[Jejuca]

Interesting that you can be excused due to your age - what do they think happens to your ability to think at age 70?
I've gotten called several times but have always been excused during jury selection due to my husband working in law enforcement. Guess they don't think I have a mind of my own!

[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by Jejuca

Interesting that you can be excused due to your age - what do they think happens to your ability to think at age 70?
I've gotten called several times but have always been excused during jury selection due to my husband working in law enforcement. Guess they don't think I have a mind of my own!

Actually, the fear is that you know too much about the law, having had conversations with your husband about cases he had worked. They put a premium on finding jurors who "know nothing."

Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors. He discusses the farce of jury selection in his book Roughing It, an autobiographical account of his life as a youth in the West . The following excerpt is a little long, but well worth reading. (His reference to Virginia is Virginia City, Nevada.)

I remember one of those sorrowful farces, in Virginia, which we call a jury trial. A noted desperado killed Mr. B., a good citizen, in the most wanton and cold-blooded way. Of course the papers were full of it, and all men capable of reading, read about it. And of course all men not deaf and dumb and idiotic, talked about it. A jury-list was made out, and Mr. B. L., a prominent banker and a valued citizen, was questioned precisely as he would have been questioned in any court in America:

"Have you heard of this homicide?"

"Yes."

"Have you held conversations upon the subject?"

"Yes."

"Have you formed or expressed opinions about it?"

"Yes."

"Have you read the newspaper accounts of it?"

"Yes."

"We do not want you."

A minister, intelligent, esteemed, and greatly respected; a merchant of high character and known probity; a mining superintendent of intelligence and unblemished reputation; a quartz mill owner of excellent standing, were all questioned in the same way, and all set aside. Each said the public talk and the newspaper reports had not so biased his mind but that sworn testimony would overthrow his previously formed opinions and enable him to render a verdict without prejudice and in accordance with the facts. But of course such men could not be trusted with the case. Ignoramuses alone could mete out unsullied justice.

When the peremptory challenges were all exhausted, a jury of twelve men was impaneled--a jury who swore they had neither heard, read, talked about nor expressed an opinion concerning a murder which the very cattle in the corrals, the Indians in the sage-brush and the stones in the streets were cognizant of! It was a jury composed of two desperadoes, two low beer-house politicians, three bar-keepers, two ranchmen who could not read, and three dull, stupid, human donkeys! It actually came out afterward, that one of these latter thought that incest and arson were the same thing.

The verdict rendered by this jury was, Not Guilty. What else could one expect?

The jury system puts a ban upon intelligence and honesty, and a premium upon ignorance, stupidity and perjury.

Block Head

[BobnBev]

I got excused from serving:

I knew the judge

I knew the prosecutor

I knew the defense attorney

I was a police officer

They said I knew too much.........

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by BobnBev

I got excused from serving:

I knew the judge

I knew the prosecutor

I knew the defense attorney

I was a police officer

They said I knew too much.........

They have asked those kind of questions in all the other jury duty pools I have been in since 1993 or so. I was surprised though that they put a San Francisco lawyer on the jury in Sonoma County, at least up to the point that they bumped me. The judge had mentioned that he had seen me in their law library. I had been checking their holdings for practical value for victims/survivors of crimes. Something I have been doing in all the libraries I go into since the end of February 1976 because of the Michelle Mitchell murder in Reno, Nevada on 2-24 in 1976 while I was a student of Mrs. Barbara Mitchell at Earl Wooster High School.

[eremite06]

Never said I was trying to get out of it. I've been summoned twice since I've lived here in the Villages. First time I called and was told not to show up. Second time I had to report but was not picked.

After 34 years in public service I'm not afraid to fulfill my civic duty.

[TheVillageChicken]

I was called for jury duty twice and did not have to serve. It might have something to do with that "I'm watching you" thingie I do to the defendants.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by TheVillageChicken

I was called for jury duty twice and did not have to serve. It might have something to do with that "I'm watching you" thingie I do to the defendants.

Now if I wanted to get out of jury duty....

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by TheVillageChicken

I was called for jury duty twice and did not have to serve. It might have something to do with that "I'm watching you" thingie I do to the defendants.

That Claremont police department Federal Employment Discrimination Claim case I was in the jury panel for but then got bumped by the judge had a retired CIA manager from Inverness on the jury. I was wondering why any Judge would pick a retired CIA official as a jury member as this would seem to be the person who would quickly take over the inner politics of any jury.

It is the "I'M watching you" reputation that the CIA has even if they spy only abroad.

Maybe having a trial involving a police department though had some affect on this choice?

By the way, the jury found against the cop who wanted to write his reports partly in Spanish and felt that he was discrimination against at his workplace because of harassment.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Wonder where the Great Fumar is?

On a more serious note, I received a Jury Duty notice for Sumter County in Friday's mail. I now have picked up these twice from Sumter County, once for Pinellas County in Florida, once from Sonoma County (part of the wine country of Northern California) and a Federal Court in Ocala.

I mentioned my victims' rights work and they excused me for jury duty in Sumter County about 8 years ago via mail. I just filled in a form. I probably will not try to get excused this time as this might be an interesting experience.

