PTravel

It's bad for both. Both sides want a fair trial. A juror who is downright pissed (and with good reason) for having to be there is not going to evaluate the evidence dispassionately and objectively and render a verdict thereon.

Finite Elephant

I'm pretty sure that a potential juror for the second Rod Blagojeivich trial was excused because of non-refundable airline tickets. And that was federal court. Not sure if they were dropped by the judge or counsel.

TMOliver

I had occasion to inquire a couple of years back. In my county, 200,000+, but not "metro", both one of the district judges and the district clerk claimed that any potential juror summoned to the court house (usually with a couple of weeks notice) could either in person (or beforehand, by mail) with some evidence of a ticket or cruise booking, etc., be "released" and either called later or, in most cases, simply thrown back into the eligible pool. Seemed sensible. Nobody, prosecution, defense, plaintiff, judge, wants a p*ssed-off juror forced to serve.

ovaldisk

My local county distric court does NOT give jurors(even potential ones) such consideration.

In fact, jurors are expected to:

pay for parking at the courthouse's own 8-story parking garage($3.75 each time),
pay for bottled waters(if they want to having something to drink in the jury box)
bring his/her own pens/pencils(during trial/deliberation)

however....

lunches are free.(which consists one plain ham sandwich made with Wonder bread,
one small packet of mayo, one small clear ziplock bag of potato chips, 1/2 pickle,
one banana or apple),

Isn't it wonderful when the loca/state governments have no money?
(but can still afford to pay the current county executive a $290,000 yearly salary?)

chgoeditor

I didn't know that bottle water was a necessity for anyone.

I've never heard of a jurisdiction in the US where potential jurors who appear at the courthouse are not paid for their services. That money is intended to pay for things such as transportation & related expenses.

ovaldisk

water is not really necessary if the juror can sit in the jury box for 4 hours at a time without needing any water...

I forgot about the daily "pay" for jurors. Just looked it up from my past experience. It's $2.25 per hour when you're physically sitting in the jury box, with a state-mandated $10.50 maximum per day, regardless of actual time spent. $10.50 minus $3.75(parking) = $6.76 per day... Of course, I'm happy to serve my civic duty. (not!)

SkiAdcock

In LA County you used to be able to get out of jury duty if you were self-employed & serving would cause a financial hardship. But once they switched to the 1-Day/1-Trial process, that pretty much went out the window, as they started going through more jurors.

I've been called a couple of times. Once right during the holidays when I knew I'd be out of town. I could have played the odds that I wouldn't get called up, but I figured w/ my luck I would. So I just called the # & said to the clerk, I've got a calendar. Let's pick a week when I'm in town & we did. I did get called to go in that week, but they either picked jurors or settled out of court. Can't remember which, but I was dismissed with others at end of day.

A different time I was called on the last day & they were in the process of picking jurors. And doing the if you have a reason you can't make it, speak up now thing (my layman's term). Some said their work wouldn't let them off or pay for it. The judge & clerk had a huge book that showed California employers' policies, and would say your employer does let you serve, etc. I was surprised that some of the docs didn't get let off. One was a surgeon & no dice.

This was a murder trial. Black defendant from the 'hood or something like that. But the trial was expected to last 3-4 weeks.

I actually did have a business trip planned where I was going to be out of town for a couple of weeks & journalist meetings set up, customer meetings, etc. I mentioned that to the judge & at first I didn't think she was going to let me off. I also mentioned that if I was unavailable for 4 weeks, my clients would want their retainers back for that month (true) & might decide to look elsewhere for a consultant.

I also pointed out that I wasn't trying to get out of serving & had actually allocated the week where we could get called up as well as an extra week, but that I couldn't afford a 4-week trial given being self-employed & having a business trip planned/tickets paid for/press mtgs, etc.

She was still iffy on it, but I remember it was the lawyers that ended up tipping it/agreeing I could be let go. I wasn't sure if it was for the financial reason, or they decided they didn't want an intelligent, ms. corporate type on the jury given the circumstances of the trial/defendant.

I was called a different time, showed up, and was in the court room, but they ended up seating the jurors before they got to me. That one wasn't going to be as long.

I've got no problem doing my civic duty (as long as I don't end up homeless due to lack of income!) & actually the days I did get called in, found the process quite interesting especially on the form they gave you to see if you might not be eligible/be prejudiced (whatever the phrase is). I think the trials would have been interesting. And if by some chance I was on trial I'd rather have a jury of my peers (or somewhat of one) rather than just a group that wasn't able to shirk their duty.

