When in the course of human events a jury summons appears in the mailbox, then if you are a lawyer and you value your license--you will show up in the jury room as required.Thus it was that El Jefe departed early this morning for the courthouse in Richmond, Texas dressed in his best Big-Time-Downtown-Houston-attorney suit and carrying his beloved tatty briefcase full of paperwork that he planned to work on while waiting for the wheels of justice to turn...ever so slowly...hopefully in the direction of dismissing him from the panel.
A lot of people think that attorneys are automatically excused from jury duty by virtue of their profession. Not so. El Jefe has served on two juries in the past--both of them petty criminal cases. It mystified me that the defense attorney didn't use a pre-emptory strike to take him off the panel, because he was OF COURSE the foreman of both juries.
Then when the defendant's attorney in both cases opted to have the jury, rather than the judge, determine the sentence (the accused having been found "guilty as charged" in both cases), it should have been ruled malpractice per se. The book was thrown at both defendants. El Jefe is a law-and-order kind of guy and they were very, very guilty perps with many prior convictions.
Once the girls grew up and I could no longer get the "mommy who needs child care to serve" excuse, I have been called a few times. Sometimes I go down dressed in my most scary Republican Women's Club-type suit and 3 inch heels--that makes me 6'5". I let them know very quickly that I am a "retired" attorney, a church professional, and a former assistant DA. Once a prosecutor tried to trifle with me, but I would have none of it. You won't be surprised to know I seem to be anathema to both sides. Which is too bad, really, because it might be fun to serve on the right case--but of course, you don't get to pick your cases.
El Jefe is now back from his day at the courthouse and the wheels of justice will spin onward without him. The perps of Fort Bend County (and one perp in particular) can rest easy--he was dismissed. But he had the same experience of being trifled with by the prosecutor. They must teach this now in District Attorney School: "If you have a lawyer on the panel, read back the instructions the judge just gave and make him/her agree that that each one is correct so you look like a legal genius and they look like your flunkey." Bah.
~grinding of teeth~
6 comments:
In Oklahoma the statute on juror qualifications exempts automatically three classes of people:
1. Drunks;
2. Incompetents; and
3. Lawyers.
I'd complain about the company if there weren't so much overlap.
Elaine
Norman, OK
No one wants me on a jury, either. I get called then when they find out that I've officiated at the weddings, funerals and know the attorneys as pals, I'm let go. I don't think they want women clergy on juries.
I have some funny stories about being called for jury duty but they make LH anxious, so I'll save them until we meet face to face.
I am on jury duty this week. They have an interesting system here: you get assigned to a subgroup of the jury pool, then you call a recording the night before to find out if your subgroup wll be needed the next day, then you go show up. As a result, I wasn't needed on Monday, and when we showed up Tuesday, there were only two cases being heard, one settled, and the other was continued because of a conflict on the part of one of the attorneys. I got excused for today (dr's appointment plus the carpet men are here at the house). I'll call tonight and see if I'm needed tomorrow. I've got a political fundraiser breakfast in the early morning, but jury duty doesn't start until 9:50 a.m., so I'm OK.
I served five years ago on a murder trial. Two difficult weeks. An Eritrean immigrant who had never reconciled to the fact of his divorce, convinced his ex was using black magic to make him miserable, went out and got a gun, found her driving down the road, chased her into a cul de sac, and fired at her until the gun was empty. He called 911 to admit the crime (after driving home). Never mentioned the black magic or his PTSD from the Ethiopian/Eritrean civil war...that was what his attorney presented. It tore the fabric of the Eritrean immigrant community in a sad and painful way. We voted guilty of 1st deg murder - he didn't meet the standard of insanity in this state - but the whole thing was very troubling. I'm willing to do my civic duty, but if after I get ordained they don't want me to serve any more, I don't think I'll miss it.
6'5" in heels, eh? Remind me to never p!ss you off - or if I get in trouble, try to get you to defend me!
BTW, do any of the RevGals who are in denominations where one wears a collar actually wear them to go to jury duty? Inquiring minds want to know!
I can't get a jury summons to save my life!!! I've had one summons in all my years of existence and that case was plead out before we even made it to the court house. And I don't fall in any of the three categorys that Oklahoma won't take...?
GA has a one day or one trial rule. So I've shown up four times with my totebag of goodies (books & magazines, ipod, snacks, stationery) and settled in for the day. They let you have a whole hour for lunch and since I was "double-dipping" that day...I figured I could have a very nice lunch for their $15. No one has called me but I do appreciate the day!
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