I have been summoned several times. In the county where I live in CA, the names are picked from a database of driver's licenses and voter registration. I get at least one jury summons / year, as my driver's lic. includes my full middle name and my voter registration has my middle initial. I can tell which database they used for a particular summons. :)
I did "make it to the box" during one sojurn in Superior Court. It was a criminal case. The defendant already had 2 felonies on his record (in CA, if you get 3, you get a loooooooooooooooong stay at the Graybar Hotel). Two of the charges against him were felonies. He was a certified dirt-bag, but was cleaned up and suited up to look like a human being.
All potential jurors were required to complete a multi-page questionnaire and turn it in the first day. We were required to return the next day for jury selection.
The next day I was called to answer questions from the prosecutor and the defense lawyer. The prosecutor loved my responses and was very happy with me.
The defense attorney was not happy with me.
You see, my answers to the questionnaire indicated that I had been very pleased with the criminal justice system in CA as the twit :evil: who attacked my son sevreal years ago did time in prison for the crime. My son filed "assault with intent to do great bodily harm" charges against the jerk. That charge is one notch below attempted murder. Once testimony began in the pre-trail hearing, there was no way the creep would win and his lawyer basically threw up his hands and told the defendant he was toast.
Thus, this defense attorney knew my story and wanted me to recount it in the courtroom. I did...and you could hear gasps when I said my son was in surgery for 10 hours being put back together and flat-lined 4 times. :cry:
Then, the defense attorney started aggressively questioning me, making comments about my rigid attitude, and asked me to imagine if my son had been in his client's position, that of defendant. I looked him as if he had suddenly gone off the rails.
Immediately, the judge stopped all the proceedings. She very forcefully and publically rebuked the defense attorney for his line of questioning.
As expected, I was released from jury duty that day. As for my son, he's fine...God and highly skilled orthopaedic surgeon took good care of him.
All this having been said and taking into consideration all the inconvenience and hassle jury duty involves, I believe a trial by jury (an American right), is much better than a trial the verdict of which is decided by a 3-person tribunal comprised of judges or legal "experts".
Having said that, do NOT get me started on a rant about the criminal appeals' process in the country. The trial may be speedy, but the appeals process drags on and on like a bad rash.
You'll never get rich as a juror, but you'll be enriched by the process. It's an education -- on many levels
m.