You have to report. Most people get turned down.

I remember when I was called- I'm not sure which side was in a bigger hurry to get rid of me. *scowls*

I can't remember what kind of dog it was, but I do know it wasn't a pit bull. That I would've remembered. The bike rider wasn;t hurt badly, nor was the dog. BUT, when the home owner came out, there was a fist fight and he got the worst of it. Anyway, it boiled down to two things: reality and credibility. Reality because the dog should've been confined to the property and credibility because the homeowner had none.

I'll bet you said you believed in the death penalty thats what I do.

The Judge will always ask if anyone simply cannot serve. Then you get a chance to plead your case to the judge. SOmetimes what we think is a good reason for not serving they think is BS, and politely decline to dismiss you.

Everybody (me included) always thinks of going in there and, when asked, coming up with some smart remark about how everybody's guilty and whatever happened to a good old hanging and so on, hoping that neither side will want you. You get there though and find yourself among peers and people from all corners, and you realize some of them would make good friends, etc etc. You know, it becomes a social situation, so all those thoughts of smart-ash remarks go out the window. It could be done though....but you'd have to be good at it.

Actually, I do believe that a properly utilized death penalty is a good thing, but we have to have a justice/legal system that actually works, first. As the situation stands, the jury pool in nearly every case isn't just contaminated, it is toxic and Superfund ready due to preexisting cultural issues.

What got me was I was asked to describe my educational background. My first major was criminal justice, minoring in history and psych, but I dropped it after I discovered I didn't have the right personality. So I switched to computer engineering. For some reason, they didn't think they wanted me on a trial that was apparently based in part of computer evidence....

Then you get Piper's jury of twelve men, good and true. "Who couldn't pour sand out of a boot if the directions were on the heal."

Citizens have rights. For every right, there is a responsibility. If you wiggle out of those responsibilities, before too long, you don't have rights but privileges. I'd rather not have the privilage of a jury made up of people who can't understand what I'm saying- I have a right to a jury of my peers, my social and mental equals, free from preconceptions about my case and with the ability to understand the evidence and reasoning placed before them.

I don't want 12 high school drop outs with room temp IQs in the box. I don't want people whining about how much money they are losing, and just want to get it over with. I don't want some holier-than-though born again pinhead who decides I'm guilty when I look the judge in the eye and tell him that while I won't swear on a religion I don't believe in, I will swear on my honor and on a Constitution that I do believe in. I don't want McJustice, I want the real thing. I want people who while they'd rather be someplace else, are at least going to pay attention and actually examine the situation rationally and logically before coming to a conclusion.

And thus endyth the Civics lesson.

Sorry no can do. But I am trying to request a deferment of service. In other words, postpone my jury duty to another day.

LED, As for compensation, I get $30/day plus travel expenses (gas money). Since I catch the city bus I already have my own bus pass.

I've done jury duty 3 times, and it was always a great experience. My work didnt compensate me the first 2 times, but the place I worked at the 3rd time did.

In all 3 cases, we brought back not-guilty verdicts. We were amazed at the prosecution's lack of competence, especially in the last case I was on, which was a federal trial.

This post isn’t a response to you at all.

I just felt that part deserved to be quoted just so it could appear more than once in this thread. (Yes, it is that good!)