Interesting Experience Today

A couple of weeks ago I got a sumons for jury duty. When I showed up at the County Court House, I found out that the sumons was for County Grand Jury. The selection process was rather strange I thought. The judge asked if anyone would experience extream hardship by serving. 35 people there, knowone raised their hand. The GJ needs 16 people to to form a quarum. They reduced the number of available jurors by pulling names down to a pool of 22. That makes it posible for six people to call in on any jury day and still have a quarum. 12 jurors have to vote yes to endite a defendant/s and send the case forward to trial. Today we were supose to hear 4 cases. One was posponed till our next session due to a witness's illness.
The second case delt with a credit card theft, and the other two delt with drug posession and sale. One I found very interesting, as it started with a traffic stop in Kansas. Two men in a PU with an inclosed trailer were headed here to NY with a delivery of pot. within 2 days of a call from the KS. Highway Patrol to Authorities here in NY (Feds, State, & County) a sting was set up and executed in a little hill town 20 miles from my home. Street value was said to be $400K. The other case was also drug posession and sale. It was a real eye opener for all of us serving on the GJ. Most of us were shocked how much and how close to us this problem is.
If you should get called for GJ you will find it very interesting, and enjoyable, as it is informal and interactive with jurors , the DA, and witnesses. Not a stuffy Court room setting with appropriate. protocall with a judge procideing.
PS our term will end the third week in May and conveins every Tuesday depending on load. So far we are on an every other Tuesday schedule.

I got called up a couple of weeks ago. However, if you're over 65 you can opt out with no explanations necessary. (Here, at least).

Which I did. I would have liked to have done it, but it would have screwed up my schedule too much.

I was called up once before on a car/truck accident, but was disqualified when it became known that a neurosurgeon who would testify had operated on my back several years before.

Goose, I don't think the 65yo option applies here. The majority of the 22 of us are close to or over that age, and there were no questions asked about qualifications. We were told that if we knew a defandant brought up for enditement we should obstain our vote, and let the others decide. As I said before it only takes 12 of the 22 of us there voicing a yea vote for the enditement to procede to a jury trial.

I served several years ago on a fraud case.An old lady was duped out of $8000 by an out of state scam.Very interesting to be involved in the "process".In our case the state failed to proove guilt(they REALLY "dropped the ball")We the jury really believed the defendant was "not guilty"(he had been set up-took the "fall")I would serve again-in a heart beat.

My wife served on a jury in a federal drug case at dayton ohio a few years ago.The guy was caught with 100 pounds of pot in the back seat of his car.He said it wasn't his and he didn't know it was there.The one black woman on the jury kept bringing up OJ Simpson and how the police railroaded him and she dedlocked the jury and the guy got off.

How many billion dollars have we borrowed to spend on the drug war? 30 thousand killed in Mexico. A million in jail for non violent drug crimes and it costs 34,ooo dollars a year for each one. And you can buy any amount of drugs that you want. Prohibition didn't work for booze and it will never work for on drugs. Legalize drugs. Yea for that lady that hung the jury. That's what I will do if I get on a drug trial jury.

What's really weird is some folks still talk of "winning" the war on drugs. I think drugs, at least weed, ought to be legalized and taxed.

Served on the GJ once. Really enjoyed it. Lots of folks writing bad checks and that kind of stuff. One was a woman who put her baby in the oven and burned him to death. She went to trail and then to jail. She was later released by a judge because of her mental problems at the time the child was killed.

Are you allowed to come on an internet forum and discuss cases that you sat on the jury for? Just wondering, thought you could get in trouble for that and maybe the defendants could later claim a mistrial or something.

I didn't mention any names and provided no more info than what the local papers already have. Our job as Grand Jurors is to determin if there is enough evidence for the DA to persue each case in a jury trial, where a trial jury will determin the defendant/s guilt, or inocence.

I hate jury duty,any kind of jury duty!