Our courts here won't allow anything taken in with you. Not even water. Ugh.....

Got called this summer but Bonnie Hunter/Mickey Depre "saved" me. It was a malpractice suit. Jurors were asked if any had conflicts for the next week. I asked what about the week after? When my name was pulled, FORTUNATELY the C of C remembered my question and so I was asked about a conflict the following week. At that point it was revealed that the trial was expected to run for three weeks. My conflict was a quilting retreat with Bonnie and Mickey collaborating. Then I was asked if I missed it, how would I feel about loosing my nonrefundable fee. I said I would be out right much money but that I would have to do the best I could. Then it came to how much money. When I said over $500 not counting the hotel and travel expenses you could hear the jury pool gasp audibly. I was excused. Folks in my little rural community couldn't grasp that kind of expense for quilting. It was worth it at twice the price! What a great quilt class and DH went with me and bought a motorcycle (trike) from one of the other husbands! We both came home happy.

Jury Duty
 

I've been called 5 times, served 3 times, one of which was a 5 week murder trial.

You are history.....Luck out.

You are right about that ! I have been on two juries so far and hope I never have to do it again. As for me, I do not think I would ever have a jury 'of my peers' ! Not from what I seen.

I've been called a number of times over the years, but only selected one time, for a guy contesting a speeding ticket. We convicted him and made him pay the original fine plus the approximate cost to the city of seating a jury trial. One woman on the jury was sympathetic, saying she felt sorry for the guy, who was caught while rushing his MIL and SIL to the airport. I said, "They're not asking us how we feel about this, they want to know if we think he was speeding." The men in the group nearly leaped up and patted me on the back for that. As one of them said, nearly all of us have had speeding tickets at one time or another, but we just paid them and accepted the fact that we got caught. The woman who was holding out was from a different culture. She had never driven a car, and where she was from, women are traditionally more deferential to men. She would have liked to have a trial of the MIL and SIL who probably weren't ready on time. I did feel sorry for the defendant, too, but I didn't think he should be tying up a courtroom when he was clearly in the wrong. You just know that officer kept him waiting around so that there was no chance whatever that they caught that flight.

Two other times I got close to being selected, but I think that attorneys are shy about housewives. We theoretically have all the time in the world to hang a jury.

One thing I used to like about going to downtown Houston for jury duty was seeing just how marvelously diverse this big port city is. Every time the day would begin with about 500 of its citizens gathered together. We looked like a cross section of the world, all gathered together with one unifying purpose: justice. I also appreciated that it was an efficient process. It wasn't hard to find parking and a free shuttle to the appropriate building and back, and the wait wasn't too bad. We've lived in 3 other states and found that a lot of smaller communities don't do nearly as well by their jury pool.

Inez, I don't agree that "if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger". I've always been a very strong person but the last time I was called to jury duty, I was excused because it was a murder case. I had just lost my daughter to a medical negligence ( by the Dr.) case, lost my husb. my mother, a g-son, & both of my brothers in a very short time so I was an emotional wreck. I could barely speak when the judge asked me to explain my request to be excused. I told her I just couldn't handle a case involving such an emotional loss to a family. I was excused permanently. My experiences haven't killed me but sure have not made me stronger.

I just got excused (was supposed to report this Tuesday) with a doctor's note stating I am the sole caregiver for my husband (true). I've served several times; the first case was such a good experience, a numbers running case which lasted about a week. We got paid $3/day. The day the case was over the whole jury went out to lunch and spent our whole week's salary on a good meal with wine (this was early 1970's). The last case I was on, not the last time I've been called, I couldn't believe the waste of time and money. One ice cream vendor punched another vendor in the nose because he wanted to sell at the same park. We'd wait until about 11 for the day's testimony to start, then lunch, then another wait and maybe an hour in the afternoon. This went on for a week. Finally one of the jury members asked the bailiff what our rights are as jurors because we were all furious. He was told "absolutely none". We finally found in favor of the defendant (the puncher) because he had been provoked, he just went berserk when the other guy cursing out his (defendant's) mother. One punch. Actual time in the jury room over a week, maybe 6 or 7 hours. I've been called to report since then but haven't been chosen for a jury, not even for preliminary interrogation. But...I always remember that first case, how interesting to see the system at work and how much we all put into it to make sure we gave a fair verdict.

P.S. I just checked - the current pay 40 years later is $5/day. Taking a bus would cost almost as much and parking would cost more.