skillzdadirecta Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 If you EVER find yourself on trial opt for a bench trial, do NOT take a chance with a jury ESPECIALLY if you're poor or a person of color. DOUBLE that sentiment if you're black. It was one of the most disheartening experiences I've ever had in my life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzzzle Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 One of my professors in school told me to never skip jury duty for exactly that reason. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is on trial and innocent and imagine what kind of people are going to be on the jury. Would you want the jury to solely consist of people who are too stupid to know how to get out of it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggie Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 Whenever I get chosen for jury duty I just walk in and say first thing in the morning “bring on the guilty bastard” 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 40 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said: One of my professors in school told me to never skip jury duty for exactly that reason. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is on trial and innocent and imagine what kind of people are going to be on the jury. Would you want the jury to solely consist of people who are too stupid to know how to get out of it? On the other hand you risk getting exposed to extremely traumatizing shit that the court won't even pay for the therapy for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzzzle Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 43 minutes ago, Jason said: On the other hand you risk getting exposed to extremely traumatizing shit that the court won't even pay for the therapy for. Hell they don't even cover fucking parking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 I don't think you get a choice here, you're put where you're assigned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzzzle Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said: I don't think you get a choice here, you're put where you're assigned. I went once where they asked for volunteers for something. Can't remember what it was for. But it was a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted October 16, 2023 Author Share Posted October 16, 2023 2 hours ago, Fizzzzle said: One of my professors in school told me to never skip jury duty for exactly that reason. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is on trial and innocent and imagine what kind of people are going to be on the jury. Would you want the jury to solely consist of people who are too stupid to know how to get out of it? That's the reason I decided to do it once I found out what the case was... didn't matter. Because it was a civil trial, they only needed 9 out of 12 so vote and voice didn't matter. They started tuning me out despite the fact that everyone involved in the case were truly MY peers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted October 16, 2023 Author Share Posted October 16, 2023 1 hour ago, Jason said: On the other hand you risk getting exposed to extremely traumatizing shit that the court won't even pay for the therapy for. Dude it took me three days to process/recover from this experience and it wasn't even a criminal trial. I was in your neck of the woods at the Santa Monica courthouse. The larger implications for our criminal justice system REALLY bothered me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzzzle Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 19 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said: The larger implications for our criminal justice system REALLY bothered me. Turns out all those people protesting for the last 70 years kind of had a point when you get into it. Believe me, I'm actually in the middle of writing a piece about the jail system (which I don't know if I'll ever finish, it's too big). There are thousands of people in California alone who have been sitting in jail for over a year and haven't been tried. There are a few hundred who have been in jail for 5 years and haven't been tried. Granted there's a whole lot of complexity to the issue (the more serious the crime, the longer it takes to go to trial), but ultimately it does come down to "rich people stay free while they await trial, poor people get their lives destroyed for crimes they haven't been convicted of yet." It's fucking infuriating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted October 16, 2023 Author Share Posted October 16, 2023 1 hour ago, Fizzzzle said: Turns out all those people protesting for the last 70 years kind of had a point when you get into it. Believe me, I'm actually in the middle of writing a piece about the jail system (which I don't know if I'll ever finish, it's too big). There are thousands of people in California alone who have been sitting in jail for over a year and haven't been tried. There are a few hundred who have been in jail for 5 years and haven't been tried. Granted there's a whole lot of complexity to the issue (the more serious the crime, the longer it takes to go to trial), but ultimately it does come down to "rich people stay free while they await trial, poor people get their lives destroyed for crimes they haven't been convicted of yet." It's fucking infuriating. It's even deeper than that. The system is fundamentally broken and the concept of "a jury of your peers" is a joke when 13 of the 14 jurors selected are NOT your peers. The plaintiff in this case was a black man from Compton who was assaulted by two black security guards at a casino. There was a lot of nuance that my fellow jurors just didn't get and weren't trying to hear. So many things were wrong with what I saw but ill sum it up by saying this. It's one thing to know that implicit bias is a thing, its quite another thing to see it play out in front of your eyes and be helpless to do anything about it. I'm seriously thinking about doing a podcast about my jury experience. It was all kinds of fucked up 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLeon Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 It took me a minute to realize this is not about the show from earlier this year. I should go back to sleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 1 hour ago, skillzdadirecta said: The plaintiff in this case was a black man from Compton who was assaulted by two black security guards at a casino. There was a lot of nuance that my fellow jurors just didn't get and weren't trying to hear. It would have been interesting to have been a part of that one. In my experience they do not hire the best and brightest to be security guards. In fact when I was at a drug test for mine, it was a group test, there was some guy there that said, "I hope I get to be Trolley security because they get guns!" like this guy literally wanted to shoot people. In fact there is no reason to beat on someone unless it's something you want to do. There was someone at my work and I didn't know this until later but he just beat homeless people for fun. It wasn't until he got caught on camera doing it that he got fired. But again there is no reason to beat on someone, you don't get paid more to do it, just call the police and live to see another day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikachu Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 11 hours ago, Fizzzzle said: Hell they don't even cover fucking parking. That's surprising. My jurisdiction has free parking for jurors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 15 hours ago, Fizzzzle said: One of my professors in school told me to never skip jury duty for exactly that reason. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is on trial and innocent and imagine what kind of people are going to be on the jury. Would you want the jury to solely consist of people who are too stupid to know how to get out of it? This is why I keep trying to get on a jury, but I haven't made it on one yet. Got close this last year, but after voir dire my number was too high so I didn't make the cut. Even through that process though, it was pretty clear the poor defendant was going to lose. The defense attorney seemed to have no idea what they were doing; completely skipping their opportunities to ask potential jurors and needing constant reminders by the judge how things worked and what order the process happened in. Meanwhile, the prosecution was really on point, asking insightful questions and connecting with jurors on the nature of justice and what kind of proof would be required to convict. It felt like just through voir dire I knew what the nature of the evidence was and that some chosen jurors would be sufficiently swayed by it. I never really doubted the power of money in the courtroom before that, but seeing a competent lawyer working against someone so hapless really hammered home how screwed a poor person would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneticBlueprint Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 I've always wanted to get a jury summons but I never have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
best3444 Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 Last year I was picked for jury duty but never got picked for a case. I sat it a room for 7 hours waiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 17 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said: I've always wanted to get a jury summons but I never have. I got a New Jersey summons while I was living in New York and a New York summons while I was living in Arlington. Didn't get to pull off the hat trick with a Virginia summons while I was living in DC though. Have been summoned a couple of times in California but haven't had to go in so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted October 16, 2023 Author Share Posted October 16, 2023 On another note, I get summoned all the fucking time. Four times in the last 6 years and FIVE times since I've been in California. I've been selected twice, once as an alternate on a rape case and this time. Defense Attornies like me because I'm an educated Black Man with and Prosecutors like me because I'm an educate Black man with family in Law Enforcement and have had loved ones who were victimes of violent crime. I was able to get out of jury duty ONCE on a case that was a landlord dispute. I said I hated Landlords Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 17 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said: I was able to get out of jury duty ONCE on a case that was a landlord dispute. I said I hated Landlords Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 I've been called several times but have only been selected once, for a civil case involving someone suing their employer. Spent a week and a half listening to HR grievances. o_0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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