Jury duty

[xTopGun]

No... That's a throbbing ankle and lack of sleep. Thanks for pointing out my error in spelling.

all mine are usually brain cells dissipating faster than the speed of my fingers ...

 

[Xrayist]

I was on a jury. Minor assault. Pretty cut and dried. The trial lasted 2 days. On the third day we were brought back in for deliberation, around 10 AM. We all decided that since the lunches they provided were very good, that we would not reach our decision until after lunch even though during the first vote it was unanimous. That vote was around10:30. It was a very good lunch..............

 

[Watertender]

all mine are usually brain cells dissipating faster than the speed of my fingers ...

I get that. My sleep patterns are all over the place from decades of shift work. Now between my ankle and sciatic nerve I go from peaceful sleep to screaming pain in seconds if I turn wrong.
The forum helps take what little mind I have off of the pain.

 

[Gopher]

My bride and I are both in our late 70s. Neither of us has been called for jury duty (in McKinney, Texas) in several years. I suspect our age is a disqualifier.

I seem to recall that age IS an exemptor from jury duty unless the jurisdiction's jury pool isn't sufficient to meet the normal demand for jurors.

Having served as an expert witness in more than 75 lawsuits over the years, I always looked forward to jury duty service. But that same work history, once disclosed during voir dire, caused me to be dismissed from the jury panel by one or the other side's lawyer.

Here in Grayson County, the judge will excuse you if you are 75 or older. Since I was 18, I have gotten a summons every five years and then get another one about 18 months later. Been called numerous times, have served on about five cases, and was the jury foreman on two of those. I went through a period for a while where I knew the judge, the lawyer, the cop, or the person on trial, and got out of all of those.

 

[The.Tumbleweed]

Cops rarely get past voir dire.

If you are familiar with the court rules and procedures, the lawyers will tend to avoid you like the plague.
I only had to bring up improper decisions made, and that was the last time I ever got even a notice for jury duty.

 

[The.Tumbleweed]

I first read that as assless tactical pants. That would be interesting.

Tactical chaps?

 

[xTopGun]

If you are familiar with the court rules and procedures, the lawyers will tend to avoid you like the plague.
I only had to bring up improper decisions made, and that was the last time I ever got even a notice for jury duty.

If you are familiar with the court rules and procedures, the lawyers will tend to avoid you like the plague.
I only had to bring up improper decisions made, and that was the last time I ever got even a notice for jury duty.

yup, there's that too...
but I wasn't about to drive 50 miles each way ($60+/-) pay for parking ($12+/-), lose a day's work (@ $800+/-) only to hear them say "Excused" within 5 minutes of my name being called.... all for a stupendous fee of $10.
All so some low life criminal with a rap sheet longer than my drive to the courthouse could be found not guilty by ignorant sympathizing idiots. My life/time is worth more than that

 

[OneShotRuger]

I've lived here in Illinois for 30 years and have been called for jury duty only once. That one time I was picked for the jury and in fact was the Foreman. The whole trial only took two days, of a "sovereign citizen" claiming that he did not need to have license plates on his cars, that he understood what the law said, but that he wanted us to practice "jury nullification" and to acquit him of the charges. We found him guilty, and the judge apologized to the jury for the time spent on this.

As to the "dress as you would for church" I find that an unacceptable choice of words by the local government. It makes the assumption that everyone goes to church, which is an ignorant assumption. Personally I would have ignored that instruction and worn whatever I otherwise would have worn that day, possibly shorts and flip flops.

I wore jeans and cowboy boots with a heavy Carhartt overshirt.
Judge challenged my apparel
Showed him photo of me administering sacrament on HORSEBACK.
I CHALLENGED HIM RIGHT BACK
SAID I WAS NOT INTERESTED.
GOT RELEASED AND FILED AN OBJECTION TO JURY DUTY.
IT IS 110 MILES TO THE COURTHOUSE ROUND TRIP
JUDGE EXCUSED ME FROM THE POOL.

BIGGEST OBJECTION WAS THE WASTED TIME AND ZERO PARKING ANYWHERE NEAR THE COURTHOUSE.

 

[the_leper_colony]

I have served,, proudly on jury duty. I look at it as a privilege to be considered qualified to potentially judge the law, and a case against someone.

We are supposed to be judged by a "jury of our peers" and I would hope & pray that if I were ever in a position to be judged,, I'd want educated & willing jurors.

So for those who hate it, or do whatever they can to get out of it, etc,, you may wish for an honest educated jury if you ever get tried.

Exactly right! I ask myself, "Would I want someone like me on the jury, if I was on trial?" Because the answer is 'yes', I always serve when asked.

The result has been that I've served on more juries than I can count, both criminal and civil cases. The most memorable one was a 6 week trial for a civil suit - memorable not just for the duration, but because I found a 5" nickel Smith Model 27 that I had always wanted, at a fantastic price no less, in a little bitty gun shop near the court house!

 

[coach]

I was summoned many times but only served on one jury. An interesting but not particularly fun experience. But I did take it seriously. I’ve reached the cut off age so I won’t need to do it again if I don’t want to.

 

[mirglip]

My friend's son lives in a camper and he painted the door purple so anyone who comes in is trespassing. He claims he doesn't drive, he travels so he can't be questioned about it.

Doesn't sound much crazier than some of the laws that get passed.

 

[blume357]

How does a purple door make it trespassing? As usual, I'm confused....

 

[LDB]

I believe purple paint signifies no trespassing. I believe it is sometimes (often?) used on ranches etc. painted on trees/fences/etc. at intervals to let anyone approaching know to not proceed further. Or I dreamed it all. Could be either.

