any news reports about it. There are cases where during jury deliberation something comes up and a juror will be dismissed and replaced with an alternate; the jury is then instructed to start all over again with deliberations.