Me & my BIG mouth!

Last week I was commenting on a jury duty thread how I've been in Oregon for three years and haven't been hit. Just got a summons for the U. S. District Court in Portland! Means commuting 3-4 hours a day, paying for parking, etc. NO wireless devices in the court. And no exemption for being the sole support of two retired greyhounds.

Not that I've ever been selected for a trial. Lawyers hate computer geeks.

I just got a jury questionnaire in the mail today. Not quite a summons, but it could be the precursor to one...

Haha- see what happens when you mention it! "They" are out to get you now.

It's funny, my husband has never even gotten a questionaire to fill out. I've served on Jury Duty in Federal Court, and on the county level more than once or twice and every time I've gone (except for once when I was 9 months and 3 days pregnant) I've been selected.

I think the hardest part is sitting there all day just waiting for your name to be called.

Crazy Old Yooper said:

Haha- see what happens when you mention it! "They" are out to get you now.

It's funny, my husband has never even gotten a questionaire to fill out. I've served on Jury Duty in Federal Court, and on the county level more than once or twice and every time I've gone (except for once when I was 9 months and 3 days pregnant) I've been selected.

I think the hardest part is sitting there all day just waiting for your name to be called.

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SWMBO was on the jury list a few years ago, but none of the cases went to trial, so she never had to go. I would like to serve, I think it would be fascinating! I'm prolly the only one that WANTS to do it, and i've never even been sent a questionnaire.

i got a summons/questionaire ten years ago. i checked the box that i do not read or write enligsh and suspect my name has been stricken from the pool. :fro:

I have testified in numerous bench and jury trials...sometimes a lot of fun, but most of the time a royal pain in the butt. I still receive jury questionaires, but luckily I can check an exemption!:rockin:

Just say you're a libertarian and believe in the concept of jury nullification and I bet they won't touch you with a 10 foot pole.

My mother-in-law worked the Jury Pool here locally for a couple years. I never had to worry about jury duty back then! Now....well, she says she could pull strings if I asked nicely.

I've only been summoned once, for Federal. I was one of the two people that got dismissed, everyone else went daily for 1-2 weeks. I had to register for classes that week, and the judge apparently took a liking to EE majors. I guess I got lucky!

I've been called a few times in the 5 years since becoming 18. I've always gotten out of it!

Had to sit on a federal court jury a couple of years ago. It was ok since I was out on unemployment and it filled the time for me. Got some russian kids smuggling pot over from Canada up north. Took a couple of days and they fed us which was cool.

I got real excited when i was selected for jury duty about 2 months ago because i am a pre-law major and love watching these cases play out. Only problem is that i was in a different county so i couldn't.


Speaking of which, david_42, if you're that far away do you still have to go? Or is the US District court not strictly Multnomah and clackamas county?

Buford said:

Just say you're a libertarian and believe in the concept of jury nullification and I bet they won't touch you with a 10 foot pole.

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i agree with this however they wont approach it such like that. you will be asked a question to likes of, if all the evidence points towards the defendant being guilty but you dont agree with the law, would you still convict?

the way the question is phrased gives most people who aren't familiar with jury nullification the impression that they should convict. however if you simply say no you wouldn't convict if you don't agree with the law they most likely will not select you.

I've only served one trial, though I've summoned every single year since getting my citizenship. It was a DUI case, the defendant was the principal of the local high school. We convicted her.... she got fired... it was in the news...

P.S. Now that I'm a stay at home dad, I don't have to go, they actually have section on the excuse area for care providers

I've been arrested a few times, so I wonder if that's the secret to not getting called?

I got called and sent them I letter back saying I think I may have to go for therapy for mental problems. Contact me again if I'm needed. I got a letter back saying I'd been dropped.

David - sorry about that since it was my thread where your mouth opened .

jbreiding said:

i agree with this however they wont approach it such like that. you will be asked a question to likes of, if all the evidence points towards the defendant being guilty but you dont agree with the law, would you still convict?

the way the question is phrased gives most people who aren't familiar with jury nullification the impression that they should convict. however if you simply say no you wouldn't convict if you don't agree with the law they most likely will not select you.

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It was my 1st time involved with this and you got it right on how they ask these questions. I was one of the (un)lucky 1st group picked and then they were weeding us out based on the Q&A and replacing with others. I answered honestly but I know I left them (judge/lawyers) with "reasonable doubt" about me when they made their final selection. It was for a 10 count DUI murder trial. Took two full days to get to the selected jury members. Trial going on this week and next more than likely.

Bernie Brewer said:

SWMBO was on the jury list a few years ago, but none of the cases went to trial, so she never had to go. I would like to serve, I think it would be fascinating! I'm prolly the only one that WANTS to do it, and i've never even been sent a questionnaire.

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That felony conviction back in '79 kind of gets you on the "unwanted" list, if you know what I mean.

Dude said:

That felony conviction back in '79 kind of gets you on the "unwanted" list, if you know what I mean.

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To quote Steve Martin: "I forgot armed robbery was illegal"

Luckily the 2 times I have been called, I was a student or lived in a diffrent county

The Portland court covers most of north-west Oregon, all the way down to Yamhill Country which is where I live. If I lived on the south side of town, I'd have to travel to Eugene. The part about jury duty that bugs me is sitting through the selection process knowing no lawyer will let me be on the jury. I was 0 for 9 in the Bay area, 0 for 3 in Nevada and 0 for 5 in southern California. The only one that would have been interesting was a murder trial and even that wouldn't have been much. This was the second defendant and the first one got a 12:0 conviction.

jeez, what do you tell the lawyers?!

"yeah i once killed a man, but i say kill because it sure ain't murder when they deserve it."

Just the truth: I'm an engineer and computer geek. Lawyers hate people that are smarter than they are and actual pay attention to the evidence.

david_42 said:

Just the truth: I'm an engineer and computer geek. Lawyers hate people that are smarter than they are and actual pay attention to the evidence.

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They also don't like the fact that I was a police explorer in high school.

I bet wearing this shirt might do the trick as well: