I got called for a trial of two Mexican gang members [los Polillos] who were already in prison for life; they wanted to add "special circumstances" or whatever that would get them the death penalty. They knew the trial would last a year and so summoned an enormous jury pool, filling the whole lounge. Since they were voir-diring the whole pool at once, they consecrated the jury lounge a courtroom, swore everybody in, and then brought in the judge, prosecutors and the "suspects." After you heard what they'd allegedly done, you were scared to be anywhere near these rather nice-looking young men in suits.
A lot of potential jurors bailed at the first opportunity to claim work commitments, and you certainly couldn't blame them. I was recently retired and stayed. There was a twelve-page questionnaire about the death penalty, and apparently terming it "barbaric human sacrifice" will get you excused.
I was the foreman (foreperson?) on a jury once. It was a molestation case brought by the state on behalf of a woman against her father. Took two days, mostly because the first day was taken up with selection of the jury members. Anyway, the woman insisted nothing happened, and with no other evidence or witnesses, the state had a pretty weak case. So we deliberated and found the guy not guilty. Of course, when it came time to read the verdict, I guess I went into stage-fright automatic mode, because I read he first line of the verdict slip, which said "guilty." Then I quickly corrected myself, but how momentarily awful for everybody in that court. I still feel badly about that.
I've only been called for jury duty once, and I could have taken the volunteer firefighter exemption that NJ has (you just check a box), but I thought it would be interesting. It was not. Also, they marked down that I was a firefighter and I haven't been called again in the last 20 years. I imagine that when I eventually change my license to PA, I will probably start getting dinged every year.
I don't mind the jury duty. The FD here is volunteer, but being a disabled woman, I'm not sure they'd be as amenable to having me join here in rural PA as they were in Central NJ. Probably tell me to join the squad. (That said, I can probably get a JD waiver as a disabled person if I wanted to)
On my last jury duty I finished up a book on pandemics and began a second one. We couldn't talk about the case yet and someone asked me if I was a microbiologist. I replied no, I'm just fascinated by infectious viral diseases. I was pretty much left alone after that.
On a trial before that we found a man guilty that had sodomized his girlfriend's five-year-old boy and also forced the child to fellate him. The man had AIDS but the little boy was not diagnosed with it. We gave him life in prison because the death penalty didn't apply. Once we delivered the verdict the judge opened the door to the jury room and said "I want you to know you did the right thing. This was a horrible case and I made sure I got it on my docket". Lots of Sheriff's department and Child Services people volunteered their time on the trial and even took days off. The defendant's attorney, a former prosecutor from Texas' Williamson County known as the worst place to go to trial, said he was not disappointed with the verdict.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner on the most gruesome jury duty ever, with a bonus awarded for making yourself unapproachable. I did the same thing once with a meaty copy of Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Was your book John M Barry's The Great Influenza? I have it but haven't dug in yet.
Mary McCarthy's parents died in the 1918 epidemic and her Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, as you probably know, is a memoir of her life with the relatives she was sent to live with. Good read, but she repudiates some of it in a meta-narrative affixed to later versions. I read almost all of Mary McCarthy's fiction years ago and have hardly thought of the works since.
"You're too smart to be on a jury"
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/1vdUHaw.jpg" />
<img src="http://corruptauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Cat-on-jury-duty-300×192.jpg"/>
That cat looks like I did when I got the letter.
I got called for a trial of two Mexican gang members [los Polillos] who were already in prison for life; they wanted to add "special circumstances" or whatever that would get them the death penalty. They knew the trial would last a year and so summoned an enormous jury pool, filling the whole lounge. Since they were voir-diring the whole pool at once, they consecrated the jury lounge a courtroom, swore everybody in, and then brought in the judge, prosecutors and the "suspects." After you heard what they'd allegedly done, you were scared to be anywhere near these rather nice-looking young men in suits.
A lot of potential jurors bailed at the first opportunity to claim work commitments, and you certainly couldn't blame them. I was recently retired and stayed. There was a twelve-page questionnaire about the death penalty, and apparently terming it "barbaric human sacrifice" will get you excused.
| And also…|
They tossed me after I complained about the side-bar.
