they trying to put me on grand jury duty

I have never been on a grand jury but served on civil and criminal juries in several jurisdictions. The conditions vary greatly by location. Some are one day or one trial and then you get to go home, One I served for two or three weeks calling in 4 days/week and was called in three times being dismissed once and served on two trials. I can sum up most of the experiences waiting in the jury pool area as sort of like being a steer in a feed lot. There is a lot of noise, and apparently confused, milling around and once and while a few individuals are rounded up never to be seen again.

In the courtroom, too much to write here, but, it was interesting sometimes. One civil case was very complicated, but a one day trial and decision. There was some discussion around the testimony in the jury room before we concluded that the plaintiff deserved nothing. The other civil case was a slam dunk and the plaintiff got nothing. We just did not believe her. In the former case, we shared momocrom's experience with a long-winded lawyer. The judge, remarkably, in open court, eventually told him that he really ought to think about wrapping things up!

In one of those civil cases, the judge had a custom of bantering with the jury while the banks of lawyers were talking rather than attending do his judgely duties (administrative reviews, arranging his schedule, etc.). He talked about the fact that family court is a special court that has only custody divorce and the like. That led him to tell us that his wife was on her second marriage while it is his first. That prompted him to tell us that his wife used to introduce him as her second husband which he did not like. He said that what finally got her to stop was to start introducing her as his "first wife" ;-)

I was called for a federal jury once. We waited all day and a settlement was made. it was very stormy the night before and all day. Some of the lawyers were coming from out of town and were delayed which kind of pissed me off because I figured that they should have flown into town early given the forecast. In contrast to my other jury experiences, it was a comparatively quiet and comfortable room. It was clear from the start that we were there for a specific trial although we did not know what it was. The settlement had to be carried from the fed courthouse to another city, to the state capital, for review and signature before everyone was signed off on it. Briefly, before we were dismissed, the judge came in and talked with us. He outlined, in a couple of sentences, what kind of case it was. He thanked us and pointed out that our being there made for the settlement. I also remember that for some of the time, Judge Judy was on the television.

Raggie, I think that you may not be a good candidate for jury duty, but I can't know for sure. Most jury duty is sitting and listening attentively and analysis. Discussions are more like a committee meeting than giving a speech in front of a group. I am glad to see that you got through it without additional stress. For anyone that many not feel that they are going to be able to be good jurors for what ever reason, a good, honest talk with the official in charge of the jury pool is your best approach. They don't want to send someone into a trial only to have them have to leave the jury during the process so they need to listen to you.
 
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