Jury duty

In Mass it's one day or one trial every three years for district court duty. Grand Jury I believe you are on call for three weeks and have to report as needed.

For district court I get a notice like clock works every three years, never have been called for grand jury. They let you change the date once and the location only if it's a hardship to get to the assigned location. I learned over 20 years ago if you change the date to a Friday the chances are when you call the day before you are told you don't have to report and if you do have to report you are dismissed by 10 am, no one wants to start a new trial on Friday. If you report at least they feed you.

I have only been selected once for a jury and it was a drunk driving case. We found the woman guilty and she was given the choice of 18 months in state prison or 9 months in a state rehab center. Though that was kind of harsh until afterwards the judge told us that it was her third offense and and she had two more pending since this incident.

The selection process is all 30 people in the panel are brought into the court room. The judge asks a few questions regarding whether you know the people involved and if you are capable of being impartial. Several folks will get dismissed as a result of this. They then draw straws for the panel. Then the DA and Defense can just up and dismiss a qty of people for no reason. Each time some one is dismissed some one new is drawn to replace that person. Then there is more questions and more dismissals until they have the qty they need. Everyone else is sent home.

My wife was selected for a violent rape case of a 13 year old that lasted three days. It was very graphic and it borthered her for months. They sent the guy away for another 20 years. He had been found guilty on another charge and was already in jail at the time of this trial.