They are all adeptly trained to use, abuse or hide behind the law, which ever suits their need/case.

They do seem to make the law as complicated as possible. Keeps them employed and their clients confused.

Should I ever commit a crime, that's the lawyer I will be looking for!! :icon_wink:

A reminder, the topic is about being summoned for jury duty in Ocala and what to expect.

Feel free to start another thread about the legal profession.

Moderator

I would state Lawyers run the country You really expect me to believe either side

You all watch way too many FICTIONAL crime shows on TV.

I also got the letter two days ago. I'm over 70 so could get excused but I think it would be interesting.

I have received six jury summons since 1994 or so. One for Sonoma County, CA; one for Pinellas County, Fl; three for Sumter County, FL; and one for the Federal Court in Ocala.

Had wanted to go to some of these but am now busy caring for quite senior parents so cannot take big chunks of the day away from them.

I often get challenged as soon as they hear I have a law degree ( U of MN, Class of 1989) as well as my hobby of advocating for better materials in libraries and online for survivors/victims of crimes. I do this by creating an on-going dialog between many different groups in communities like social workers, religious leaders, lawyers, teachers, librarians, students, media leaders, celebrities, victim/witness assistance providers, etc. This is basically just applying some collection development techniques and putting them on overdrive. I learned some of this from the U of Denver Graduate School of Librarianship and Information Management. (Class of May 1984). I call this the 224 613 Project.

I have also had to try to explain that and how this developed when interacting with some of the Court Administrators involved. The Sonoma County CA judge I had for the jury service has seen me around their courthouse when I was evaluating their law librarian in terms of what I saw were the needs of survivors/victims of crimes. The prosecutor challenged me that time in 1994. Not sure why. It was just a drug dealing prosecution.

I had checked the law library in Clearwater too. Pinellas County. It had very little that would have been useful to survivors/victims of crimes.

I have not even been able to find a law library for Sumter County.


Did not see any law library up in the Federal Courthouse in Ocala, neither. There is a great deal online now though for survivors/victims of crimes as well as via other sources like Apps and the like.

The judge asked a retired CIA manager from west of the Villages if he wanted to be Jury Foreman. He said yes. Made me nervous about talking about much of anything when the Judge asked this man about his background and the like.

The jury was eight people if I remember correctly.

Once I was dismissed from the Jury Pool I went to Paddock Mall and had lunch and then went to see Avatar in 3D at the Hollywood 16 theater.

I have had a real fixation on movies and their details since viewing Outbreak with my mother in Petaluma, CA in 1995. This had been filmed in that area of Northern CA. Outbreak (1995) - Rotten Tomatoes

Jury duty is a civic duty. You should not try to get out of it. Wouldn't you want someone like you to be on the jury if you were accused of a crime?

I too believe serving can be an interesting experience while contributing to the needs of our society.

However, I chose to opt out (over 80) because I dislike being in significant, do nothing wait/down time and then wait some more endeavors.
I also do not "herd" very well.

A problem with performing a civic duty?

No. Just being honest. I would not be a good juror because I could not give equal weight to the defense and prosecution cases. Based on my experience and knowledge about how trials are conducted, I would have an extreme bias against the defense attorney's case.

If I was truly innocent would I not want you on the jury with your experience ?

Yes, you probably would, but you would need to testify in your own defense and be believable. But, your attorney would probably advise you not to testify. I have never understood why an innocent person would not testify. To me, it is almost an admission of guilt.