Jury duty...

[afmo]

Originally Posted by NVXD

Why is it soooo cool to wanna get out of jury duty?
Having a jury listen to your case is one of the greatest milestones in a judicial system.

What if you were falsly accused of a serious crime and no jurists showed up cause, ummmm, it was inconvenient for them that day. So the judge decides to go ahead and try you. How would that feel? Not good for me.

You live in a socialist dictatorship, you get dragged out of bed at night and thrown in jail. Someday you arrive in court, no jury to hear your side of the story.

Or here in America, a criminal gets off free, cause the jury had to go home to watch T.V. tonight and decided he was "innocent enough".

Or worse, an innocent man goes to jail for 5-7 yrs cause the jury had to get home so the car won't be tied up for work tomorrow.

That guy on the stand could be you or I. Think about it...

It's one of the great rights we have as Americans, and almost everyone pisses on it cause it's inconvenient.

I had to sit on a few cases as a witness and get no/little compensation for my testimony, but bad guys got put away. Do your simple duty as an American and go do jury duty with an honest attitude and quit whinning for God's sake.

NVXDRanger

I'd have no problem with it being compulsory if you were compensated fairly for you time.

$15 dollars/day is not worth my time. For $15 dollars a day, i'm trying to figure out how to get out of it so i can go to my JOB and make real money.

[1lowlife]

Originally Posted by afmo

I'd have no problem with it being compulsory if you were compensated fairly for you time.

$15 dollars/day is not worth my time. For $15 dollars a day, i'm trying to figure out how to get out of it so i can go to my JOB and make real money.

I have to agree with you afmo.
I am very fortunate to be paid for my jury duty.
But I agree with you that it shouldn't be burden on a citizen to serve on a jury.
If they can give ###### a welfare card to feed her 4 babies by different sperm donors,
they should be able to give fair compensation for a day of jury duty.

Here is a kicker for ya;
UPS deducts whatever the court pays you from your 8 hours pay.
So if the court gives you, say $6 a day (what Dallas used to give us),
UPS would give my 8 hours pay, minus $6.

[coldsolderjoint]

Originally Posted by 1lowlife

I have to agree with you afmo.
I am very fortunate to be paid for my jury duty.
But I agree with you that it shouldn't be burden on a citizen to serve on a jury.
If they can give ###### a welfare card to feed her 4 babies by different sperm donors,
they should be able to give fair compensation for a day of jury duty.

Here is a kicker for ya;
UPS deducts whatever the court pays you from your 8 hours pay.
So if the court gives you, say $6 a day (what Dallas used to give us),
UPS would give my 8 hours pay, minus $6.

My employer requires you give them the $5/day the court gives you in order to get paid your full wages.

[1lowlife]

Originally Posted by coldsolderjoint

My employer requires you give them the $5/day the court gives you in order to get paid your full wages.

That is some petty BS Brother.
I mean, I'm glad they give me 8 hours pay , but to scrimp on $5 or $6..
Pulllllese...

[NVXD]

yeah I see where you're coming from, your right.

I have to agree that a day working, and the keeping the bosses happy is more important than a fair judicial system, and American rights to a fair trial... My bad.

And honestly, I am NOT trying to flame or troll anyone, but we are SO blessed in this country with a judicial system that may be far from perfect, but is 99% better than any other country I can think of. And a relatively short stint in civic duty to give back to this country sends people running.

We often call ourselves Patriotic, only after someone else has fought the good fight.

One should not shirk his duty in my opinion, but that is only my opinion.
I'll turn off rant now, not trying to stir up needless crap, thanks for letting me vent, hope it gives something to think about.

NVXDRanger

[afmo]

Originally Posted by NVXD

yeah I see where you're coming from, your right.

I have to agree that a day working, and the keeping the bosses happy is more important than a fair judicial system, and American rights to a fair trial... My bad.

And honestly, I am NOT trying to flame or troll anyone, but we are SO blessed in this country with a judicial system that may be far from perfect, but is 99% better than any other country I can think of. And a relatively short stint in civic duty to give back to this country sends people running.

We often call ourselves Patriotic, only after someone else has fought the good fight.

One should not shirk his duty in my opinion, but that is only my opinion.
I'll turn off rant now, not trying to stir up needless crap, thanks for letting me vent, hope it gives something to think about.

NVXDRanger

I wouldn't try and shirk the duty if I didn't have more important duties to myself, my family, and my job. $15 dollars a day for serving on a jury is an insult.

Either fairly compensate people for their time and keep it compulsory, or leave it as it is and have it on a volunteer basis.

[chupacabrachus]

So far both times I have been called it has been for a county (that I was registered to vote in) which was three hours away from where I lived, worked, and attended school at the time. They would not pay mileage or per diem so I guess they found someone else....

[gsh341]

I've been called twice.

The first time I was seated and the judge ran down the basics of the case.

Apparently some lady was awarded $350k in damages after an accident. The guy that hit her was dead broke and the insurance only covered for $250k. The lady knew the other $100k would never come from the guy so she was suing his insurance company for the rest.

When the judge asked if we had any questions I raised my hand. I asked "Since the insurance company is only legally obligated to follow their contract and if the contract was for $250k, isn't is wrong to sue for something they are not contractually liable for? If it isn't, aren't all contracts basically worthless at that point?".

The defense lawyer smiled like a chimp with a truckload of bananas and the prosecutor dismissed me for being biased. I didn't mind jury duty for that case, but it didn't work out.

The second case was 2 days before my 2 week guard camp started. Since I own my own business I had plenty of stuff to arrange for keeping my customers cared for while I was away as well as packing and lining up my gear.

Since the judge could not guarantee that the case would be done in just 2 days and I had other pressing obligations, I was dismissed.

The crazy thing is that neither of my parents (both 63) have ever been called for jury duty.

[ArmyGuy45]

Active Duty... Its my "get out of jail free" card


What I dont understand about the selection system is that if you are active duty you do not have to serve on jury duty. So why would they send it to my APO mailing address?

[Groo]

I wasn't proud of it, but I did show up and wander around like human cattle when ordered...