Would you still be considered for jury duty if you say you’re prone to gossip and wouldn’t be able to keep the case a secret?
Would you still be considered for jury duty if you say you’re prone to gossip and wouldn’t be able to keep the case a secret?
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They won’t kick you of the jury if they need you because youre prone to gossip, they will instead warn you that if you leak case details after being sworn to secrecy it can lead to a mistrial and you will very likely be held in contempt if that happens.
If that is a question and you answer that way, they will likely excuse you.
If you told them that, then you would likely be dismissed.
Absolutely. They’d just move you from juror to exhibit A of a juror misconduct case.
You would be dismissed. lol.
I’m a lawyer. I’ve had dozens of jury trials. I’ve had plenty of people think they’re smart and try to get out of jury duty with stuff like that.
Where I practice, when you get called for jury duty, they call you for the week. So you’re going to show up on Monday, and wait in a big room to see if you get randomly selected for one of the trials happening that week. Even if you aren’t seated on a jury, you still wait in the big room as long as there’s the possibility that they’ll need more jurors. You might wait until Wednesday or Thursday, if there’s a judge who has a trial that is starting late.
So we’ll say Monday morning, they select you to go to one of the judge’s courtrooms to be a potential juror. And you get placed in the jury box, and the attorneys start questioning the group. And you pipe up, saying what you think are the magic words. Now, neither the attorneys nor the judge want you on this case. They have worked hard preparing for the trial, and they think you’re an idiot.
But they also don’t want to reward you. So the judge will say “it’s very important that you can not talk about this until the trial is over. Can you do that?” And you say “No, I can’t. I just blurt things out without even realizing it.” And then the judge excuses you from the jury panel.
And he sends you back to the big room to wait. And if he’s irritated enough, he sends a note to the Court Administrator, saying that he might be able to try a second case that week. Better hold on to those jurors who weren’t called. You never know if you’re going to need them.
I’ve had trials that were over in a day or two, and jurors who thought they were tricky were waiting until Thursday, with nothing to do but sit in the big room. Just because you’re not on a jury, that doesn’t mean you get to go home.
USA?
Nobody is going to ask you that until you are already sitting inside a courtroom, missing your first (or second, third) day of work/school or paying for child care.
The initial screening, if any – just asks if you live in the district, speak/understand English, and have any disability or acceptable excuse for not showing up at all.
They then bring in a lot more people than they need to sit in a pool of potential jurors. In some states, if you get through 1 day without being selected for a jury – that’s it. In others (or Federal) it may be 2, 3 or a week before they excuse you.
Only when you are actually sitting in a room going through closeup jury screening (“voir dire”) will you be asked questions about bias or maybe your propensity to gossip. If the case is expected to be short – just 1 or 2 days of testimony & evidence in front of the jury, then they won’t care about your gossipy nature. The judge will give you an order – and warn you of the penalties for violating that.
Jury Duty is one of my favorite things to do. I’ve done two Trial ones, and then I did the month long Grand Jury as well where you hear 7-12 cases a day just to vote on if they have enough to go to trial. Great enjoyment every time. I don’t know why so many people hate it
You’ll do the duty anyway, and then be jailed for contempt of court if you gossip.
The only time I ever got called for jury duty, the last question on the questionnaire asked if I was a proponent of any views that would make me liable to not act impartially or in accordance with the law. I wrote that I was an anarchist and didn’t believe courts should be administered by states, which was true at the time.
I don’t know what factors were considered in whether or not I should be a juror or if anybody even looked at my answer, but I didn’t lie and wasn’t asked to be in attendance beyond the first day.
Tell them you have ADHD and make snap judgments based on feelings all the time.
No
I’ve been placed on two juries. They never ask you to list your shortcomings. You won’t have the chance to say “I can’t keep secrets”. The questions they ask are more pointed, and related to the case. Like “have you been burglarized?” or “does anybody in your family have a drug problem?”
I mean maybe if the case was somebody on trial for gossiping, and they asked potential jurors what they think about gossip, you’d get excused.
If you don’t want to be a juror, just talk about the importance of jury nullification.
Yep. But you could be held in contempt if you talk.
No. I served jury duty and courthouses have clear rules on this. Judges also remind all jurors as well during selection process. If you do this while on a jury you can be kicked off.
Sure you can, you’ll just look like an idiot to everyone ln the courtroom
Now the judge doesn’t like you