RSS FeedTrying To Do Our Civic Duty
Yesterday we had jury duty, or at least we responded to a jury summons. This was the third time DC Superior has sent us a jury summons since we moved to DC. Each time the same thing: we show up at 8 am, check in, read the paper, watch part of a movie, listen as names are called for a jury pool, re-read the paper, check email, head to lunch, come back from lunch, listen as more names are called for a jury pool, get dismissed and head home.
This time was the closest we’d ever come to being selected just for the jury pool. Our name was actually called, but after the clerk finished reading off the 50 or so names selected, two names were excused from that list and we were one of them. Now we know many of you are thinking we’re lucky not to have been called, but never having served on a jury we don’t know what to feel. What happens after your selected for the jury pool? What is the voir dire process like? 12 Angry Men is about the only jury experience we have, so we were kind of hoping this would be the time we’d go further in the process.
Have any of you been called upon by the DC to be on a jury? Is it as bad as everyone seems to think it is?
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Petit jury is NOTHING compared to Grand Jury. I am currently serving for a second time – it is 25 days, plus 2 recall days. You do NOT get dismissed from it. Grand jury is not at all like petit jury (ie, Law and Order). Grand jury is the body that will indict people. It is a miserable experience. Be LUCKY that you were called for petit and not grand jury!
I was on a jury for a week in DC. It was a very interesting experience.
Apparently there are “special police” in various areas of DC, such as the southwest waterfront fish market area. These special police are people employed by security companies, but the Police allow them to wear MPD uniforms and act as DC Police within the special area they are assigned to only. In the case I served on, these special police, one of the their fathers (who apparently hangs out wearing his expired bail bondsman badge) and one of the fish market workers, all of whom were black, conspired to falsely arrest and then beat (while they were handcuffed) a mixed race couple, because they were mixed race (based on their statements during the arrest and beating, which allowed us to convict them on civil rights abuses). The guy that worked at the fish market was friends with the guards/special police, and because they didn’t like the mixed race couple for being mixed race, falsely accused the man of stealing. The charges were later dropped. We convicted the special police officers, the father that participated, and the company that employed the special police (for lack of training and supervision, since they provided a weapon to one of the special police who was not trained or licensed to use it) on all counts, the main one being civil rights abuse. We awarded something like $150,000 to cover medical bills (he was hit in the head with a billy club, and still had scars 5 years later), punitive damages, etc. We thought we were being a reasonable jury. I was later disappointed to find that that amount didn’t even cover their legal bills (from 5 years of litigation), which is why most of these types of cases never get to court.
I not only learned about serving on a jury (which I would gladly do again), I also learned that these types of civil rights abuses don’t get big headlines for some reason. This would have been a hate crime if the law existed at that time. I also learned just how deep the racism is among a number of people born and raised in DC, some of them police officers. This put into context for me the MPD email scandal that was happening about the same time, where approximately 150 MPD officers (25% of the force) where disciplined for sending racist, sexist and homophobic emails in conjunction with police duty. The MPD has never made the details public (although the Council requested them to), and always maintained it was a small number of officers (although the only time numbers where provided, they indicated 25% of the force). So jury duty was a very interesting yet disappointing experience for me.
Grand Jury is way worse than any petit jury. Grand Jury is days and days and days in length, I think 25. And nearly impossible to get dismissed from it. You are lucky.
Just completed a trial as a juror yesterday, the second time in two years that I’ve done so at Superior Court. I enjoyed performing my civic duty both times. In both cases, my fellow jurors and I took our responsibilities seriously and carefully deliberated over a young man’s fate. It’s definitely mentally draining to focus during several days of testimony, inconsistent witnesses, imperfect evidence, and the jurors’ varying viewpoints, but citizens serving on juries is what makes our justice system work. I’ll be happy to serve again when I’m called back in 2 years.
My two DC jury duty days were like yours … chair, newspaper, lunch, and waiting. Did you notice the social and ethnical makeup of your fellow potential jurors? Much whiter, more briefcases, and more English language than seen on the bus, in the DC grocery stores, and in my ‘hood.
ive served on trial before and it was definitely an interesting experience. Ive got jury duty coming up but its for federal court. i am on call for a few weeks.
