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Anderson Koopa posted:Interesting, I figured the burden of proof was probably lower. I suspect they do the whole Grand / Petit Juries for a couple of reasons. I did the grand jury thing a few years back. I got to be foreman, because nobody else wanted it. So I was the one who swore in all the witnesses, and all of the indictments have my signature on them, and may be worth money someday. We did not get any kind of refreshments, so I used my own money to buy a coffee maker and coffee to keep in our break room, and we did potluck treats. We actually did meet in an actual courtroom, but we got to sit in the comfy chairs around a table instead of in the jury box. Most of our cases were pretty boring, just one after another "pulled over for speeding and found meth syringes in the car." We did have a handful of murders and some really unpleasant assault cases. In order to keep everyone paying attention during the boring cases, I made bingo cards with "meth syringe" being the free space in the middle. If you got a bingo, I handed out dollar store prizes like fans or mugs or fancy pens. In 18 months we had maybe 5 or 6 "no true bill" cases that we utterly rejected. Almost everything did get sent through because the bar was "probable cause" that a crime occurred, not "beyond reasonable doubt." We were specifically instructed not to argue based on the strength of the case, because that is what the actual trial is for. A lot of cases were obviously pretty weak and I am sure they got pleaded down or lost in court. But it was really common that we would strike out one or two charges on an indictment, because the testimony was insufficient. And because I am a pedantic goon, I actually read every indictment carefully and would send them back to be re-done if they had typos. I am sure the clerks loved me.
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Mar 26, 2024 12:19
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Konar posted:Judge will often ask poo poo like "Does anyone on the jury feel like they are unable to be impartial?" as like an almost threatening question but that's actually your opportunity to raise your hand and say "Actaully yeah I would never find another person guilty in court" and that's a pretty good way to not get selected I think Depends. When I was chosen for grand jury, the judge literally said he would not remove anyone who said that, so don't even try. The only people he excused were a woman whose husband was undergoing cancer treatment, and she needed to drive him to the hospital three times a week, and a man who was moving out of the county within six months. Otherwise, if you answered "yes" to "do you live in X county" and "no" to "do you have a life-or-death reason not to be here on Wednesdays" you were in.
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Mar 26, 2024 17:32
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