Topic: "You are summoned for jury duity for a criminal superior session of court" (Read 1822 times)

I don't think this is always the case. I think that the court will more often assign potential jurors a random "juror number" that is used to call them by to prevent potential "name" bias.

Change your first and last names to ones starting with the letter A, for when they call jurors in for voir dire alphabetically.

I agree. I think any effort to actively get on a jury would be seen as strong bias and would end up you getting rejected from the jury pool.

I don't think you really can do anything to get on a jury. Assuming you have a summons to have to report for jury duty, your chances of getting selected should be equal to everyone else. If your name is high enough on the list of potential jurors (I am not sure how they determine the order of the people they interview, but I imagine it is usually somewhat random) then you will be given a questionnaire by the court that will try to detect certain bias about certain aspects of the case. For example if your father was killed by a drunk driver then you may be less then fair to someone who is accused of driving while drunk.

that was an interesting read.

We're happy to do it, and we invite everyone interested in spreading the word about jury nullification to join us. We have Jury Rights Day coming up on September 5, commemorating the famous jury nullification in the trial of William Penn in 1670, which led not only to strong protection for jurors' rights but also for freedoms of speech and religion. Groups and individuals around the country host Jury Rights Day events. They are very easy to do, so if anyone is interested in volunteering to host one, please check our Jury Rights Day web page: http://www.FIJA.org/jury-rights-day

FIJA is strictly an educational outreach organization. We don't do legal advocacy for or against any case in progress, give legal advice, or provide legal defense funds. However, we do try to conduct outreach activities in places that are particularly timely. I am particularly interested in getting some outreach going in New York City right now. There have been some prominent local people talking about jury nullification there, as well as some recent cases where people have called for jury nullification. It seems like a timely moment in this location to get a long-term jury nullification campaign going there. We also have the bonus benefit of an Opinion and Order from Judge Kimba Wood of the United States District Court Southern District of New York explicitly protecting jury nullification outreach per the FIJA guidelines, so this is just about the safest place in the country to do courthouse jury nullification education: http://fija.org/docs/Judge_Wood_opinion_Heicklen.pdf

It ended up being the case that there were no trials for the time that I was scheduled.

It's just so awesome what people like yourself are doing. People think that they have no power over the state any more, and as far as voting is concerned this is right, but they often don't realize that when they are a juror they actually do have the opportunity to have a real impact on the behaviour of their government. Its fascinating to me that people would be be in a patriotic fervour about voting when this will have no impact on anything and then act like jury duty is colossal inconvenience when this is a situation where their voice will actually be heard.

Kirsten Tynan of the Fully Informed Jury Association here. We actually have a brochure available that I recommend to everyone before they go to jury duty for exactly that purpose. It is called "Surviving Voir Dire" and can be downloaded from our website here, sixth brochure linked: http://fija.org/document-library/brochures/

I like being a juror. Just have to be honest when they call you and interview you, most people are trying to get out of it.

Thanks for telling me about your experience.

I have been both picked for jury duty and not. When I was not picked I was dropped because I expressed my honest opinion (actually got into a sort of debate with the judge).

When I was picked I made sure that each of the lawyers knew that I was listening to their every word, nodding my head when needed, acting like every word that came out of their mouths was a fascinating truth. I helped to save a doctor from getting sued for malpractice when he was not guilty (swayed the jury from a knee jerk guilty verdict to not guilty).

My experience with jury selection is it is pretty simple stuff, "let's pick homeowners not rents, let's try to get this age bracket/ethnicity/women or men", stuff like that.

Google jury nullification.

thanks

Lol.  If I were a lawyer picking a jury I would avoid you like the plague.  You have an strong bias and seeming agenda right out of the gate without even hearing about the case.

You will be dealing with professionals who are trained to detect that.

But good luck anyway.

oh sure. if there is a victim, a legitimate complaint and solid evidence than definitely.

Just make sure they are innocent first. Plenty of cases with people who fully deserve the wrath of the state.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwaxFAC6rzk

noted. thanks for the input.