Would you opt to serve on the jury?

Yes. I love watching trials and in the circumstances you describe, I would have plenty of time.
In a few cases I’ve already made up my mind, think Brian Kohberger, and I would excuse myself.

Heck, yes. I find the process fascinating. Gladly serve.

Ditto to the two answers above. In fact, I wish I would get selected!

@smudges I get called often, and wasn’t picked only once, when my child had a similar injury to what was being disputed 8n the suit. Apparently, I present well. It gets a bit tedious after a while.

I’ve been called but because of the numbers system, I’ve never even had to show up. At this point, it would be a getting up early issue and having to drive a longish way that would make me not want to do it. In my state, I believe you are not called after 75. Other than that, in my understanding you don’t have the option to opt out unless you have a darn good excuse.

Sure, I would do it. It’s part of being a citizen.

I’ve been called for jury duty a number of times, but only once have I sat in a trial, and that was for federal court. To me it was so fascinating and as I was getting compensate for the difference by my job, I didn’t mind at all. Nowadays, I think I would volunteer again although I would be concerned how it would affect my current job because I enjoyed so much and I need to be there during the day. But my one hesitation is that often parking is a good distance away and with my health conditions that can be an issue.

I am usually disappointed if I am not selected.

No way would I volunteer to waste my time going through the jury selection process. Such a royal pain. I’ve went through that many times over the last 50 years. I’ve never been selected to be on a jury.

I think that following the exact wording of the law with blinders on is a mistake. Sometimes common sense can trump the law. Attorneys don’t like that. Some situations that have been present seemed absolutely preposterous to me.

In one trial (back in 1982) very old woman slipped on a piece of cake at a Macys party and hurt her hip. She wanted $1,000 from Macys. I was asked what my thoughts were about this. I said it’s not Macys fault that this woman is old and feeble. Of course I was thanked and dismissed from the case.

@gondwanalon interesting. My most recent jury experience was here in the County where I live. The arrest was for drunken driving that resulted in an accident, and the offender decided he would ask for a jury trial (i.e. most people plead guilty and move on, but he wanted to fight it.)

This was a jury of 8 people – for lower-level County and State level cases, that’s standard here. Anyway, prosecutors brought in police, the victim, doctors, etc., The defense put the guy on the stand – not sure why, because he was making excuses and really didn’t help himself at all.

Anyway, it took us about 90 minutes to find him guilty. There really aren’t a whole lot of good excuses for driving drunk.

Anyway, the County gave us gift cards ($40 + parking) and sent us on our waya.

Neil deGrasse Tyson got kicked off a jury by saying “eyewitness testimony is the lowest form of evidence”, and another time by questioning why, in a drug case, the prosecution used milligrams instead of grams, to make the number seem bigger than it really is. I would probably do something like that.

Yes. If you want a good bead on the crime in your area serve on the grand jury. It’s eye opening and the big takeaway is there is much more crime going on than you would think.

Absolutely. Civic duty and a chance to serve. I have done it a few times already. I would continue to.

I’m not retired, but I would more like to do jury duty than not, I think. Of course it depends on the case how awful the downsides would be. I’ve never actually done it, though, but not by choice.

I will always try to serve when selected.

I would out of duty but it’s not my preference.

I was on jury duty twice in my adult life (knock on wood). Once was in a city I lived in when I was in my 20s and I went for two days and sat in the waiting room and that was it. I read a book while I waited. The second time was where I live now, and I just had to call in to a number three nights in a row, in reference to the next day’s service, and all three days it said there were no trials scheduled so therefore no need to show up.

I wouldn’t object to being called in my county, which, the courthouse is about a 20 minute ride from here so it would be do-able. The problem where I live is the catchment area for Federal Court is downtown (way down) New York City, which is about an hour and a half on the train, plus getting to the station and finding parking, plus on the other end, taking a subway from Grand Central to the bottom of Manhattan. The last time I went to court for my job, I had to leave the house around 5:30 in the morning to arrive around 9:30, and it was a big, big pain in the ass. It would be easier for me to drive to Federal Court in Albany (about a two hour drive total), and that would be a big hassle, too. I did receive a Jury Summons for Federal Court once, about 10 years ago, and it had some exceptions on it, one was related to a physical handicap, and one was related to having a child under the age of 12, and I had both of those disqualifications so I got out of it.

I know that they say everyone should serve and it’s very hard to get out of, but I feel that if someone works for themselves, they should be able to get out of it. I don’t work for myself so I’m not talking about myself, but for example, if someone is an Accountant, working for themself, for example, and they’re out of the house for several days to several weeks, that means no income for them.