I have not actually served on a jury yet. I always have been bumped especially when I go into my explanation about my victims' right to access of information spiel. And, no, I do not describe it in terms of the identifiers I put on it since 1993 of 224 and 613 and this usually makes me come off as quite crazy. A quick refresher-- https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...49-post12.html

I may send the same group of 120 or so documents about some of my experiences with this advocacy I have had since 1990 to the Sumter County Clerk of Court Jury Duty - Courts - Sumter County Clerk of the Courts so neither they or I blindside anyone with questions whose answers we do not want to go into all that much with a bunch of potential jurors listening. I had sent these 120 documents to the Federal Government last month while trying to apply for medical insurance.

This morning, I sent the Clerk of the Sumter County Court a short e-mail about my work since February 1976 fighting for access to practical information accessible in or through libraries for victims/survivors of crimes. I did mention the February 24, 1976 murder of Michelle Mitchell in Reno, Nevada as well as the study on the unemployed at the UCSF Health Campus (San Francisco) back in 1992-1993 when I was subject #613. In addition, I also mentioned that I had tried to do as much of this work as possible in writing as Law School did teach me to leave a paper trail. Also mentioned my four degrees and when and where I earned these.


I do hope that I get to serve on a Jury for once. After four tries, the fifth will be the one.

[Topspinmo]

For those of us that have served on murder trials. IT EFFECTS you! For those that get out of it or show up and don't get picked you know nothing till you actually have to make decision that effects both sides for the rest of their life's and probably yours. I was amazed how the movie 12 angry men was similar to murder trial I served on. Yes, it is duty and Yes it is pain in the @##. If you get picked.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by Rc Moser

For those of us that have served on murder trials. IT EFFECTS you! For those that get out of it or show up and don't get picked you know nothing till you actually have to make decision that effects both sides for the rest of their life's and probably yours. I was amazed how the movie 12 angry men was similar to murder trial I served on. Yes, it is duty and Yes it is pain in the @##. If you get picked.

Thank You for your service. It would be quite a duty to serve on a capital case. http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/#index http://www.nolo.com/dictionary/capital-case-term.html

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

This morning, I sent the Clerk of the Sumter County Court a short e-mail about my work since February 1976 fighting for access to practical information accessible in or through libraries for victims/survivors of crimes. I did mention the February 24, 1976 murder of Michelle Mitchell in Reno, Nevada as well as the study on the unemployed at the UCSF Health Campus (San Francisco) back in 1992-1993 when I was subject #613. In addition, I also mentioned that I had tried to do as much of this work as possible in writing as Law School did teach me to leave a paper trail. Also mentioned my four degrees and when and where I earned these.


I do hope that I get to serve on a Jury for once. After four tries, the fifth will be the one.

I am set maybe for Jury Duty near the end of May 2014 down in Bushnell, Florida.

Hope to get some support from TOTVers about the work I have been doing--pro bono-- with respect to improving access to practical materials for victims/survivors of crimes.

Some may remember I sent 110 or so of the documents I have acquired in this fight to the Marketplace (ObamaCare) a few months ago (2014) so that I could at least argue for getting Medicaid. I had hoped that the federal government would authenticate these documents. NONE of them are connected to Sumter County that I recall as they based on communications I made while in Minnesota, California, Illinois and from Pinellas County, Florida.

What can you do to help with this? What would you want to see if you were a survivor/victim of crime? What kind of information would you need access to via the Internet as well as in your local public/law/medical library? I had tried to force a dialog about the needs of survivors/victims of violent crimes in 1991 and never stopped-- but slowed down quite often about this--based upon my own experiences trying to find practical information following the murder of Michelle Mitchell on my birthday of 2-24 in 1976 near the University of Nevada, Reno campus. I used to drive past the garage where Miss Michelle Mitchell was murdered on 2-24 in 1976 during my studies which earned me two BAs from the University of Nevada, Reno.

If you feel the need to do so, contact the local libraries in your community to see what materials you would need to look at if you were a victim/survivor of violent crime. What kind of information would you like to accessible from a Sheriff's Department website?

I have brought this up off-and-on all throughout my time on TOTV since the Summer of 2007. I have tried not to make a pest of myself about this as I did that on Findlaw's message boards for five years (2001-2006 or so) and as far as I know did not really have much of an impact except for receiving some e-mails from people who may or may not have acted to improve the situation for survivors/victims of violent crimes.

If I get jury duty, I will probably have to explain this hobby to a certain extent and want to make it as easy on myself and my listeners as possible.

[jblum315]

Originally Posted by blueash

There has not been an execution in Cuba since 2003. The last prisoner on death row was commuted in 2010. Lots of issues with the Cuban government but indiscriminate executions is not one of them. However, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan....

By the way, original post is over 4 years old

Oh Yes, and Cuba sent all her criminals to Miami in the 1970s

[DougB]

Originally Posted by jblum315

Oh Yes, and Cuba sent all her criminals to Miami in the 1970s

The Mariel Boatlift that brought many criminals to Miami was in 1980. The Freedom Flights were between 65 and 73.