<p>I have been on “jury duty” for the past two days. * unassigned* which means i am sitting & waiting with about 200 others. I didn’t want to bring my laptop ( dumb) i think it is going to be another really long day. Every one is really quiet- which i appreciate but it is kind of weird- maybe we just haven’t had enough coffee yet. </p>
<p>So what do you do when you have to wait? Are you organized enough to have knitting or war & peace to keep you occupied or do you count the holes in the ceiling? ( like I do when I am @the dentist).</p>
<p>I brought a paperback into the jury box and discretely read it while the lawyers did their out-of-room conferences. I wouldn’t think of doing jury duty w/o a book!</p>
<p>when I was on jury duty, I brought a book. but I was “lucky” and didn’t have to wait - I got on a SEQUESTERED jury immediately…exactly one year after dh was sequestered…dd was only 8 when she was able to joke that going on a family reunion with grandparents was like jury duty.</p>
<p>The surest way to not have to wait long is to have something to do, the… is to forget the book and rely on magazines there. </p>
<p>I had jury duty back when kid needed a babysitter and I was working. Screwed up my schedule to not know if I was available for work… The pay for it was less than the cost of the sitter. I got out of the only trial with a statement which would have prejudiced a jury and perhaps caused a mistrial when they had a question during the selection process (hey- they knew I was an MD and should have known I could take any chance to comment on the deep pocket awards, it was an insurance company versus someone in a minor injury case)- I asked one of the lawyers that day (he was the son of a physician).</p>
<p>I have my iPod (which has about 100 books on it with the kindle app)& I have misc games, Netflix & iTunes… But I still am not great about basically staying in one place all day.
I wish I thought to bring a deck of cards or domething.
But at least yesterday we had a really long lunch(however I didn’t have time to make it down to the nordstromrack!)
And I think the weather today is going to be nice , I am going to try and find the Asian history museum I keep forgetting about.( wing Luke ! My mind must be Swiss cheese- perhaps I should take a cue from Betty White & drink shots of vodka!)</p>
<p>Parents, what exactly is jury duty? As an 18 year old from Pakistan, I don’t know anything about it (other than a vague Wikipedia description). Thank you.</p>
<p>When I first moved to the LA area, I got jury duty in downtown LA. At that time, you did 10 days of waiting in the jury room (or on a jury if you were selected)- there was no on-call system yet. I was only called for one jury, which they promptly dismissed when the “accused” stood up and started screaming he needed water-NOW!!! So I sat there for 10 days. I did as much work as I could but with no computer it wasn’t much. I read and learned to knit and watched a lot of the People’s Court- for some reason that was the popular show on the single TV. They usually gave us 2-3 hours for lunch so I had a great time exploring downtown LA; met a group of same-age people and we explored the garment district, farmers market… It was fun because I wasn’t used to a large city, but I’m glad they have gone to the call-in system since. It was definitely a good way to explore LA and my job did pay for it at the time so at least I wasn’t out any money.</p>
<p>We have a “one day or one trial” system in my state, so your life isn’t on hold for weeks - if you don’t get seated on that day, you are done for three years.</p>
<p>Have never been on Jury Duty. I think that I’d bring a laptop to work on my book - that’s usually what I do when I have a wait of 15 minutes or more with nothing to do. I took my son to an appointment this morning and went through my work email (downloaded as they don’t have WiFi) and worked on my book. I find writing to be relaxing - especially if you really know the subject well.</p>
<p>They are still selecting the jury- so I will either have this be my last day or be assigned for two weeks.
it’s a civil case- & while I don’t mind doing community service- I really don’t understand the instructions to the jury- One attorney is using terms in a way that doesn’t coincide with my law dictionary ( on my ipod- which I already had for something else)</p>
<p>This is in the same courthouse as a really big case that is in deliberations of the shooting death of a woodcarver by a police officer, so lots of hubbub.</p>
<p>That case is much more interesting, but while the evidence ( including multiple eye witnesses & video/audio) seems to indicate that the officer was hasty, I know that we can have a different experience of the same incident & I think it is certainly possible that the officer felt threatened ( even if the woodcarvers knife was closed- however, the woodcarver was also deaf- very tragic):(</p>
<p>That is an interesting case. I did a little reading on it - it appears to be inexperience by the police officer. He clearly felt threatened and fell back on his training. But feeling threatened isn’t the same as being threatened. There seems to be a fair amount of witness testimony to indicate that the victim wasn’t threatening. There seem to be more problems with the officer’s testimony - it seems like he saw it a certain way when it may not have been that way.</p>
<p>ma3a20 – When you register to vote, you are put on a list of citizens to be called. Part of our responsibility as US citizens is to be available, every now and again, to the courts for jury trials. That whole ‘trial by a jury of his/her peers’ thing. So you go to the court, wait around to be called…sometimes they don’t need you and you go home. Sometimes they’ll ask you questions about yourself, your beliefs, your understanding of law to decide if you are a rational and unbiased person. You can be dismissed because – well, often they don’t really need to state a reason – the defense thinks you will be sympathetic but the prosecutor thinks you’ll be too sympathetic and vice versa. If they both agree, you may be on the jury to witness the trial and, with the agreement of the rest of the jury, to render a decision. Not every trial is a jury trial; not every trial is a criminal case. Civil cases can also be tried by jury. </p>
<p>Everyone complains about it but it is a core structure of our judicial system…trial by 12 good men and true is embedded in our system all the way back to Magna Carta. It’s boring to wait around for hours and can be disruptive to your life if the trial goes on for a long time or if the jury is sequestered (held incommunicado so as to avoid being influenced by media or other discussions of the case). Many duties are often boring and disruptive but necessary. </p>
<p>If you ever want to see a good movie that illustrates the pros and cons of this system, rent 12 Angry Men, the original with Henry Fonda. It’s brilliant. [12</a> Angry Men (1957) - IMDb](<a href=“http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/]12”>12 Angry Men (1957) - IMDb)</p>