I had a 3 day schedule. Everyone was told it was over on the 2nd day after lunch. As I had vacation days to burn it wasn’t a hassle.
Plus I had a wonderful view from the waiting area and we near great downtown food spots that are only open for lunch on weekdays.
8 Likes
In other instances of poor decisions re: serving on a jury, I once saw an associate at a fairly large law firm tell the judge that he couldn’t serve on the jury because his firm discouraged any lawyers from missing so much time from work and had a policy directing attorneys to get avoid jury duty. That unwise gentleman was instructed to go into the hallway, call his managing partner, and have them there by the afternoon to explain.
The managing partner apologized profusely for the misunderstanding and assured the judge repeatedly that no such policy existed at their firm, the associate must have misinterpreted, and that a memo would be sent immediately firm-wide clarifying this.
I assumed the poor son of a bitch associate had his office cleared out by the next week.
12 Likes
hmm just to play devil’s advocate for a moment, how is arresting him not literally the government suppressing someone’s right to freedom of expression?
people incorrectly state the right to “free speech” all the time not realizing it’s only the right to express something without fear of imprisonment by the government, not the right not to be sued by other individuals or say get kicked out of a movie-theater for example
but in this case, it’s literally the government, and it’s literally dampening free speech
Evidently the courtrooms here in Honolulu are not sufficiently picturesque?
(Ali’iolani Hale)
11 Likes
The freedom of speech has never been an absolute. Yelling “fire” in a crowded theater, slander, threats and many many other exceptions exist.
Try convincing a judge you can yell whatever you want, whenever you want in his or her courtroom and you’ll quickly get a civics lesson on the limits of freedom of expression.
18 Likes
that one will get you in trouble.
like “you can be the charge but you can’t beat the ride to the station” trouble.
2 Likes
From: OP
Kubo declared a mistrial, finding the man’s disturbance had affected the 44 other potential jurors
Freedom of speech does not extend to jury tampering (intentional or otherwise).
16 Likes
I have jury duty coming up later this year. I don’t mind serving on a quick 2-3 day case, but I might bring along my ACLU membership card just in case they’re trying to seat me on a crap one. I’ll also keep @kennykb’s answer in my back pocket if the situation allows.
From what I’ve been told by litigators and judges I know, in most cases one of the lawyers won’t want someone like me on the jury anyhow.
True. The judge will apparently yell holy murder at you, but you won’t have to serve. Depending on the judge there may be other consequences.
3 Likes
No, it isn’t.
I would say that Justice is served
Why are people so desperate to get out of jury duty? ‘Duty’ is right there in the description, and it’s an indispensable part of our court system. It’s about the fairest decision making system you could come up with, and lots of people will rely on the system to right wrongs done to them, get them a fair hearing, etc., during their lifetime.
It’s also a good way to learn things you never would elsewhere. For anyone who automatically tries to avoid jury duty whenever called, I would say, try it, you might not hate it.
25 Likes
I sat on a jury once and really enjoyed the experience. I had the luxury of a salary-based job, so I understand that not everyone would be able to, but the whole experience gave me a much deeper sense of how hard these people all work. Except for the defendat’s attorney. He was very, very bad. Guilty on all counts.
7 Likes
7 Likes
Maybe we need location markers for the people wanting out of jury duty? Particularly as some commenters seem to be getting horrific compensation.
Most UK employers seem to pay normal salary. The court pays expenses. If you’re self/unemployed or your normal job aint paying, it looks like you get £37 for <4h in court, or £65 for more than 4h.
Expenses is travel, food and additional childcare…
Yep, because it’s the American system it has to be the best. It’s the best system in the world, right? There are others but they’re used in shithole countries …
1 Like
just imagine if he tried spotting the guy, I imagine him running over with a big brush and pot of black paint and spot, spot, spot. Boy that judge would be plenty steamed I bet.
I’m not desperate to get out of jury duty. I go when I’m called (and I can afford to - the fact that the jury pay is less than the price of parking in the courthouse garage is not a showstopper for me). I answer questions honestly during voir dire. And, I was seated on a jury once in my twenties. In the many times I’ve been called since, I’ve always been challenged. I suspect that once I’ve answered, “what schools did you attend?” I’ve already got “peremptory challenge” tattooed on my forehead.
At least once I’ve been rejected, they excuse me for a few years. I can recall a previous jurisdiction where I lived where I wound up needing to go downtown every blessed day for a month, because being rejected just threw me back in the pool. That’s deuced annoying, having to show up time and time again when they didn’t want me.
4 Likes
I’ve only been called for jury duty once and it was to the Melbourne Magistrates Court. During the interview of potential jurors, a young woman asked to be excused as she had an interstate holiday booked and she was duly excused. Others were also excused upon request.
Then a self-employed truck driver was called. It was obvious that English was not his first language as he had difficulty expressing himself. He asked to be excused on the grounds that he couldn’t afford to loose what might potentially be days or weeks of work. As self employment as a truck driver is often a hand to mouth existence I thought his request was quite reasonable, but the Magistrate obviously didn’t agree. He berated the poor man saying he must do his duty and as he would be compensated (a pittance at best) he saw no reason to excuse him. While this sanctimonious arsehole was pontificating, the lawyers at the prosecution table were quietly laughing and joking about the Magistrate’s comments and the man’s discomfort. I was watching them closely and undoubtedly with a look of disgust on my face when the main culprit looked up directly at me and his laughter faded immediately.
When my turn came, I took only a handful of steps toward the bench before the prosecution team challenged me. No jury duty for me, thank you very much.
It’s just a game to them and there’s no honour in it.
4 Likes
If you’ve got a better system, I’m fascinated to hear the alternative (except, of course, the kindergarten ideas proposed by anarchists)
2 Likes
Can we agree to retire the misleading “fire in a crowded theater” myth?
5 Likes
