Did you ever go to court?

[sgt.null]

been a jury foreman twice for class c misdemeanor court. defendant was found guilty both times.

got called for felony court jury duty once, was not used. got ten bucks or something for that.

[aliantha]

I've been tapped for jury duty a couple of times. I think most places now do the "call the night before" thing; one time my group never had to go in; the other time, I had to go for the day, actually got into the courtroom, stared the defense lawyer in the eye, and was sent home. I was kinda disappointed.

I've been to court a couple of times to challenge traffic tickets. I'm pretty sure that both times they were dismissed. I know that one was dismissed because the arresting officer didn't show up.

And, oh yeah, I've been a spectator any number of times while covering a trial as a reporter. Most memorable: the John Walker espionage trial. (I also got to tour Walker's house after the federales had been through it. Baseboard heaters had been ripped out, etc., when they searched the place for evidence. Anyway, whatever money the Russkies were paying him, he and his wife were *not* sinking it into interior decorating....)

[onewyteduck]

Once for a traffic ticket.

Twice for jury duty, the first one being a personal injury case. A nurse and an EMT were polled ahead of me and excused and as expected, as soon as I said I was a nurse, I was excused (by the plantiff's attorney), the other one never even got that far. After spending the morning sitting in the court room with absolutely nothing going on, (thank you, IPOD!) we were all dismissed.

Once to testify in the sentencing hearing of a murder trial of an individual I spent alot of time with when I was working in the county jail. I don't know what the point was but what the heck!

[thefirst]

I went to court once for a divorce, and then once I had to testify on an indecent exposure case. (A guy once pulled along side me when I was walking near the college, he was wearing no pants, and was "engaging in lewd behavior" - asked me for directions with a big smile on his face and then drove off - I got his plate number and called it in) they picked him up in less than an hour, apparently he'd done this already, but none of the witnesses managed to get his plate number or knew what he was driving besides "a big black truck" thankfully, I know the difference between a dodge and a chevy, anyway, he pleaded guilty and I never had to testify - but it was interesting to say the least

[MsMary]

Oh, I forgot to mention our visit to family court for my son's name change. We've called him by the Hebrew version of his English name since birth, but put the English name on the birth certificate. When he was in middle school, he told us he was never going to use the English name and started agitating for an official name change.

Think of the money we could have saved by putting the Hebrew name on his birth certificate!

[aliantha]

Oh yeah, I forgot about going to court for the divorce....

I also changed back to my maiden name, well after the divorce was final. But I didn't actually have to stand in front of the judge to do that -- just had to file papers.

[Cagliostro]

Yeah, the only time I was in court for my own thang was divorce. Short, quick and, well, not exactly sweet, but I think I had one line to utter and it was all over.

I had some near misses with jury duty until a few years ago when I saw a case through to the end. It was some contractor taking a subcontractor to court, or some boring crap like that. Still, it was fascinating experiencing first hand the process, and it seemed like I was serving with sheep who just wanted it over. As I was one of the few who actually spoke up, even though I was not chosen as the foreman, which is fine by me, it kinda went the way I suggested. Both parties were at fault, and we got to pick the dollar amount awarded, so we awarded half the money asked to the prosecutor, which might have been what they were expecting, although they looked a little pissed at the result. The judge was fantastic, the bailiff was kinda sexy, one of the guys on the defense looked like he worked with the mafia, so it was kind of fun to make up my own story. The defense didn't even show up the final day, so they must have realized they would lose.

It's funny because I think the justice system is very very important, and I took my role in it very seriously. Too bad it was such a boring case, but I really wouldn't want anything too exciting either. I would be very uncomfortable being responsible for determining the fate of someone's life, like in 12 Angry Men. But at least I would be someone who would be sure I could live with my decision in the end.

[stonemaybe]

That's between "Have you ever been arrested?" and "Have you rehabilitated yourself?" in that old song, right?

I had to fight a ticket once that I got in an accident that was the other person's fault. The person whose neighbor was the police officer who was at the scene and wrote me up. After thanking that person for the lovely casserole she sent over to the police officer the night before.

That was fun.

Then there was the time I had jury duty in a drunk driving arrest. I could not believe how arrogant the police officer was when he testified. It was like he was god and everyone else was an idiot for questioning his judgement. In fact, much of what he said sounded like blatant lying, merely to shut down the defense lawyer's lines of questioning.

That was pretty fun.

Then I got selected for jury duty at federal court. It was a racketeering charge, U.S. versus the Sopranos. Okay, I'm kidding ... but only a teeny tiny bit. I was scared. So I set out to get rejected during jury selection.

When they asked if anyone would consider an officer's testimony differently from a citizens', I raised my hand, and proceeded to tell them about my first to times in court.

It may be an old song, but it's still a classic!

Never been to court.

[drew]

Other than delivering the odd pice of evidence, or legal mumbo jumbo; i've never stepped foor inside, as a witness, juror, or defendant.

Years ago at work, long before wI started driving, when I was working in the warehouse, I gunn box came down the conveyer belt, with the lock broken off of it...almost everyone had picked to gun up, and looked it over.
A week later, we were told that it was a peice of evidence, going to the forensics lab for testing...we all had to fill out a report as to where we may have touched the fifle, and get our fingerprints checked.

[Phantasm]

Apart from my brush with the law as described in the "have you ever been arrested" thread, I've been a witness a couple of times, once in a fraud case when I worked for a bank - the guy got a fine, and once as a witness in an assault case - guy got a fine.

I'm not allowed to do jury duty as I'm in an exempt job. Can you imagine me being on a jury for someone I've been locking up for years? Comical.

Been cited as a witness dozens of times for assault/drugs cases which happened in the jail, but all of them have pleaded before it got to trial.