So this morning I was out and about then I thought I saw somone I recognized from jury duty yesterday.So I asked was that you and she said yes.So I said I was #77 and she said she was # 20.I said did they ask you questions? She said yes.She was the one that answered she was a retired police officer.Never know it by the way.She looks like a sweet little old lady.I asked if she was chosen and she said no.I did not get into the profiling discussion because it was not the time and place.But in my opinion she was profiled and chosen to be #20 because of her past. So if you think you are getting a random pool of juriors should you ever go to trial forget it.

From what I understand, both sides lawyers play that game, and they can challenge x amount of the picks from the other side, I'll bet though that some lawyers are better at reading people than others.

The pool is already limited because it is made up of registered voters from your area. The Defense attorneys and prosecutors on a criminal case and opposing lawyers on a civil case, get to select jurors they think they can sway to vote their way.

Usually there is a limited number of rejections a lawyer can make for any reason. After that the lawyers have to come to an agreement on jurors.

Keith

I've had to go to jury duty 3 times. Twice I was released because I knew the judge, baliffs, prosecutors and police officers involved pretty well. The supervising officers in one of the cases was a cousin, who I lived with for a while, while i was in the academy. When I moved to this county, I was surprisingly selected as an alternate juror, even though the chief evidence technician for the county used to work for me and was a friend of mine. The case settled when we were on lunch break. I think the defense attorney knew the case was going to settle and didn't feel the need to have me removed.

Keith

We are talking the initial sign in where you sign in reporting for duty.Jurors were already preselected before the juror ever signed in and were given a number to be intereviewed.Then after jurors were interviewed there were names passed back and forth between the attorneys until they agreed upon the jury to be seated.

No wonder the clerks refused to answer my questions.No one except me picked up on this.It was wrong and never should have happened.Jurors should have been picked randomly possibly by drawing numbers for example.Very unfair.

They have company's that all they do is investigate jurors and recommend which ones will likely go the way they want.
Each state will have it's own laws and requirements for jury duty.

^^^This^^^

I did jury duty once; in a civil suit. I was Juror #9 out of 80 or so. Jurors 1 through 12 and 2 alternates went right to the juror box and the rest of the jurors were sent home to be recalled for later court cases. We did not go through the voir dire (preliminary examination), just took the chairs and the trial started. So yes, we were pre-selected.

Slick Pan, I think you're making too much about the profiling thing. I'm on jury duty this month (3rd time in less than 20 years) and reported on Monday. They called 3 jury panels (each panel has about 25 people). I walked in and I got #23 but more than that were already in the waiting room so yeah, maybe they have your numbers drawn (if you show up, out of 75 people, we had at least a dozen no shows). I figured with #23 I would be in the in "cut from first" group of people so maybe there's a bit profiling to that point.

However, after that its sort of what a person says. If you don't speak up and just nod your head, you might get picked. If you say your mind and have some opinions OR show you can think on your feet and won't give either lawyer a free pass, then they probably won't want you.

So, they lined up 1 through 33 on the left side of the court room but there were holes in those numbers so about 6 or so "reserves" from the right side were selected to get the number up to 33. I found out that 33 is the magical number for this circuit (criminal) court because 13 will be selected (12 jurors and 1 alternate) so in the end, each lawyer gets to kick out 10 each from the 33.

During the hour plus of questioning to us "33', only 1 person was dismissed for cause and then another reserve from the right side was used to fill that hole. I spoke up 3 or 4 times, and I don't think the State guy liked my questioning of why all the effort (75 potential jurors called) for a meth possession charge, why isn't there more effort in arresting the big dealers and suppliers. And yes, I believe the possession of meth shouldn't be legal in South Dakota but to me it was an "easy" case for the LEOs, state trooper stops a car with some people in it, and surprise, someone has meth. Nice easy score for the trooper and the State to prosecute.