@jca2 I feel like I’ve personally given a pass to a bunch of people, and I never mind (although some of those civil suits are mind-numbingly boring). I agree that getting out of it for a lot of people is a good thing, but I get annoyed when people just see it as “an inconvenience”.

About 4 years ago I got a summons for grand jury duty, but that would have involved me taking off from my job two days a week for I think like 3 months? And that wasn’t doable, so my job typed me up a letter explaining that that would create a hardship for the business since they needed me there in the morning. I scanned the letter to the office and the lady called me back the next day and told me that it was no problem and that she would excuse me. She was super nice and very understanding. She said it’s often retired people that are more able to fill that role.

Oh, and that one case that I actually sat in on for federal court? I had to call in on Sunday nights for a whole month, and the trial lasted for 10 days but I think I was also sitting just waiting to see if I would be called a lot of other days out of the 30. I finished two decently large cross stitch projects for Christmas presents that year so it was a pretty good deal! :-D

I have always opted to serve when called to jury duty and I still lived in the place I was called.

I have never been on a jury. I either didn’t have my number picked when waiting in the courthouse or there wasn’t a trial during my “on call” period.

I am surprised to realize how many have never sat on a jury! My mother was also one who was seated every time. Maybe it’s genetic. ;-)

I don’t really get the “opted” part of the question. It is a duty, not a choice. I haven’t sat because my number wasn’t called, but I have been assigned jury duty.

In some states, if you are over a certain age, you can opt out simply because of that. I guess I didn’t explain that well enough.
Unless they have changed it all over, as it turns out, they just hadn’t changed the info on the websites I saw when I wrote this Q. That’s why I said “maximum compulsory age” in the details.

My friend got a notice be fore her birthday, to show up 2 months later. She was told that she could serve, but didn’t have to.

Ah, I get it. Yes, in my state, you aren’t called – or maybe don’t have to serve – after 75. I definitely would opt out in that case because I don’t drive that far.

I’ve served on a jury. It had all the intrigue: drugs, murder, fire and lies.

@canidmajor Sorry – I didn’t read the details carefully enough. Bad dobby, bad bad dobby!

Forgive me, but I have to. You know what they say, many are called but few are chosen. :-D

@LifeQuestioner Or, in the wintertime, many are cold but few are frozen!

Lol!

@janbb Iron those hands Dobby!

Voluntarily uh NO!!
But have been summoned twice in the past but just before I had to go they said I wasn’t needed.

Opt to serve? Isn’t it required? I’ve been on two juries and hated both experiences.

@Caravanfan Read the details, please.

@canidmajor I read the details. I’m still going with hell no.

Goes to the “required” part of your post.

I’ve been called a number of times and actually served twice. I was voted foreperson both times. The first time, it was odd, curious, and interesting. Educational. The second time, it was downright disheartening. I left saying that I hoped that neither my fate nor that of any loved one would ever hang on the wisdom of those twelve so-called peers.*

Still, yes, I think I would do it again, possibly to do some good or help prevent some harm.

___
*It turned out that more than half the jurors seemed convInced that if the defendant was the same race or ethnicity as they, he must be innocent.

@Jeruba Interesting to note about race. The juries I have been seated on have been civil, and all featured white plaintiffs, attorneys, and judges.

@canidmajor Is the area where you live very white?

What an odd Q, @JLeslie. These are state mandated rules. Some areas of the state are heavily white, lots are not.

And I just (yesterday) found out that over a year ago they changed the ruling and the age at which one can opt out is 75. Too many official websites are late on updating.

@canidmajor You brought up race. I have no idea why you mentioned it. If 90% of your community is white it wouldn’t be surprising that 90% of the people in the courthouses are white. Were you saying all of the people being accused of a crime were Black and the white people were civil towards them?

I guess @Jeruba was commenting on racism she observed. Or, I’m actually not sure if she was commenting on white jurors or Black or both.

@JLeslie have served on juries in two states, in separate towns in each state, with differing levels of diversity. From the very small sample of four juries, two states, four towns, it seems that there may be fewer plaintiffs that are non-white. It is a bit of a privilege to take the time and expend the energy to sue.

I was called for Jury Duty once. They released me right off the bat.
I felt like a failure!

@Dutchess_III Were you yelling “pick me, pick me”?

@canidmajor Ok, so everyone, or almost everyone was white in your courtrooms. Got it. I still don’t understand your comment to @Jeruba, but I don’t need to.

That is not what I said, @JLeslie, do read my posts more carefully if you plan on commenting on them.

I’ll stop commenting.