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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 10/19/2006 : 06:51:57 [Permalink]
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I have only pulled one stint of jury duty in my life, and got selected. It was a rape case, and we let the guy off. The "reasonable doubt" was all but a certainty -- it looked all too much like a grudge charge -- and the whole thing, from, "All rise!" to the final gavel whack, took only 2 days.
I throughly dislike having that sort of responsibility. Fortunately, should I get called again, I can legitimately beg off due to health. But would I? After all, it is a citizen's duty...... I don't know if I would or not.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 10/19/2006 06:53:20 |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 07:02:25 [Permalink]
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I was called and selected once. It was a theft case. The accused stole from a job site of a contracter that he felt had done him wrong on a house they had built for him. The accused was also slightly mentally retarded. I was the foreman of the jury.
Though we had sympathy for the accused, because the contractor did in fact take advantage of him, he still committed the crime. We were given options of first, second, and third degree theft. We asked what the penalites were, but were not told. We did not want to give this man jail time. So we chose second degree theft. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 07:24:04 [Permalink]
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Want to avoid jury duty? Become as famous as James Randi:I had a much-better-informed judge, on one of my jury-duty calls here in Broward County, Florida. Spotting me in the assembled pool awaiting the voir-dire process, he called the attention of both lawyers to my presence, and then reminded them that I was not the sort of person likely to make anything but a decision based on the presented facts. He asked them whether it was correct that they preferred jurors who could be swayed by rhetoric; both lawyers mumbled, hummed and hawed for a moment, and were – I felt – somewhat relieved when the magistrate announced that I was dismissed from jury duty on this occasion. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 08:24:06 [Permalink]
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quote:
Original_Intent:
Done. I have actually been meaning too... Next time I am sending a check though...... I hate Paypal.....
I saw that this morning. Thanks Joe! It means a lot to me.
Hmmmm… Looks like guilt may be an affective tool. 
On a side note, a guy I met in the jury pool, whose blog I will probably choose for my evil pick this week, donated too. I actually met a fellow skeptic waiting to be called. Our conversation really made the day go much faster. In all of my time being an active skeptic that has never happened before. We are out there folks, even if we don't always recognize each other.
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Paulos23
Skeptic Friend
USA
446 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 10:06:42 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
Just answer a question with "I believe men are guilty before proven innocent." That should get you out of there in no time.
Or you could just tell them you are a psychic and already know (s)he's guilty.
My granmother pulled something like that at the last jurry duty she pulled. It was a robbery case and she said straight out "He wouldn't be here if he hadn't done something.". Both lawers tried to explain the whole innocent before guilty concept to her, but she was having none of it.
The policemen that escorted her out gave her the tumbs up. |
You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting. -- Robert A. Heinlein
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 11:12:01 [Permalink]
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| I've been called up once and was the first to be dismissed as soon as I said I was a nurse. The defense didn't want a nurse on a domestic abuse case. Gee, I couldn't imagine why not? |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 11:12:22 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
Want to avoid jury duty? Become as famous as James Randi:I had a much-better-informed judge, on one of my jury-duty calls here in Broward County, Florida. Spotting me in the assembled pool awaiting the voir-dire process, he called the attention of both lawyers to my presence, and then reminded them that I was not the sort of person likely to make anything but a decision based on the presented facts. He asked them whether it was correct that they preferred jurors who could be swayed by rhetoric; both lawyers mumbled, hummed and hawed for a moment, and were – I felt – somewhat relieved when the magistrate announced that I was dismissed from jury duty on this occasion.
Holy shit!
If I ever put my personal distrust of the US government aside, a decide to visit USA, please remind my to keep myself squeeky clean and out of mischief. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 11:50:01 [Permalink]
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Dont worry, you dont have to be a mischief maker anymore, as of today everybody including law abiding Americans are now subject to being labeled an enemy combatant and disappeared forever!
quote:
On a side note, a guy I met in the jury pool, whose blog I will probably choose for my evil pick this week, donated too. I actually met a fellow skeptic waiting to be called. Our conversation really made the day go much faster. In all of my time being an active skeptic that has never happened before. We are out there folks, even if we don't always recognize each other.
The thiests have come up with a solution to this problem, armbands with the atomic nucleus icon for us! |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Original_Intent
SFN Regular
USA
609 Posts |
Posted - 10/19/2006 : 14:14:18 [Permalink]
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Want out quick.... Talk about jury nullification....
Peace
Joe |
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Topic Locked