Anyway, after a morning pee break, we came back into the court room and for the next 15 minutes the two lawyers kept passing a couple of sheets back and forth (handed back and forth to them by the clerk of courts). I suppose they were crossing off people they didn't want. I think in the end only 2 out of the 13 selected had said anything during the questioning, the others were just head nodders. I would have been surprised that I would have been selected. And I wasn't.

I got called for jury duty 3 years ago. In the first case I didn't make the box, a few weeks later I get another letter to report on a different case. I made the box and was quickly booted when asked if I had any dealings with anyone involved. Yup the prosecuting attorney's firm which I had been to several times over the previous couple of months dealing with my aunts passing as I was the Personal Rep. I got dismissed. Worked out perfectly for me.

So the attorneys get together before any jury date and they choose the people they want to interview.They assign them a number.The people they interviewed definitly fit the profile of someone that could work on a jury for this trial.There was no question they were profiled for the jury. At number 77 there was no way I was gonna be picked.I did not care if I was picked and would have prefered not to be like most. I feel sorry for the defendent.He definitely had a mental issue and was being lead around like a child.Did he get a fair shake? Not sure.Did the 80 jurors that were called get a fair shake.No! They were herded like cattle or sheep.Along with wasting everyone's time they had no clue why they were rejected.
The fact that I asked and was not answered or allowed to ask why I was number 77 tells you there is a problem with the system.

Wow, 80 called over 60+ plus, it must have been a bit more of a nasty crime than mine.

My jury duty session was pretty positive. I felt like we did the right thing, it was a civil suit.
Yes we were kind of herded around like cattle but I don't see how they could have done it any better.

I saw one thing I didn't like.
Two day trial.First day before trial opened, the judge told us all we could keep our phones, just be sure they were on silent, and then we could look at them on recess breaks.
Sure enough, some guy didn't have his on silent and it started ringing. The judge shook his sausage finger at the guy and talked down to him like a red headed step child. "Don't you ever do that again&%$#@*!"
The next day.....The judge's cell phone went off and the whole court stopped while he finished up his phone call..............

Once you step into a court you're at the mercy of the judge. I can imagine getting too mouthy during jury selection could get you in trouble.
Grand jury duty for me in January.

I chose the # 80 but I saw a number below my name that was # 81.I could not tell you if there was more jurors but there could have been.Yes it was a very bad crime.I am not going to disclose it because it's not fair to the defendent or anyone else involved.It was such a nasty crime it was hidden from the press.You simply cannot find anything about the defendent or the crime anywhere.

The more I read this post, the less sense it makes. You said you're mad because you were number 77, but you CHOSE number 80....

so you're mad because you got moved up 3 spaces?

Last jury selection I was in, the judge came in and asked the room full of potential jurors if being on this jury will be a hardship, or interfere with planned vacations or such that they could leave and thanks for showing up, I think everyone but 6 or so stood up and left, and out of the 6 some were court workers..... I guess he didn't want to sit there all day and listen to excuses, lol

How old are you and how many times in the past have you had to report for jury selection?

After posting on your other thread I got to thinking, my summons always has a number on it. I think they randomly pick a pool and if they need 350 those picked are assigned a number as they are picked and that is where they start. They try multiple cases here and you can tell by the day you report initially whether it will be civil or criminal case

There is no way I want to be tried for anything in front of the first 12 random people they can pull off the street.

about the fastest way out of jury duty is being a current or former LEO

no defense attorney wants you

Well maybe you should read the two threads and then get back with me.Your understanding of the posts is lacking to say the least.I am not mad at anything. I am just calling out what is a unfair (in my opinion) justice system. And the fact that most people that report to jury duty and even serve do not have a clue what happens.These threads are my opinion.I hope it helps someone when they have to report for judy to understand the process.

Only time I had to report to jury duty. Please read the threads and posts. The people who were interviewed were not randomly chosen.They were profiled because of a questionare that we all had to answer.