So finally at age 51 I was picked to serve on a jury for a trial. I have to say it was quite an interesting experience being a juror for a 3 day criminal trial. First of all, it was interesting seeing how the body language and facial expressions of both the defense lawyers and the prosecutors would give away how they were feeling even though they were doing their best to be as neutral as possible. I also felt a bit old since all four lawyers looked like they were between their late 20's and early 30's!


Has anyone here served on a jury in recent years? Overall it was a positive experience for me even though there were some inconveniences for my usual weekly schedule.

I've been called once and midway through jury selection the parties settled / someone confessed etc., so it was all called off.

I remember a little about my mother serving on a jury in the late 60's or early 70's. Since then I have thought it would be an interesting experience.

Apparently the ones to watch out for are the Federal court cases. A good friend of mine at work told me that he served as a juror on a Federal grand jury case. It lasted 6 weeks.....

No lawyer has ever wanted me on a jury, and discarded me from the pool.

That's what I thought applied to me since I had been called several times before to report but I was never picked for a jury. I think what made the difference this time is that a LOT of the jurors in my pool made excuses about why they couldn't serve on a jury or they said they didn't like the Constitution (ie don't believe in things like presumption of innocence).

It’s been probably 15 years for me, I think it was only 2 trials over 2 days. The court system puts the military to shame when it comes to “hurry up and wait,” that’s for sure. We sat in the big room waiting to be called until around 3pm, I guess the lawyers and judges were trying to reach settlements. Voir dire was about what I expected, if you’re a cop, firefighter, etc, or related/married to one the defense doesn’t want you. I was on 2 traffic cases, I can’t remember the first one but we found him guilty, the 2nd was a “sovereign citizen” who said the license, registration, and insurance requirements infringed on her right to travel. Yep, she didn’t drive, she traveled. Well if you’re a sovereign citizen not subject to the laws of any gov’t or nation why are you hiding behind the US Constitution? You don’t get to pick and choose depending on what benefits you most. Guilty! Fines for both, no jail time. It was pretty interesting overall.

I wonder if any of these so called “sovereign citizens” take any benefits from things like Social Security, Medicare or Worker’s Compensation?

It's been over 10 years, but I was on a murder trial that lasted about a month, with two defendants being tried at the same time - gang members. It was interesting, and I practically got in an argument with one of the defense attorneys during the voir dire process, about how I would look at some types of evidence (documentaries about gangs), so I thought for sure I was going to get kicked off, but they kept me. The death penalty was not involved.

The other defense attorney had one of those "don't ask questions you don't already know the answer to" moments that was pretty embarrassing, in my opinion.

I haven't been selected for a jury yet, but did get seated on a Grand Jury. We ended up getting extended twice during the Covid-19 business. In all that time ( a full year, IIRC ), we only got called in for one case ( We usually don't get a lot of murders in this neck of the woods ). As you would expect, the ham sandwich got indicted, as our State Attorney had his ducks in a row.

I sat on one here in Scotland during Covid. I don't know if it was unique to the case that I sat on but the difference between the public prosecution (young & appeared inexperienced/badly prepared) & defence (older, polished) lawyers was very clear ... The defendant got off.

I was on a Federal grand jury back in 2006. I was on it for around 5 months (2-3 days) every other week. I'm not sure how you can be on a federal grand jury for only one case like Panzer's friend.

I heard dozens of cases and we decided if there was enough evidence to go to trial. We heard cases about murder for hire, human trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal overstays after being deported, public corruption, bribery, etc., excess cash taken out of the country without declaring, etc.

I have never summon to jury duty until 2019. I think renewing my drivers license brought me to the top of the list. I got summon 3 times in 2019. Someone told me once you get a summon, they can't summon you again for another year. I don't know if that's true.

All 3 times I had to go to the courthouse by 7 am. Then they put about 30 of us in a classroom with rows of the same chair/tables combo we had in school. We sat there until 9 am. Some read newspapers, some dozed off, some look at their phones. At 9 am we were all told to go home.

Waste of everyone's time and gas. Courthouse is 26 miles from me and to be there by 7, I left at 6 and sat in traffic for 45-50 minutes.

I have not received any more summon since 2019.

I was called for jury selection of a new and specific type of jury selection process. I think that they called it a Show Cause. It was an odd process, never before used in Canada. Something about each juror playing a role in selection of the jury. Anyway, it was supposed to be a financial fraud trial and scheduled for 9-10 months. Just how the heck they could find anyone able to be away from family and business for that long amazes me. I think they would end up with a jury of retirees or the unemployed. Due to the anticipated difficulties in finding sufficient jurors, they cast a wide net and called 600 names for the process. I managed to be excused. I think the trial actually went to verdict.

Back in the days when I was in my late 40s early 50s, I was "called in" for Jury Duty two times -- a few years apart.

In one case, I was picked but the case was "settled" while we waited to enter the courtroom.

In a second, I did make it into the courtroom for the jury selection process. I felt I was biased in the case and told them so. I was not called.

Since I have a military and LE background, I don't get called once I fill out the questionnaire.