 

[Watertender]

How does a purple door make it trespassing? As usual, I'm confused....

I believe purple paint signifies no trespassing. I believe it is sometimes (often?) used on ranches etc. painted on trees/fences/etc. at intervals to let anyone approaching know to not proceed further. Or I dreamed it all. Could be either.

It's supposedly Olde English law that the sovereign citizens have tried to use. Purple makes it easy because some of them probably can't read.

 

[txramfan]

How does a purple door make it trespassing? As usual, I'm confused....

In Texas purple paint properly applied on trees or post is a way to tell people to not trespass.
I first saw it in use decades ago while dove hunting.

https://www.sll.texas.gov/faqs/purple-paint-trespassing/

 

[Yaworski]

https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pgc/huntingandtrapping/regulations/purple-paint-law

Never heard of that before. Not that I'm a fence jumper but if saw purple fence posts before today, I'd have just said, "Hmmm, that's interesting."

 

[gramps]

Sovereign citizens, to my knowledge, have NEVER prevailed at a traffic stop, or in court. If I see fence posts painted purple, I will think it is an LGBTQ commune. I have never been on a jury. I have been summoned, but because I was a Firefighter, Deputy Sheriff, or First Responder, I never needed to serve. At age 76, I am no longer one of those. I still doubt I get called. If called, I will serve. I live in the Volunteer State of Tn, I am a VOLUNTEER.
gramps

 

[RoninPA]

In PA purple paint on boundary trees, fence posts, etc, denotes private property/no trespassing. Most (but not all) hunters know this. How many non-hunters know this - very few, so many landowners also use the NO TRESPASSING signs along with the purple paint to try to educate people.

 

[Elder User]

About a month ago I got a post card in the mail about Jury duty. It was supposed to be next week.

Thank goodness I just got an email that it was canceled. But I would bet money I get another summons before the end of the year.

It was funny because it said “no shorts.” And to wear what you would wear to church.

Only in Texas. “Wear what you would wear to church” Really???

What if I belong to a satanic cult? What if I didn’t go to church? What if I went to a new age church and we wear shorts and flip flops and Hawaiian shirts?

I guess I got upset that the city government used religion as a basis for how to dress.

It was jury duty at the youth/minor court room.

But every year either my wife or I will get a jury summons. So much for being random.

I’ve never done Jury duty before and was kind of looking forward to it. Before with my wife’s travel schedule and our daughter being young I couldn’t.

It always depresses me to read a comment prepared by someone who was denied a real education and attended a latter day Woke DEI school. Your elders recognize that "Sunday go to meeting clothing" is an idiom meaning dressy clothes, not proselytizing.
I used it myself today in an email to a large group of people who had enquired about the proper dress to wear to an event that we are to attend. "People wear anything from Friday casual to Sunday go to meeting clothes" is what I told them.

 

[Elder User]

A peer is an individual who belongs to the same social, professional, or academic group as you.
Ya, RIGHT ! ! !

In America a jury of your peers merely means a group of competent fellow citizens without regard to education or social standing.

 

[Elder User]

I get that. My sleep patterns are all over the place from decades of shift work. Now between my ankle and sciatic nerve I go from peaceful sleep to screaming pain in seconds if I turn wrong.
The forum helps take what little mind I have off of the pain.

Try a good pain doctor. I suffered from sciatica and know first hand what you are experiencing. Mine had progressed to 24 hours of never ending pain. I was lucky and my doctor ended it with a shot of what I think was a muscle relaxant or pain killer prior to an epidural, which I never had to have. To this day I avoid anything like heavy lifting or bending over for fear of causing a reoccurance.

 

[Elder User]

I wore jeans and cowboy boots with a heavy Carhartt overshirt.
Judge challenged my apparel
Showed him photo of me administering sacrament on HORSEBACK.
I CHALLENGED HIM RIGHT BACK
SAID I WAS NOT INTERESTED.
GOT RELEASED AND FILED AN OBJECTION TO JURY DUTY.
IT IS 110 MILES TO THE COURTHOUSE ROUND TRIP
JUDGE EXCUSED ME FROM THE POOL.

BIGGEST OBJECTION WAS THE WASTED TIME AND ZERO PARKING ANYWHERE NEAR THE COURTHOUSE.

Be grateful you had a lenient judge. He could have summarily clapped you in jail for contempt.

 

[xTopGun]

In America a jury of your peers merely means a group of competent fellow citizens without regard to education or social standing.

you mean folks who walk around with their nose glued to their phone screen and their head way up the channel, who can't even say "Voir dire", much less know what it means . . . . . uhmmm, no thanks, been there done that

 

[The.Tumbleweed]

https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pgc/huntingandtrapping/regulations/purple-paint-law

Never heard of that before. Not that I'm a fence jumper but if saw purple fence posts before today, I'd have just said, "Hmmm, that's interesting."

It pays to read each season's hunting guide. Such things are covered, so you don't run afoul of the law.

 

[Yaworski]

It pays to read each season's hunting guide.

I don't hunt.

 

[The.Tumbleweed]

I don't hunt.

I've had my hunts ruined by folks NOT staying out of the field during hunting season. They even bring their F'ing dogs with them.

The other infuriating thing is carloads of migrants/illegals pulling along the side of the road, lining up, and chasing deer to the one, or two guys in the group, that have guns. I doubt seriously if any of them are legal, or licensed.

All you can do at that point is pack up, and go home. Never mind you've been in a tree half the night.