I've been called for jury duty 3 times. Always for the county, not the feds. They say its a random pick of registered voters. They pay you here, but in the city it barely covers your parking fees and lunch!! I work for a huge corporation, so they do pay us anyway. I sat on a civil jury for a guy who said working in a blueprint company caused his asthma, but he was still smoking (and I was a smoker at the time also) and his disability didn't stop him from hanging out on the fence at the race track in all the dust! He lost!! And I've been on 2 rape cases. One guy we convicted and he got 25 years, could try for probation after 7. its a little creepy to think he might be out there now with my name and address... I just had a feeling he was guilty from the start, tried to keep an open mind, but after the girl he raped got up and testified, I had no doubt, neither did anyone else on the jury!! After the trial and we were released, the judge talked to us and said we did a good job, that this wasn't the first time this guy had raped, but this young lady was the first willing to go through with a trial. It was nice to get that feedback from him. the second rape case, we let the guy go. It was back and forth for me until it came out at the end that the girl accusing this guy was pregnant. She was white, he was black, and her family was as prejudiced as could be. The impression I got, since she didn't accuse him until after she found out she was expecting(yes, after, no DNA testing, no rape kit) was that she was looking for an excuse for her family. He had no problem admitting he'd had sex with her when and where she said, but that she consented. Again, we got a thumbs up from the judge when he spoke to us after the trial.
I was called again after that, and sat waiting to be called into a courtroom for two weeks!! I got alot of reading done, and learned to play euchre!!
I think its a great experience everyone should go through. It is nothing like you see on TV and quite an eyeopener!!