OT: Was in jury selection for a murder trial yesterday.

[pabornandraised]

Just one, with the power of 12.

I don't really like that idea, especially here in PA.

 

[tboyer]

^^^^THIS^^^^
if, God forbid, you're ever the one sitting at that defendants table, who do you want to be judged by? The guy who is gainfully employed, has obligations, has his shit together? Or the guy who wants to get picked because the 35 bucks a day he gets will be the highlight of his day?

Not a big problem in Philly as it's 9 bucks a day.

I don't know if this is typical but in Philly if you've ever been arrested for anything, ever (not convicted, arrested), you get a blanket permanent dismissal from jury duty. That basically means anybody with an arrest record no matter how minor, is excluded from the jury pool. That's a majority of men in Philly and a very high percentage, maybe 70 percent, of black men.

So it means two things: the juries really aren't juries of "peers." -- it's overwhelmingly white middle class juries determining the fate of overwhelmingly black low-income defendants.

(Obviously a good number of those defendants are really bad people and the last thing you need is overly lenient juries. But it's interesting.)

It also means the total jury pool for the city is very small relative to the number of cases and defendants. Most people I know in the city are called for jury service every single year and sometimes more than once a year. You don't get picked for a jury very often, but still, losing a day and potentially having to juggle your schedule if chosen -- that is quite a big deal if you're asked every year. By contrast, in other places I've lived, people get called for jury every 10 years or so.

 

[Fox Chapel Lion II]

Your problem is not with the system. It is with employers. Either they want engaged citizens involved in the system, or they don't. Hell, there are special tax deals for companies, all over the code. Why not one for companies who pay their employees to be good citizens?

I served on a Federal Grand Jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania about twelve years ago. Two or three days a month (once in a great while they would have no cases for the month, or maybe a one day session) for eighteen months. My employer paid me the whole time, although it is true I work for a legitimate company - they know people are going to get called so they just pay. Same as when somebody goes out on bereavement leave - it's just part of the company's cost of doing business.

I really made out when I was in the Reserve doing summer camp. The Navy paid me AND the company paid me. And they didn't offset, which would have been only fair.

The Grand Jury was very interesting although after a while it was the same stuff - felon with a gun, bank robbery mostly. But we did have a doctor running a pill mill in exchange for sexual favors and a couple of child porn cases. A few illegal immigrant cases.

Remember on the Federal Grand Jury the prosecution has to prove two things (standard of proof being preponderance of evidence IIRC) - first, a crime was committed, and second, that Joe Blow was involved in it. That is a low standard. There is NO defense testimony, in fact at this point the suspect is usually not under arrest. The prosecution lays out their evidence and the Jury votes to indict. At that point the Magistrate Judge signs the indictment and LE gets an arrest warrant and Joe B gets picked up, after that he may or may not go to trial.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

The payment in Cook County (Chicago and suburbs) was $17.20 last time I was in a jury pool, probably about ten years ago. The jury was picked before they got to me. Surprised I haven't been called again.

Would not mind serving, but my brother is one of the very top and well-known criminal defense attorneys in Texas and the USA, so not sure how that would fly.

Of course once I said serving MIGHT interfere with my potential Moderator job, any judge in the country would dismiss me.