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Jury Duty! The_Muted_Grimaud Send a noteboard - 20/02/2012 11:46:38 PM
So, last Tuesday, I got selected to be on a jury! The case should be over Wednesday or Thursday (i.e. we should be saying guilty/not-guilty by that time) ... obviously, as its an ongoing case I can't actually tell you all anything about it.

That being said, I've made interesting observations into the world of the courtroom.

1) Despite being told by several people, (including the judge, assistant district attorney (ADA), defense lawyer), that this is nothing like a TV show, I've concluded that they are very wrong. It's very much like TV shows depict.

Obviously there's differences, TV shows (Law & Order say), last an hour and show about 5-10 minutes of testimony ... I've sat through some 13-14 hours of testimony so far. The seating in the back of the room is always full of people, reporters in TV shows ... my case, practically nobody is there. Also, the attorneys are never within 15 feet of the witness stand, and I get a feeling that's protocol. Depictions of courtrooms always show the attorneys getting right in the grill of the witness, mano e mano style. Not really.

But there's so many similarities, the way the ADA acts is exactly how it is in Law & Order, asking the questions, presenting the story ... and strangely enough she's a very attractive early 30's female, very stereotypical for L&O. The Defense attorney too is a stereotypical L&O defense attorney. The cross-examination matches up pretty well to how a defense attorney acts on the TV show. Occasionally it goes by like a staged play almost.

2) Will get to that later. ...

3) We actually had 16 jurors, 4 alternates. We're down to 14, two people dropped out for 'medical reasons'. I'm interested, if 3 more were to suffer an illness, would the case then have to be retried? Also, 40$ a day for jury duty, or so I've been told ... I feel bad for the people who are missing work.

Anyway, maybe Thursday I can give you all details on the case itself. If you want them ...
This message last edited by The_Muted_Grimaud on 21/02/2012 at 10:34:19 PM
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Jury Duty! - 20/02/2012 11:46:38 PM 1006 Views
I was selected for jury duty once - 21/02/2012 12:02:37 AM 725 Views
Enjoy not the right word ... - 21/02/2012 10:44:28 PM 689 Views
It's your job to find the facts. So good luck with that - 21/02/2012 01:21:34 AM 633 Views
It is interesting, at least for a couple of days - 21/02/2012 10:43:26 PM 577 Views
You really shouldn't be posting opinions about a legal case that is underway. - 21/02/2012 01:47:41 AM 721 Views
A mistrial can be declared for a juror simply making a conclusion? - 21/02/2012 03:18:45 AM 619 Views
Plausible deniability. - 21/02/2012 03:25:24 AM 682 Views
God Bless you! - 21/02/2012 05:55:46 AM 621 Views
It's perfectly understandable for people to avoid jury duty. - 21/02/2012 06:57:34 AM 732 Views
I must be more arrogant than you - 21/02/2012 05:46:01 PM 744 Views
I agree that it's an important civic duty, I just think it has a terrible supporting system. - 21/02/2012 07:34:04 PM 612 Views
Sure. - 21/02/2012 07:52:44 PM 599 Views
Re: Sure. - 21/02/2012 08:25:02 PM 731 Views
Sounds like your jury mates weren't cool ... - 21/02/2012 10:42:10 PM 626 Views
Yeah ... - 21/02/2012 10:40:04 PM 758 Views

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