No Hendricks gin?
<img src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/2a/19/2a/2a192ad0efc267b976cd2361e84ccea6.jpg"/>
<img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4ff75430ecad044916000012-506-253/9-ways-to-get-out-of-jury-duty.jpg"/>
I was the foreman (foreperson?) on a jury once. It was a molestation case brought by the state on behalf of a woman against her father. Took two days, mostly because the first day was taken up with selection of the jury members. Anyway, the woman insisted nothing happened, and with no other evidence or witnesses, the state had a pretty weak case. So we deliberated and found the guy not guilty. Of course, when it came time to read the verdict, I guess I went into stage-fright automatic mode, because I read he first line of the verdict slip, which said "guilty." Then I quickly corrected myself, but how momentarily awful for everybody in that court. I still feel badly about that.
<img src="https://ikon-gallery.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/shop_MBI_BAG_My-bad-1-600×600.jpg" width="300" height="300">
It's so cute they let us ladies do it now.
I've only been called for jury duty once, and I could have taken the volunteer firefighter exemption that NJ has (you just check a box), but I thought it would be interesting. It was not. Also, they marked down that I was a firefighter and I haven't been called again in the last 20 years. I imagine that when I eventually change my license to PA, I will probably start getting dinged every year.
I don't mind the jury duty. The FD here is volunteer, but being a disabled woman, I'm not sure they'd be as amenable to having me join here in rural PA as they were in Central NJ. Probably tell me to join the squad. (That said, I can probably get a JD waiver as a disabled person if I wanted to)
On my last jury duty I finished up a book on pandemics and began a second one. We couldn't talk about the case yet and someone asked me if I was a microbiologist. I replied no, I'm just fascinated by infectious viral diseases. I was pretty much left alone after that.
On a trial before that we found a man guilty that had sodomized his girlfriend's five-year-old boy and also forced the child to fellate him. The man had AIDS but the little boy was not diagnosed with it. We gave him life in prison because the death penalty didn't apply. Once we delivered the verdict the judge opened the door to the jury room and said "I want you to know you did the right thing. This was a horrible case and I made sure I got it on my docket". Lots of Sheriff's department and Child Services people volunteered their time on the trial and even took days off. The defendant's attorney, a former prosecutor from Texas' Williamson County known as the worst place to go to trial, said he was not disappointed with the verdict.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner on the most gruesome jury duty ever, with a bonus awarded for making yourself unapproachable. I did the same thing once with a meaty copy of Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Was your book John M Barry's The Great Influenza? I have it but haven't dug in yet.
Mary McCarthy's parents died in the 1918 epidemic and her Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, as you probably know, is a memoir of her life with the relatives she was sent to live with. Good read, but she repudiates some of it in a meta-narrative affixed to later versions. I read almost all of Mary McCarthy's fiction years ago and have hardly thought of the works since.
Oh and her brother Kevin was an actor. Be sure to check for pods!
<img src="http://www.asset1.net/tv/pictures/movie/invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-1956/DI-InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers.jpg">
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EujLk2zrkLs/U0Cxvw4k1NI/AAAAAAAAAaw/QMfvFQsp37Y/s1600/juryduty.gif">
wOOt!
SUCCESS!
<img src="https://media.riffsy.com/images/b9b49cff42de38c1fb04e90f8b718596/raw"/>
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/BJH2ALum77Vni/giphy.gif"/>
<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/pBevuxpD4Tq4U/giphy.gif"/>
So that's why they never called me last time!
4 for 4 for me too. It's a clear case of discrimination.
| Relevant. |
<img src="http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/10/34/43/2214112/5/920×920.jpg"/>
| I really thought you were going here. |
You mean you're not willing to trust your fate to 12 random Paultards, Trumpisti or a combination of both?
Of course, there's | The Caine Mutiny. |
Yeahhh, still excellent.
It's remarkable the things that we can find that people have saved, out there. The little matter of | The World's Guilt, | for instance.
Yeah, still an incredibly powerful and moving film. I wish it wasn't quite so relevant still, today.