At the end of last summer I was selected for Jury Duty. I had wanted to post about it but the experience was tougher than I anticipated and I thought a bit of time to reflect might be a good idea. Anyway, I suppose a trigger warning is in order here for any victims of abuse. But, maybe you want to read the end of this. This was a criminal case where a man was accused of sexually assaulting his best friend's teenage daughter. The first thing that struck me was during Jury selection how many women were excused due to their own past assaults. I'm sure we've all heard the grim statistics of one in four or five women and girls would either be assaulted or attempted sexual assault. This was a very visual and public demostration of that stat. Once the trial was underway I was impressed by the prosecutor. This guy was not leaving any stone unturned or any question unasked. Despite obviously being an A-type personality he handled each witness with a lot respect, professionalism and even compassion. He called the father and some other family who were living with them at the time. All were out of the house when the best friend, who knew they were gone, let himself in and found the girl alone. I won't go into detail but suffice it to say that her testimony was excruciating. Every detail was discussed from each article of clothing they were wearing to exact positions of arms, hands and legs. It was difficult and several breaks were taken to allow the witness to compose herself. I believed her testimony which was the main evidence the prosecution had. But I was still in the "reasonable doubt" camp. Until the accused took the stand. In our court system you can't be made to incriminate yourself so if is voluntary for the accused to testify. Usually they won't do it because a prosecutor can ask questions that will make even an innocent person seem guilty. After his testimony which was full of holes and lies, IMO, I felt beyond any reasonable doubt that he was guilty. In the end the jury was split almost down the middle. It was disappointing to see some of the underlying reasons for people's decision. The young woman was a lesbian and while nobody said anything directly about it this seemed like an issue for a couple jurors. Her family was somewhat disfunctional and this was held against her as well. The fact that she didn't take some action against the man at the time of the attack or report it sooner was also held against her, by female jurors no less. She didn't report it for a few months which is probably not bad considering how many go unreported. So, the jury didn't come to a consensus on any of the charges. Our inability to come to a decision has made me feel like maybe I was wrong and that if he were guilty we would have all agreed. Since then I've thought about that girl and hoped that she is OK or at least getting there. I hope that she knows that it was important and the right thing for her to come forward and that while some didn't quite believe enough to convict many of us did believe her. Also the man was put on notice and maybe her speaking out will prevent a similar crime.
While I obviously wasn't sitting in the jury box, I can see why some of your fellow jurors would have felt that there was reasonable doubt. A hung jury results in a mistrial, and charges can be refiled at a later date. If I ever get called to be on a jury, I'd do it in a heartbeat, so long as it wasn't a nationwide media circus murder trial. My dad got it worse back in the 1980s. He was a juror on a gang-related triple homicide, and they had to acquit because all the damning evidence was thrown out due to police misconduct.
Never been called to serve on a jury. Don't know anyone who has actually. I think they're silly and dangerous - if I was called to serve I'd probably be more interested in getting it over and done with. I suspect many people feel the same.
That sounds pretty vicious. I could understand why it was a split decision. The first and last time I went to jury duty, it was a case about medical negligence and medical malpractice with three different doctors that revolved around one patient. After that fiasco, I learned a lot about the medical laws and how to choose my doctors carefully..... Even the judge in charge was in disbelief.
I have a friend at school, who was assaulted and went straight to the police about it. There was an investigation, even the one guilty gave a testimony saying he did do it. He was still not prosecuted and the case was called of since there wasn't enough "evidence". People wonder why girls who are sexually assaulted don't come forward.
I have yet to sit on a jury. I have been called twice. The first time my home state of MI called me, but I was in the US Army stationed in Germany. I told them I would be happy to sit on the Jury if they paid transportation, they excused me. The 2nd time I was called by California, 6 months after moving to Pennsylvania. I no longer lived in CA and was dismissed. I would be happy to serve if called, but noone has called since.
It used to be that jurors were selected from voter registries but that is no longer the case. Now the only way to avoid it is if you never file taxes, drive a car, buy a house or basically exist. It is an honor to fulfill one's civic duty and serving on a jury is a rare privilege that isn't in the realm of possibility for most people in the world.
Especially bad when you're a guy too and it happens. If the perpetrator's a woman, it's even worse because in many municipals, the legal definition of rape doesn't account for woman-on-man assault or any form of assault for that matter besides man-on-woman penile assault. ---------- Post added 23rd Feb 2016 at 04:21 PM ---------- Kind of a dumb reason not to vote, just saying. ---------- Post added 23rd Feb 2016 at 04:22 PM ---------- They go by DMV records, I think. Actually, I really don't know what records they use because the last jury notice I got was in my birth name, even though I had legally changed it with everyone including Social Security. (I didn't get to serve though because they didn't end up calling my juror number)
I was on a jury not too long ago for a child endangerment case. We were unable to come to a verdict on any of the 4 charges because one idiot voted no on 3/4 of the charges for reasons he couldn't articulate, and another juror flipped from guilty on all 4 changes to not guilty on all 4 charges to make a point. While I'm sure a lot more people have been sexually assaulted than I'm aware of, I wouldn't be too surprised if some of those people lied to get out of jury duty. In my case, there were people who clearly lied to get off of jury duty. One woman basically told the defense attorney that she would consider his client guilty regardless of the circumstances, and had a big grin on her face when the judge dismissed her. Others were more subtle. If I were the type of person who would be willing to lie to get out of jury duty, I be willing to lie about being sexually assaulted if I knew that would get me dismissed. At first when I read this I was disgusted. But after I think about it, depending on the specifics, those things (except for her being a lesbian) might be relevant in ways that could reasonably cause doubt as to whether or not she was raped. It sucks when someone who is probably guilty isn't convicted, but it's generally best that we don't convict people of crimes unless the evidence make it overwhelmingly likely that they're guilty.
Been called twice. First time they couldn't hold court because there weren't enough bailiffs. Second time I was 14th in line. The first 11 were seated, 12th rejected then the next person in front of me was the past paneled. So yea...
Not voting won't prevent you from serving jury duty! You can't escape the clutches of the government I got called in once. I was going to college in Las Vegas so I had to fly back to Washoe County to serve it (it was still listed as my home address). I was at the courthouse for hours was honestly a little excited about the prospect of getting selected, but alas, I was sent home. I've always wondered what it would be like to be on a tough case like the one you describe. I can't even imagine what jurors on high-profile murder cases go through.
Where I live the simple cases in lower courts have kind of juries. But it's nothing like the system in the US. The jury comprises of three persons who are in effect appointed by the political parties and randomly assigned to the cases. The "jurors" serve one year at a time and get a nominal pay. So imagine being judged by three people guaranteed to have strong political views and nothing better to do than sitting and judging other people in courts. They have considerable power as they may overrule the proceeding judge. I think I would like to do the US style jury duty once in my life, hopefully in a complex case with lots of evidence. Can a green card holder who resides in the US be called for jury duty?
