Jury Duty - Freeze-Frame Radio

Date: Tue Dec 6 12:43 2005

Jury Duty

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

I am not going to jinx myself!

ray925 · Darth Raydar

I've been on two juries. The first was for a guy arrested for burglary. We found him quilty and I made a point to look at him when it was announced. Some of the jury wouldn't. I feel if you're going to find him guilty you have to look him in the eye. I didn't have a problem finding him guilty. The evidence spoke for itself.

The other was for a civil trial. A woman was suing a company. We sat through one day and came in the next morning to find they had settled. So we were dismissed. The judge came in and talked to us as did the plaintiff's attorney. It was interesting because after the first day we were all in agreement that we would have found in favor of the woman. The judge said he agreed with us and the attorney said the jury hid it well. They thought we were leaning toward the company and that was one of the reasons they settled.

confuzzed · Permanent State of Confusion

I am with JD.

1maple · Chairman Of The Board

I served on two juries also.
In one the case settled though I am sure we would have found for the defendant.
He was charged with kidnapping but the young man he was supposed to have kidnapped was not the least bit convincing that he did not go voluntarily.

In the other we found the guy guilty of trespass for not leaving two stores when he was told to.
He had his dog and dogs were not allowed in the stores because they had food preparing deli sections.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

Haven't been called upon myself (knock wood). I had lunch with Pambo's daughter who says that she got picked for a criminal trial. She can't talk about it right now... all Pambo would say is it doesn't involve animals. I guess that's a good thing.

Date: Tue Dec 6 17:33 2005

Maybe she was being cryptic Mema. Maybe it IS about animals

Ultimo · King of the Ring

I have never been picked for Jury service, I wouldn't mind though, My Boss has just been called up though, he has to do it in January, It is a nightmare for him though because he runs our main press, It means most of our production will have to stop, which means we won't be making money, but there's no way of getting out of it.

CP · Lord of the Lair

Two here. One civil and one murder trial. The civil lasted two weeks and I of course was an opposing verdict, but as you know you only need 9. But I was deposed later as to what happened in the jury room and the verdict was overturned.

the murder trial lasted one day. I got picked and then the defense began his opening. He asked us to picuture somthing from the movie Casablanca. The prosecution objected. They went into chambers for two hours. When they came back out, a mis trial was declared as something in the movie may have prejudiced us in the decision. I never saw the movie, so I had no idea.

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

I had Federal Jury duty for 6 months, served on two juries, one was a drug bust which we found the guy guilty, and the other was assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon, in this case the weapon was a car the guy had driven straight into the officers door.

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

Hey Ultimo, do they still wear the powdered white wigs for court?

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

Nah... if it was something sick and twisted she would tell me. I'm really curious what case it is. Most stuff around here never gets to the point of jury trial. We did have an attempted bank robbery over the summer. That just amazed me. Dude's escape plan was to go to the Johnson County Executive Airport (a few miles from the bank he robbed) and hijack a small airplane. Total dufus with a pilot's license. He was shot by the police, but it wasn't fatal. I'd bet he's gotta be coming up for trial soon.

Date: Wed Dec 7 17:36 2005

Thanks for sharing your stories guys!

Ultimo · King of the Ring

Sparky wrote:

Hey Ultimo, do they still wear the powdered white wigs for court?

Yeah I think so, but im not sure if it is for all court cases, just major trials I think!

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

I spoke with Pambo last night. It's not the bank robbery case. She couldn't say much about it, but did mention that it involves several teenagers. Apparently they got the last of the evidence presented to them yesterday, so today they will hear the closing arguments and hopefully start deliberations. She says she's dying to talk about it, so she will tell us all about it when she gets back.

Date: Thu Dec 8 09:06 2005

Thanks for the update. Like a soap opera every once in a while! Tell her we miss her!

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

I did... I even told her about this string so hopefully she will look for it when she get back. She says "Hi, everybody!" She misses all of us too.

Pambo · Waiting To Be Widowed

I'm baaaaaa-aaaack!