Cheers.

ovaldisk

what's this 1-day/1-Trial process?

My former next-next-door neighbor has been called to jury duty at least twice. each time she was excused because she "doesn't believe in the jury system.... the police wouldn't arrest you if you weren't guilty of something... and if you're truly innocent, then it's your own fault for getting arrested in the first place" (her own exact words!) surprisingly, her own daughter is a trial lawyer... so I have a feeling she just says that to get out of jury dury?

SkiAdcock

1Day-1 Trial in LA County. You get called for jury duty. You call the 800# daily to find out if you have to show up. If you do get called in to show up, if you're not seated on a jury by end of day you're off the hook for a year (and get a document showing that). If you do get picked it's just for the one trial (and then are off the hook for a year). Going from memory but I think that's how it works.

I talked to some folk who I think got called up for fed stuff, and they had to be available for XX period of time. Even if they did a trial that finished during that timeframe they could be called for another one & weren't off the hook until the timeframe expired.

Cheers.

ovaldisk

That seems like a pretty fair and swift system. No wonder California jails are overcrowded.

When I walk in to the courtroom as a potential juror, I just wave and say
"Hi George, what are you doing here?"(or whatever the defendant's first name is)

chgoeditor

I guess my point was this: If you cannot survive without bottled water, then you are buying and consuming bottled water on a daily basis so there is no additional expense than if you were purchasing it at a courthouse, the office, the airport or the grocery store.

Other people (myself included) simply carry a water bottle & fill it up from the stuff that comes out of the tap, water coolers and water fountains. Amazingly, this costs me nothing--and I average about 10 classes of water a day. It's the most affordable habit I can imagine.

ovaldisk

The courthouse had a sign that said "Consumption of tap water not recommended" (city water utility lacked the budget to replace aging water mains)

QueenOfCoach

It's WONDERFUL.

You call a number, every evening, to see if you have to go in the next day. This goes on for a week.

If you do a 1 day or 1 trial, you are officially and legally immune to jury service for a year.

If they don't require you at all that week, then great, you're off the hook.

If they do call you in, you are there for either one day or one trial. If they don't put you on a trial THAT VERY SAME DAY, then you are off the hook.

If you do get put on a trial, then you have to serve until you are dismissed by the judge or the trial is over. Even if you are dismissed by the judge the very first minute of the voir dire, then you are done. You check with the jury commissioner, and go home.

I've been called in for jury duty 5 times in Los Angeles County. It's really nice. Once I was called in, waited with everyone for the judge to show up. The judge called in sick. We were all dismissed. I was totally done with jury service by 11:30 that morning, and could not be called back for another year.

Someone else asked about why not going to volunteer jurors? A lot of retired people like this idea. They can spend their days serving on a jury and let working people work. Problem is, that is not a random selection of jurors. The jury system requires a random selection from all walks of life, not just retired people with a lot of time on their hands.

LAX-1K

I wouldn't go that far. I'm self-employed, and work as a freelance, daily-hire worker for multiple employers. I can be called and scheduled for work anywhere from 6 months (or more) ahead of time to the same day. If I don't work on-site at the employer's location, and on their schedule, I don't get paid.

When I'm on jury duty, I can't book any work for the week that I'm "on-call", since I won't know until 5pm the night before if I have to report to jury duty the next day.

And, as I found out on my last service, I can't count on being released the following week, either. I was called to report for jury service on a Wednesday; that afternoon I was selected to report to a courtroom as a prospective juror (along with 50 or so others). When we reported, the judge informed us that the court had other business on Thursday and Friday, and that this particular case would resume the following Monday afternoon. We were ordered to report back on Monday afternoon to continue the process of jury selection.

As it turns out, in the time between our leaving Wednesday afternoon and our reporting back Monday afternoon, the case had plea-barganed out, but we still had to report back, file in to the courtroom, and have the judge inform us that the case had been dismissed. Since I had now completed my "1-trial" service, I was now clear for one calendar year.

The system is unfortunately biased against the self-employed, and the daily-hire or freelance workers.

Having said this, I've been selected as a potential juror several times, and have never had an issue finding a way to be released as a juror (fairly and legally, but, well, let's say "creatively" ).

As the saying goes, "If I were to be on trial, I wouldn't want my fate in the hands of 12 people not smart enough to get out of jury duty."

Ancien Maestro

Water is good for the juror's brain.. and increases attention..

so does the use of bathrooms when needed.