I got called once in four years of living downtown and made the very silly mistake of not bringing something to read or my laptop to get work done. perusing the rack of free periodicals was amusing to say the least. I settled on reading the fall 2000 issue of the Duke alumni magazine (this happened in 2007) followed by a full evaluation of the interior architecture of the courthouse.
one plus to living downtown was that I could walk home for lunch and pick up something reasonable to read before returning. I got called into a pool, went in, answered the questions, was dismissed and went home.
I’ve had to do three trials…two in D.C. and one in Baltimore where I grew up (registered to vote on my 18th birthday and was summoned three weeks later…nice). I’ve been on two rape trials and one drug trial. I have to say the drug trial was the most enjoyable experience of the three for pretty much all the obvious reasons. As long as I don’t ever have to do another rape trial, I am totally cool with doing jury duty (petit court mind you).
I’ve never been required to serve as juror (sorry I know you only solicited for jury experiences) but as one of the commenters eluded to earlier, it’s our civic duty and we should take it seriously. It would be terribly problematic to complain about things like Junior Gotti being let off the hook four times if we shun our duty to serve. The legal system may be broken but we compound the problem somewhat when we try and evade jury duty.
I was in your pool called yesterday, but not dismissed until today. (Jury selection took 2 days.) Be glad you were dismissed early…
I served on a jury about 10 years ago when i lived in Virginia and it was a relatively disheartening experience.
It was a civil suit where a taxi driver was suing another driver over a car accident. It was horrible for many reasons. I swear these are all true.
– When the jury first got together the judge explicitly told us not to do anything and wait for the bailif to come get us and as soon as they left us alone someone tried to nominate me for foreman because “I had the best looking shirt on”
– One of the potential jurors claimed that his sister had been in a car accident once so he wasn’t sure he could be unbiased. The attorney’s rolled their eyes and asked if he really thought that would make him unable to render an unbiased opinion. He answered “Well, you never know…” and was eventually dismissed.
– One of the Jurors fell asleep multiple times during the actual trial.
– When it came time to elect a foreman “Bob” was elected foreman because he was in the bathroom and everyone thought it would be funny to elect him foreman while he was in the bathroom.
– Part of the deliberation was over if and how much in damages to award the taxi driver because he was out of work for several months as a result of the accident. Even though he submitted a tax return as a basis to support how much income he lost out on while being unable to work, on of the jurors insisted on trying to estimate how many fares he would get per day x how much per fare – gas expense to come up with his own calculation of the damages because he didnt think the taxi driver reported all his income on the tax return (probably true, but a separate issue…)
I can’t even imagine a federal grand jury. I can’t even stand DC grand jury. You are able to ask the witnesses questions, as long as they are relevant. You would be surprised at how jurors just do not get this concept. And all you need to show is PROBABLE cause. Not convict, just did this person PROBABLY commit this crime. It should be a rubber stamp process, but is not.
I live in DC and have had a DC driver license for nearly two years (registered to vote too) yet have never been summoned.
I’ve served on quite a few juries during my 19 years as a DC resident. Most of them civil suits.
The one I felt was most worthwhile was a delivery man who sued an HVAC company because their driver hit his delivery truck and caused a back injury. After all the testimony we deliberated for about a day and a half decided upon $26,000 or something like that.
A couple weeks later I saw one of the HVAC company’s vans and asked the driver if he knew the person who had been sued. Come to find out the HVAC’s insurance company offered $1,000,000 but the plantiff refused and took them to court.
This was many years ago but instead of remembering the personalities of my fellow jurors I recall our coming together for a fair and equitable resolution of the case.
It is a myth about having a driver’s license and voter registration. In DC, they can nab you for ANYTHING – utility bill, W-2, etc. Not just license and voter reg. It is used, but other methods are used to get as many people as possible!
Just saw this: carjacking at intersection of 7th and D.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Senators-Daughter-Carjacked-Near-Verizon-Center-78412417.html
Wonderful. We complain about traffic and construction and our neighbors. Now we complain about Jury Duty.
I hope that if I ever needed a fair and impartial jury of my peers to deliberate a verdict for/against me, that it would be done by neighbors who understand that the point is that we are ALL equal in the eyes of the law and the cost for a fair and just society is the non-reluctant and enthusiastic participation in it.
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After serving 6 business days only to have a hung jury, I was so mental tired from have to keep a level head among a bunch of people I didn’t know and would not likely see again. This was my second summons in <3 years.