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

ooh! ooh! How did it go?

Date: Mon Dec 12 11:35 2005

You have to do better than that!

PS Welcome back, you were missed!

Molly · The Mediator

Yeah, what's the dirt?

Pambo · Waiting To Be Widowed

Okay....

It was an Aggravated Battery case. 6 counts. Plus 1 count of Encouraging a minor to possess/use marijuana (can't remember the real "court name").

Dude (age 34) was accused of aiding & abetting a group of young adults (ages 17-20-ish) who beat up 6 other young adults (also ages 17-20ish) with baseball bats & knives. 1 of the guys was actually murdered but they can't prove who did what so they only charged Aggravated Battery. The facts that were presented to us were that Dude received a phone call from the "bad" guys saying they were coming over. When the "bad" guys got there, 1 of them came iin & talked to Dude in the back room. They then went out of the apartment together. Dude came back in. Another guy went to lock the door & Dude said, "No. Leave the door open. He's coming back in a few minutes." Within 2-15 minutes (depending who you believed) 7-15 guys came thru the door wielding bats & knives & started beating & stabbing everyone except Dude, who claimed to be in the kitchen where they couldn't see him.

We deliberated for over 12 hours. I was one of the holdouts for a Not Guilty decision because I thought the state had not proven him guilty beyond a resonable doubt. One of the pieces of evidence we were given was a 7 hour conversation the defendant had with the police. None of the Guilty voters wanted to watch the whole 7 hours. They only wanted to see the last 20 minutes which wasn't enough for me. Eventually we watched about 2-3 hours of the video & I came to the conclusion that he was guilty based on that tape.

I wasn't the only not guilty that was holding out. I was just the one that said anything about it. It's rough being the one that's getting all the rolled eyes & finger pointing. I just didn't feel right putting some guy in prison without us doing our due diligence. I feel that it's only right that we make SURE everyone is comfortable getting to the same conclusion...or to differing conclusions for that matter.

Date: Mon Dec 12 14:32 2005

Gosh what a horrible case. What is wrong with this world. I am proud of you Pambo for doing what needed to be done!

Pambo · Waiting To Be Widowed

Honestly, I felt beat up after the deliberations. Everyone was pointing their remarks toward me, rolling there eyes at me...you know, the old "why-is-she-keeping-us-here-past-5:00?" stare. I hated that.

Date: Mon Dec 12 14:41 2005

Sorry, I think our jury system stinks. I mean it does not sound like jury of his peers anyway!

You did the right thing, so you should be able to sleep better.

Molly · The Mediator

Yeah, you have to wonder if some of the people who voted guilty only sided with the majority so they could get out of there sooner. Then any others who thought he was not guilty were probably afraid of speaking up so they weren't 'that guy.' Man, I hope I never have to go to trial for anything with the way people view jury duty. Jurors should be paid more or something.

Pambo · Waiting To Be Widowed

I don't really mind being "that guy". I'm not really one to keep important things unsaid. I just wish that the other 2 people that were for the Not Guilty would have helped me explain why they felt that way, too. I think I did a pretty good job of explaining myself, but it's always better when one has someone who can help them take the pressure. When it was all over I explained that those of us who were the Not Guilties didn't think he wasn't guilty, we just needed it proven to us. None of us got that out of the testimony of the trial. We had to see that video to believe in his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

I hope I never have to be on the other side of court (plaintiff or defendant).

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

I don't think paying people more for jury duty would make it any more appealing. It's all a matter of mind set. Not unlike voting, you just have to accept that it is part of being a responsible citizen and member of the community. As much as I wouldn't want to have to be on a jury, if I was selected I would honestly do my best to do the right thing. Props to Pambo for taking the time to convince herself that guilty was the right verdict here.

1maple · Chairman Of The Board

Pambo you did the right thing!
It is all based on reasonable doubt, not lets get home by 5:00.

Pambo · Waiting To Be Widowed

That's what I thought. So we stayed until we were done...which was midnight. Bummer for the people who were in a hurry to get done.