I just got called for jury duty, in federal court

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  • Libertarian01

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    I got home yesterday to a letter calling me for jury duty in our federal district court.

    They don't give you a lot of time on this. The trial will begin Dec 5th, and I was supposed to answer the questionnaire within five (5) days of receipt. I got that done same day.

    They are at least nice enough to tell you that they guess the trial will last five (5) days, so at least you can plan a little.

    I know a lot of the local stuff is settled before the court date, but does anyone have a good guess about federal court? Am I looking at 50/50, almost 100% go, or almost 100% no go?

    I doubt they'll let me serve, normally due to some previous employment everyone thinks I am biased one way or the other, but it would be interesting to serve.

    Has anyone done jury duty on a federal case before? Anything to expect?

    Regards,

    Doug
     

    T.Lex

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    Wow. Not sure I know anyone who's been on a federal trial jury. Well, that's not quite true. I was 2d chair (or 3rd, depending on how you count) in a federal criminal jury trial in my early days of lawyering. (For the defense, if anyone was curious about that.) ;)

    Does it show the parties on it?

    In the federal system, my gut reaction is that if you're this close to trial, it is more likely to go than not.
     

    Libertarian01

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    Wow. Not sure I know anyone who's been on a federal trial jury. Well, that's not quite true. I was 2d chair (or 3rd, depending on how you count) in a federal criminal jury trial in my early days of lawyering. (For the defense, if anyone was curious about that.) ;)

    Does it show the parties on it?

    In the federal system, my gut reaction is that if you're this close to trial, it is more likely to go than not.


    No names, no cause numbers, nada. All I have is a "participant" ID number, a date and time, and how long it should take. Oh yeah, and $40/day + meals.

    They also give a telephone number to call the night before to determine status. They warn you no money if you don't call to check on the status. It would seem the feds are cheap on some things.

    Doug
     

    T.Lex

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    Interesting. Figured it would be in the questionnaire so as to weed out conflicts from the start.

    Have you been to the Ft. Wayne federal courthouse? If I remember correctly, I had a habeas oral argument up there. I remember it as a very classic style federal court.
     

    HoughMade

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    I don't do a lot of federal trial work. What I do know is this- in order to even get a firm trial date, they make you jump through hoops of mediation/settlement conferences on the civil side and on the criminal side, the plea deals have been offered long ago. Chances ar you will have to show up.

    Here is a link to a thread with another INGO member who served on a federal jury. In his case, one of my former partners was representing the defendant school and I had done a very little on the case years ago.

    https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/break-room/413738-jury-duty-yay.html
     

    Libertarian01

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    I filled out two (2) sections of a questionnaire. The first section was the very basic name, address, where do you work, what do you do, etc.

    The second part was a little more into getting some personal information, I presume for voir dire. What do you like to do in your spare time, how long have you lived in Fort Wayne, have you ever been a witness, or juror, etc.

    The federal courthouse is our olde US Post Office down on Harrison St. I was in it years ago. It is/was a very elegant design. Sometime I want to go there to watch a naturalization ceremony. I think that would be cool.

    Doug
     

    Alamo

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    You printed out all your ingo posts and stapled them to the questionnaire, right?

    So I guess Fed jury calls are for specific trials? When I was called several times for county jury duty (Bexar County Texas, i.e. San Antonio) they called about 300 or so potential jurors at a time in one big mob, brought a judge in to weed out any immediate emergencies, and then started sending individual pools upstairs to however many trials were scheduled for that day. Which were usually numerous. If they ran out of trials by noon, you usually got to go home. $6/day. Nothing for parking fees as I recall. Feds are rich!

    Hope it's interesting if you get picked.
     

    KittySlayer

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    The federal courthouse is our olde US Post Office down on Harrison St. I was in it years ago. It is/was a very elegant design.

    Go to Powers at lunch and eat some sliders. Maybe the smell will let you get discharged.

    I know that in addition to being a GFZ the Allen County Courthouse is also a Cell Phone Free Zone, not sure about Federal. With it being cold outside you may not want to leave your cell phone in your car to freeze. When I served on a county jury I made sure to take a book(*) to read while waiting around for the endless lawyering crap that goes on.

    (*) A real book made with paper and ink.
     

    CPE1704TKS

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    I have been pulled a number of times for Allen county and never had to show up. I was pulled once for Federal also in Fort Wayne and did have to show up. When we were brought into the court room they called each of us by name and told us where to sit. The jury box was filled and the judge stated that this was the jury unless you were excused. We went through several rounds of questions and then both sides started dismissing jurors they did not like. All my answers would not give any reason to excuse me but I was the first one dismissed. I talked to the 2nd juror that was also dismissed at the same time and he felt the same way. We were both pulled by the defense, the only thing we could guess was that we were both dressed in suits and that it might be very hard to convince us that their clients were innocent.
     

    Libertarian01

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    I have been called / put on the list many times over the years for local court, but never federal. Once I even sat in the jury box, for about an hour before being let go.
     

    T.Lex

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    I wrote a Dr. Seuss inspired poem about the experience....this needs to be shared. I'll try to find it.
    Find it, you must.
    Its funny, I trust.

    This is no place to wonder,
    You should look over yonder,
    And over and under,
    Let no distraction let your mind wander!

    Waste no time!
    Find the path to the rhyme!

    Or we'll give you grief
    Until you post the brief!

    That shut down this poor innocent prisoner.
     
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