On Jury Nullification

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PawPaw
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by PawPaw »

Word. Last time I got called, there was a very disappointing man:
And yet the very disappointing man got dismissed while you remained.

One of the precepts of criminal law is to never trust your clients freedom to 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Dennis Dezendorf
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Denis
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by Denis »

PawPaw wrote:...never trust your clients freedom to 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Conundrum. Anyone too stupid to get out of doing jury duty should probably not do jury duty.
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PawPaw
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by PawPaw »

Denis wrote:
PawPaw wrote:...never trust your clients freedom to 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Conundrum. Anyone too stupid to get out of doing jury duty should probably not do jury duty.
A quick story. Once upon a time I was the arresting officer of an offense that was heading to jury. I got my witness summons and jury notification on the same day, but in separate envelopes, so on the day scheduled I put on a coat and tie and headed down to the Courthouse. Sat in the jury pool, and lo-and-behold, they picked my name, so I went over and sat in the jury box for the normal inquisition. The judge looked up and said "Very funny, Mr. Dezendorf, get your butt out of my jury box."

I didn't think I'd get through the defense questioning, but I was going to maintain the illusion as long as possible.
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308Mike
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by 308Mike »

PawPaw wrote:
Denis wrote:
PawPaw wrote:...never trust your clients freedom to 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Conundrum. Anyone too stupid to get out of doing jury duty should probably not do jury duty.
A quick story. Once upon a time I was the arresting officer of an offense that was heading to jury. I got my witness summons and jury notification on the same day, but in separate envelopes, so on the day scheduled I put on a coat and tie and headed down to the Courthouse. Sat in the jury pool, and lo-and-behold, they picked my name, so I went over and sat in the jury box for the normal inquisition. The judge looked up and said "Very funny, Mr. Dezendorf, get your butt out of my jury box."

I didn't think I'd get through the defense questioning, but I was going to maintain the illusion as long as possible.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

NICE TRY!!!! It would have been a REAL TREAT if they'd have let you stay on the jury (until the judge would have noticed and kicked you off - especially after they called your name for the prosecution and you stood up out of the jury box and walked tot he witness stand to be sworn in)!!

Judges are at least a LITTLE brighter than the jury commissioners (looking over the lists and assigning cases, names, and courtrooms)!!!
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NVGdude
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by NVGdude »

Denis wrote:
PawPaw wrote:...never trust your clients freedom to 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Conundrum. Anyone too stupid to get out of doing jury duty should probably not do jury duty.
My company (and most major corporations) will pay my normal salary for 10 days of Jury duty per year. Given some of the day's I've had at work lately, I could use a nice relaxing week of Jury Duty. ;)
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Jered
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by Jered »

NVGdude wrote:
Denis wrote:
PawPaw wrote:...never trust your clients freedom to 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.
Conundrum. Anyone too stupid to get out of doing jury duty should probably not do jury duty.
My company (and most major corporations) will pay my normal salary for 10 days of Jury duty per year. Given some of the day's I've had at work lately, I could use a nice relaxing week of Jury Duty. ;)
I don't think there's any limit on the time that my workplace will let me sit on a jury.

I've never been called for jury duty, though. Someone I work with has.
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NVGdude
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by NVGdude »

Jered wrote: I've never been called for jury duty, though. Someone I work with has.

Yeah well Physicist + Defense contractor = "thank you for your time, dismissed" pretty quickly every time I have actually been called.
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Denis
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by Denis »

Jered wrote:
NVGdude wrote:
Denis wrote: Conundrum. Anyone too stupid to get out of doing jury duty should probably not do jury duty.
My company (and most major corporations) will pay my normal salary for 10 days of Jury duty per year. Given some of the day's I've had at work lately, I could use a nice relaxing week of Jury Duty. ;)
I don't think there's any limit on the time that my workplace will let me sit on a jury.
IIRC, back home in Ireland, an employer can ask up front that an "essential" employee be excused from jury service, but if for some reason the employer didn't ask, and the employee is empanelled, the employer has to suck up the absence for as long as the service takes, and any action against the employee would be a contempt of court.


PawPaw, nice story! Proves you're stupid enough to do jury duty, too... :P
MarkD
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by MarkD »

I got called when I lived in NYC, was empaneled for three trials, all civil, and was dismissed for all three. All were for injuries similar to what my Dad had, they either thought I'd be sympathetic or that I knew too much about the injury.

It did amaze me though, at a time when NYC was supposedly awash in crime, all the trials I wound up being called for were civil.
Greg
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Re: On Jury Nullification

Post by Greg »

MarkD wrote:I got called when I lived in NYC, was empaneled for three trials, all civil, and was dismissed for all three. All were for injuries similar to what my Dad had, they either thought I'd be sympathetic or that I knew too much about the injury.

It did amaze me though, at a time when NYC was supposedly awash in crime, all the trials I wound up being called for were civil.
If all the criminal stuff went to trial, the system would collapse.

I've been called for jury duty once. Was between jobs, contract had ended so had nothing better to do. :) Name was called, then made it through the selection process and was an actual juror. It was a civil case to do with an injury claim, and they only managed one day of testimony before the trial was called off due to one of the parties having a death in the family. I was actually disappointed.

My fellow jurors were actually pretty cool. In the jury pool, I sat next to a retired cop all morning. He could have been the original Frasier's dad was modeled on. His name was called, but he did not make it through to being seated on a jury. Heh.
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