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Jury Duty

Started by garbon, June 16, 2009, 06:40:07 PM

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Total Members Voted: 5

The Minsky Moment

Quote from: Malthus on September 15, 2009, 08:32:06 AM
Quote from: Caliga on September 15, 2009, 08:26:14 AM
Why shouldn't a lawyer serve on a jury?  That whole pesky "knowledge of the law" thing?  :huh:

I think the fear is that other members of the jury would be unduly influenced by the professional.

The rule no longer exists in the US (or at least in the federal juries).

the thinking is that lawyers are so poorly regarded now that they aren't at risk of influencing anyone.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

DGuller

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on September 15, 2009, 08:52:38 AM
The rule no longer exists in the US (or at least in the federal juries).

the thinking is that lawyers are so poorly regarded now that they aren't at risk of influencing anyone.
Isn't there a danger of a lawyer being too knowledgeable for his own good?  If I were on a jury in a suit involving car crash in New York, the possibility of fraud and crooked chiropractors would weigh strongly on my mind, and I would likely mention that in the deliberations.  I don't think it should be on my mind, unless one side make an argument to that effect in court, but how can I help myself given what I know from my field?  I imagine lawyers would be in a similar kind of position.  Then again, maybe that's exactly what voir dire is for.

KRonn

Quote from: Malthus on September 15, 2009, 08:32:06 AM
Quote from: Caliga on September 15, 2009, 08:26:14 AM
Why shouldn't a lawyer serve on a jury?  That whole pesky "knowledge of the law" thing?  :huh:

I think the fear is that other members of the jury would be unduly influenced by the professional.
Maybe it's also that a lawyer knows the law, the ins and outs, the technicalitys so may be influenced, or know the legal gambits, of what he/she knows goes on with a court's proceedings?

Caliga

Perhaps there is a fear of possible jury nullification if a laywer were present. :mellow:
0 Ed Anger Disapproval Points

garbon

Oh, I get to go back at the end of november. Apparently you only get excused on financial hardship if you have no paid days left. :mellow:
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

PDH

My six months of being in the jury pool ended on the 14th.  Once again the City of Laramie failed me and I did not get to condemn anyone to death.
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco

-------
"I'm pretty sure my level of depression has nothing to do with how much of a fucking asshole you are."

-CdM

merithyn

Quote from: Maximus on September 15, 2009, 08:03:37 AM
I think that is incorrect as far as religion goes. The church I was raised in forbids jury duty and I would have heard if it couldn't be excused in California or anywhere else in North America

The church you were raised in forbids voting, thereby alleviating any chance of someone from the church being asked to be on a jury.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away...

Admiral Yi

Lawyers are excused from juries because JDs wrote the rules on jury selection.

ulmont

Quote from: merithyn on September 15, 2009, 06:21:31 PM
Quote from: Maximus on September 15, 2009, 08:03:37 AM
I think that is incorrect as far as religion goes. The church I was raised in forbids jury duty and I would have heard if it couldn't be excused in California or anywhere else in North America

The church you were raised in forbids voting, thereby alleviating any chance of someone from the church being asked to be on a jury.

Untrue.  The jury rolls also pull driver's licenses and the like, at least in Georgia; registering to vote does not improve your jury chances.

merithyn

Quote from: ulmont on September 15, 2009, 06:26:06 PM

Untrue.  The jury rolls also pull driver's licenses and the like, at least in Georgia; registering to vote does not improve your jury chances.

That seems odd since you have to be an American citizen to serve on a jury and lots of immigrants have drivers' licenses. My understanding was that's why they use voter registration to pick from for jury duty.  :unsure:
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away...

Neil

Quote from: Martinus on September 15, 2009, 08:44:23 AM
I for one am glad for living in an oppressive totalitarian state where we have no juries, and court rulings are handed down from on high by unelected wisemen.  :cool:
They are insufficiently Anglo-Saxon to be gods.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

Ed Anger

I am glad Martinus lives far, far away too.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

garbon

Quote from: merithyn on September 15, 2009, 06:30:39 PM
That seems odd since you have to be an American citizen to serve on a jury and lots of immigrants have drivers' licenses. My understanding was that's why they use voter registration to pick from for jury duty.  :unsure:

Massachusetts pulls licenses.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Maximus

Quote from: merithyn on September 15, 2009, 06:21:31 PM
The church you were raised in forbids voting, thereby alleviating any chance of someone from the church being asked to be on a jury.
That may solve their problem in the US, but I know of people who have been called up in Canada. They required evidence that this was really their religion and not something made up to get out of jury duty: character witnesses, religious literature, quizzing on their beliefs, etc.

ulmont

Quote from: merithyn on September 15, 2009, 06:30:39 PM
Quote from: ulmont on September 15, 2009, 06:26:06 PM

Untrue.  The jury rolls also pull driver's licenses and the like, at least in Georgia; registering to vote does not improve your jury chances.

That seems odd since you have to be an American citizen to serve on a jury and lots of immigrants have drivers' licenses.

Non-citizens can get called, but can exempt out for the obvious reason.