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From: slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Jury Duty, my experience
Message-ID: <86@drutx.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Sep-85 12:23:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: drutx.86
Posted: Mon Sep 30 12:23:48 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 2-Oct-85 09:26:55 EDT
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 61

>>Well thats how it started and the bottom line is that I've been selected
>>for jury duty...
>>
>>     2.)  I'm a hardware engineer, will that have any bearing on whether I'm
>>          actually selected to sit on a jury?
>>
>I'm up for jury duty myself in October, so I've asked the same question...
>the conclusion I've heard is that prosecutors absolutely hate having
>engineers of any kind on a jury!  We "nerds" think so logically that the
>prosecutors (and defense) realize they can't lie to us!

I was recently on jury duty, and this was not my experience at all.

It is true that the defense attorney did ask each of us for a summary
of our education.  But I did not see any relationship between the answers
and who was tossed off the jury.  In the end, the jury contained two of
us with Master's degrees, a couple of people with Bachelor's, a couple of
high school dropouts, and the rest were high school graduates, some with
a year or so of college.

I really thought I would be thrown off.  One of the questions was whether
we or a member of our family had been the victim of a crime.  I answered
yes.  My 12-year old daughter was the recipient of a flasher's show last 
spring.  Since it was a trial for sexual assult of a minor, I assumed
that would be it for me.  But I guess they believed my statement that it
wouldn't influence me.
 
They also didn't ask any really personal questions, either.  Since this
was a homosexual assualt, I wondered if they would ask sexual preference,
(something else which might have gotten me out, since I'm bi).  But nothing 
like that happened.  I did notice that older men got challanged by the
defense which probably makes sense.  The prosecution got rid of a 75 year 
old woman, the only black, and a man who was having marital problems and 
indicated he didn't really want to serve (I looked in vain for a pattern there).

All in all, I was quite pleased with the experience.  I came away with a
good feeling about our system of justice.  The lawyers were businesslike, 
and seemed to realize that our time was valuable.  It was interesting how 
12 people from such different backgrounds could agree on basics.  The only 
uncomfortable part was watching emotional testimony, (some by children), 
then being unable to talk to anyone about it, including my husband. The 
other jurors felt the same way.  When we finally got in that room, it was 
like a dam had burst and we all started chattering.

By the way, judging from the varied and strange opinions shown on this
net, I don't think engineers are any more impervious to lies than anyone
else.  

-- 

                                     Sue Brezden
                                     
Real World: Room 1B17                Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb
            AT&T Information Systems
            11900 North Pecos
            Westminster, Co. 80234
            (303)538-3829 

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