Jury Duty is here....
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If I may, I'd like to say two things about jury duty.
The first is that they call twice as many people as they need because, generally speaking, only one-half of those called actually show up. In Los Angeles County a few years back it got so bad because people weren't showing up that one of the judges started fining those that didn't show around $1,200. It hit the news, which of course becomes a deterrent and people start showing not realizing they can be fined for not showing up. Most counties don't enforce that fine, but when it starts costing taxpayers money because they have to continue trials, then the counties need to start thinking of fines.
The second thing is when you get jury duty you should bring something to read. It does require a lot of sitting around all day. BUT don't think it's for no reason. Generally speaking, a lot of defendants hear from their jailhouse lawyers, i.e. other defendants, that "they'll let you go because they can't get enough jurors." Well, when it comes to their day of trial and their attorney tells them there's 80 or so jurors out there waiting to try their case, then reality sets in and they begin to think about plea bargaining, which in the end saves court time and money and victims the hardship of having to testify.
Just my opinions.
The first is that they call twice as many people as they need because, generally speaking, only one-half of those called actually show up. In Los Angeles County a few years back it got so bad because people weren't showing up that one of the judges started fining those that didn't show around $1,200. It hit the news, which of course becomes a deterrent and people start showing not realizing they can be fined for not showing up. Most counties don't enforce that fine, but when it starts costing taxpayers money because they have to continue trials, then the counties need to start thinking of fines.
The second thing is when you get jury duty you should bring something to read. It does require a lot of sitting around all day. BUT don't think it's for no reason. Generally speaking, a lot of defendants hear from their jailhouse lawyers, i.e. other defendants, that "they'll let you go because they can't get enough jurors." Well, when it comes to their day of trial and their attorney tells them there's 80 or so jurors out there waiting to try their case, then reality sets in and they begin to think about plea bargaining, which in the end saves court time and money and victims the hardship of having to testify.
Just my opinions.
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