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I received a summons earlier this month. In the past I have called per instructions to find out if they needed me. This has only been a couple of times in the 40 years we have lived in IL. The other times I have not had to even show up.

This time I had to. They gave you a dress code (business casual) which I figured was about how I dressed in the later part of my work days. They specifically said no jeans and t-shirts. I get there with white shirt (no tie) slacks, leather shoes.... Of the 75 or so people there I was one of the better dressed, I didn't expect this.

I got there early but despite the warning that if you were late they would not allow you to serve and give you a new date.... About 1/4 of the group were late and I saw no one turned away.

Here we have this one day and if you are not picked for a jury you are dismissed. Not to be called for at least a year. You are required to fill out this form with all sorts of questions about you, this is turned in when you arrive. You are given a number that you respond to for the day.

After sitting for about an hour they make read a batch of numbers off and that group leaves. About another half hour and a second batch is called up and off they go. A little while later another group is called and off they go.

They seem to call the number is a random fashion, more likely they have looked at the answers from the form and exclude based on something. We are now down to about 15 of us that have not been called.... then some people start returning, either rejected or unneeded.

Got a lunch hour and then returned for another hour and 15 minutes and then allowed to go. So that was my Monday past.

I don't have a tablet or phone, I think I was the only one without one. It was boring but I was in the army so I resorted to my boring training....

Like to here some other stories if you have them.

Ed

When I was barely 18, four jury summons arrived in the mail. One for my father, one for myself, and one for each of my brothers. When we arrived on the day the immediately asked the potential jurors, "Raise your hand if you have ever been rear-ended by another driver." That eliminated more than half the jurors, my entire family included.

Question for anyone who may know: As I understand it, the summons are random. If it is random, why did the 4 men in the household get summoned at the same time? Also, why was my mother excluded?

reible wrote:I received a summons earlier this month. In the past I have called per instructions to find out if they needed me. This has only been a couple of times in the 40 years we have lived in IL. The other times I have not had to even show up.

This time I had to. They gave you a dress code (business casual) which I figured was about how I dressed in the later part of my work days. They specifically said no jeans and t-shirts. I get there with white shirt (no tie) slacks, leather shoes.... Of the 75 or so people there I was one of the better dressed, I didn't expect this.

I got there early but despite the warning that if you were late they would not allow you to serve and give you a new date.... About 1/4 of the group were late and I saw no one turned away.

Here we have this one day and if you are not picked for a jury you are dismissed. Not to be called for at least a year. You are required to fill out this form with all sorts of questions about you, this is turned in when you arrive. You are given a number that you respond to for the day.

After sitting for about an hour they make read a batch of numbers off and that group leaves. About another half hour and a second batch is called up and off they go. A little while later another group is called and off they go.

They seem to call the number is a random fashion, more likely they have looked at the answers from the form and exclude based on something. We are now down to about 15 of us that have not been called.... then some people start returning, either rejected or unneeded.

Got a lunch hour and then returned for another hour and 15 minutes and then allowed to go. So that was my Monday past.

I don't have a tablet or phone, I think I was the only one without one. It was boring but I was in the army so I resorted to my boring training....

Like to here some other stories if you have them.

Ed

Shhhhhhh! Never been summoned! Word musta got out how difficultly I am swayed by lawyer tricks. They intentionally break rules of logic to mislead. How often do you beat your wife type questions. Shhhhhh!;)

I was summoned once, was chosen for the jury with very few questions asked beyond questions to the whole group (like, "do you know any of the people involved," etc.), and I actually looked forward to it. But, they made a deal the day before the trial was to start and our services weren't needed.

When a bit younger my wife was frequently called. I was serving in a variety of public positions and frequently quoted in the press. I always figured I was never called because I was so opinionated. A couple of years ago I was called and contacted the county courts to better understand the situation. Due to my inability to sit still for long periods of time (arthritis does that) It was decided I was not a good bet and excused. I guess old age does have one benefit. Jim

We all show up and are assigned a number 1 - 45. We are seated in that order. I was # 45. The jury is picked starting with # 1 until 6 are selected. Things are looking good for me. I'm already packing my bag which has my book and snacks. After we are seated the defense decided to request a reshuffle, something they have a right to do. So out into the hall we all go. New number assignments are made and, yep, you guessed it, I got # 9. Not looking so good after all. However, they got their 6 before getting to me. Things are looking great again. This is about the 5th time I have been summoned in my 68 years.

I've been summoned 8 times, called in 5 times and actually served on the jury once. It was a civil trial. One of the others was a Federal murder case. The crime occurred on the Navajo reservation, so the feds handled it.
Why so many times? Probably because the pool is registered voters and the aren't a whole bunch of people in our county.

I've been summoned 4 times all 4 times the court house was civil cases. Never selected to serve on a jury, pretty much as Ed described in the OP. I doubt I would ever have been impaneled back then as I worked in the insurance industry at the time.

We get summoned every year, and are assigned a group number. Then we call after 5 pm the evening before to see if our group number needs to appear. Three out of 4 times I don't have to appear, and I'm excused from serving for another year. One in 4 times I actually have to show up. Only served on a jury once, but had to show up for the "quizzing" maybe 6-8 times so far.

The local court is "interesting". The courthouse only has two courtrooms, but they schedule as many as 12 trials simultaneously. If not enough qualified jurors show up, the defendents get off free. However, both times I've been there, maybe 100 jurors showed up, so all 12 defendents just plea-bargained at the last minute, and we all got to go home in the afternoon without having a trial.

I'd be happier if plea bargains were not allowed on the day of the trial, so that I'd actually be doing something useful if I'm showing up anyway.

Gary

In the 12 years I've been in Mesa, I've had 3 summonses.

#1, County superior court. Released right after noon.

#2, Superior court, again. Was empanelled. the defense (barely) presented a better case than the prosecutor did, but both of them did (in my opinion) a REAL POOR job. 4 days, 20 minutes in deliberation, guy walked.

#3, Mesa Municipal, last year, Boxing day, or my father's birthday. (Yes, my father is 1 day younger than Our Lord.) DUI. Guy blew (blood tested, really) a .21. I hope he NEVER drives again. He pulled his Lexus into Mesa Community College, about 11:00 at night, to sleep it off, but left the engine running. 30-45 minutes deliberation. Biggest concern, which laws we could convict him with.

Az statutes,
.00, or higher but impaired.
.08 or higher
.08 to .20.
and the last .20 or higher.

Since he blew a .21, we couldn't convict him on the 3rd one. And, the 3rd one is the ONLY one with an upper limit.

After this case, and only this case, the attorneys from both sides said that they would like to talk to any jurors that wanted to talk. Most of us were there for over an hour.

In both cases, I found out just how easy it is to sway a jury. Both cases were decided EXACTLY the way I had decided.

Yes, I've watched the movie "12 Angry Men." And the Thames TV show, Rumpole of the Bailey, is one of my favourites.

steve