Juries And Jury Duty - The Podcast

"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
04/09/2015 at 09:00 • Filed to: None

Everyone wants a jury to decide their fate but no one wants to serve on a jury. Paradox? Or just laziness and greed? Well, I discuss my thoughts and observations on Juries and Jury Duty in Lehto's Law Ep. XXVI.

I've conducted jury trials and taught classes on how to select juries but I have never gotten to serve on one. I'd feel left out except that I know so many people who have served on them. Some people seem to get called over and over again. I know the extreme lengths to which people have gone to get out of serving.

So check out the podcast if you get a chance. I even explain the concept of jury nullification. Just in case you ever really want to make waves.

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And if you get called, go and serve proudly. And when the jurors enter your courtroom, stand up. They deserve our respect. And those books behind me in that pic? They're law books. Obviously, I mean business. Just back off .

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DISCUSSION (23)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 09:16

ArchDuke MaxYenko (who I'm sure you know in passing, one of our mods here) was tangled up in jury duty for four days last week - didn't even end up seated for a trial, but was held anyway.

SteveLehto > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
04/09/2015 at 09:19

Yeah, it all depends on how well the courts are run. Some are run quite well and some are 36th District Court in Detroit.

505Turbeaux > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 09:20

how come I have never been called for it in 18 years of being over 18? They don't like my kind?

SteveLehto > 505Turbeaux
04/09/2015 at 09:26

Depends on where you live and how they choose. Some places use driver's license rolls and others go off of voter registration. If you are licensed to drive and vote and still have never been called, it is just a matter of math. Do you live in a populous city/county?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 505Turbeaux
04/09/2015 at 09:26

I got called in for a trial last year, but didn't end up on the jury - the last selection was a slightly deaf elderly veteran's widow - Puerto Rican, I think? The actual topic of the trial was something the guy had decided to have a jury trial for on the "no, this is BS" basis - circumstantial evidence only. Which can convict, but the guy felt he could fight it.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 09:27

My experience:

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/jury-duty-day-…

Tohru > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 09:30

I've served on a jury once. It was a property dispute case with damages, and I ended up being jury foreman. I'm not ashamed to admit that to determine if the plantiff won damages and how much damages they should get, I borrowed a page from John Grisham's Runaway Jury.

505Turbeaux > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 09:35

I live in the most populous county in the state of Maine. I don't actually know how much goes to trial here though

Funktheduck > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 09:48

Do you ever feel weird talking to yourself for the podcasts?

SteveLehto > Funktheduck
04/09/2015 at 10:31

No weirder than when I was talking to myself on the radio.

deekster_caddy > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 10:34

And if you get called, go and serve proudly.

This! So much this! I DO NOT understand why people want so badly to get out of being on a Jury. If I'm in some kind of crazy deep shit and it ends up in court, I would want a jury made up of my actual peers, not just people who have nothing better to do.

I served on a 3 day medical malpractice trial many years ago. It was a very enlightening experience. I think the plaintiffs lawyer did a terrible job though, they did not win us over, or win the case. Now (many years later) I'm thinking the plaintiff might not have been able to afford 'good' legal counsel. I was surprised how much of what was said was objected to, and how the Jury was supposed to keep straight what was and wasn't objected, sustained or overruled. Some of the objections were flying fast and furious, and it would have been comical if we weren't trying to keep it straight...

Funktheduck > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 11:06

Well, just remember, always keep a microphone in front of you when you do it or they'll send the men in white coats after you.

SteveLehto > Funktheduck
04/09/2015 at 11:31

What I am waiting for is the inevitable listener who assumes I am talking directly to them. And just them.

Seems like that is bound to happen . . . .

Funktheduck > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 11:59

That's part of the reason I've never wanted to be famous. Too many unstable people out there in the world.

wafflesnfalafel > SteveLehto
04/09/2015 at 22:38

three times - jury foreman once. What has made me uncomfortable is how quickly people want to vote and leave. Hello people - we are sending folks to jail for years - take a few minutes to review the evidence with the rest of your jurors....

Bearded Bastard > SteveLehto
04/11/2015 at 13:28

in canada the jury process is identical, you get a letter, you show up, they select 12 people from the hundred or so they requested, done. People make such a big deal over it, and when I initially got my letter I said, hell, work is slow, I'll take the 50 bucks a day for a few days, good.

Two weeks before the date, they fine points of the charges were announced, and it turned out that the trial was estimated to be 40 weeks or something like that, I got out of jury duty easy as I'm the only current working member of my family, but they are expecting a jury to be there, for 50 bucks a day, for 40 WEEKS. I knew many people who were so frustrated with that potential time line, and then I knew some people, who were practically begging to be on jury duty, so they could collect their EI from being laid off, and cash in the 50 a day, and not have to do the work required by EI to look for another job, as jury duty precedes all that.

I can't tell what happened of it, but here is the initial report.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1758136/4…

I will look to find out more when I can, but it's a fairly large case

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > SteveLehto
04/16/2015 at 09:01

Just saw this today and figured it was worth sharing.

Washington (AFP) - Even the head of the highest court in the land has to report for jury duty.

John Roberts, the chief justice of the US Supreme Court, showed up for jury duty Wednesday in a Maryland county court in the Washington suburbs, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg told AFP.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-chief-justi…

SteveLehto > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
04/16/2015 at 09:04

If he was in my pool, I'd boot him.

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > SteveLehto
04/16/2015 at 09:15

I can't say that I'd blame you. It seems strange to me that judges wouldn't be exempted from jury duty. It isn't exactly a conflict of interest, but it seems pretty close to it.

SteveLehto > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
04/16/2015 at 09:18

I'm sure they do it because of how it would look if they didn't. But supreme court justice nominees are so political that they cannot even pretend to be non-partisan.

I really didn't think Roberts was qualified but the main reason I'd boot him is that it would be fun to tell people I had done it!

rickard22 > SteveLehto
04/28/2015 at 11:50

My last time on Jury Duty (been called 2x before) I got on a case. Burglary. Strange case as the accused was probably guilty. Basically:

-Guy Burgled a home, stealing some jewelry and hummels.

-Had been in home months before burglary as an electricians helper.

-DA tried to show he had no right on electrician job to have the his finger print in the upstairs bedroom when the electrical job was in the first floor kitchen.

-Accused acknowledged his finger print was in bedroom where items were later stolen.

-Frustrating that the reason he was arrested and charged (my assumption) was that he was arrested later for something else and the fingerprints must have matched. Court rules prohibited us from knowing all this but it was apparent that this was the case.

-Thought he was guilty as hell but when the judge read the instructions, we couldn’t convict.

-The court officer brought us to the jury room, hinting she knew exactly what the vote would be.

-We decided so quick, that we stayed in the the jury room for an hour+ bullshitting around to appear to have taken our time weighing the case.

Britt > deekster_caddy
07/02/2015 at 14:02

I have only had jury duty once. I found that all the complaints made by others about having it made no sense at all. It made me feel proud and an American to be allowed to serve in this way... Of course, I was a soldier before then so maybe it is just me, but serving once in a while feels like the right thing to do.

deekster_caddy > Britt
07/02/2015 at 14:21

Thank you for your service!