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And if we do, we might have to miss work and change our plans.
Then too, most of the time Jury duty is never as interesting as it is on Law & Order or in John Grisham books.
Though every now and again, jurors might find themselves part of an exciting, or simply unbelievable trial that even the greatest fiction writers might have trouble concocting.
Redditor emflare was eager to hear the most unusual and outrageous stories people experienced when serving on a jury, leading them to ask:
"Jurors of Reddit, what is the wildest story you have sitting on a trial?"
Was He Even A Smoker
"Was put in a jury for a murder one case."
"Defendant was guilty as f*ck."
"There was a bar fight, defendant left the scene, grabbed a gun, and came back for round 2."
"Bar patrons saw him there, he had priors for assault and theft, and people who knew him basically."
"Then the dumbf*ck bragged about it in the holding cell, and the other inmates testified against him."
"All the while, his lawyer was just insulting the witnesses to discredit them (including a forensic evidence specialist for the police) and banging on about how there was no DNA evidence from random cigarette butts outside a bar."
"We deliberated for under 10 minutes, took an anonymous vote, and wound up with a unanimous guilty."
"It took longer for the bailiff to come get us than it did for us to decide."- MaximumZer0
Getting Home Isn't The Best Defense...
"My wife was on a DUI jury where the police cam showed the whole thing."
"It was the road my parents live on, and one she’s driven probably 1,000 times."
"It’s a very straight road. He was weaving all over the place, and when he got to his driveway a block from my folks’, he claimed that he got home ok, so there was no case."
"There was, in fact, a case."- graptemys
If At First You Don't Succeed...
"Not me, but my dad was on a jury for a murder trial back in the 80s."
"He told me most of the jury members felt like the guy did it, but the prosecution did a bad job of presenting the evidence, so they had to acquit him."
"6 months later, he killed someone else and was convicted for good."- Substantial_Motor421
No Win Situation?
"We were sitting in the holding room getting our initial instruction. The following exchange takes place:"
"Potential juror: 'My daughter is downstairs getting arraigned. Does that mean I get to go home?'"
"Bailiff: 'If you enter the courtroom and your daughter is seated at the defense table, tell us. Until then, you’re stuck here'.”- A_Ahai
When At A Loss, Follow the Doctor's Orders
"A woman had an infection in her finger."
"Went to urgent care."
"Doctor prescribed some drugs and told the woman to soak it in warm water."
"If it didn’t get better the next day go to the ER."
"Woman does not get script filled and … soaks her finger in her condo’s community hot tub."
"Infection worsened, her husband dragged her to the ER a few days later."
"They pumped her full of drugs but couldn’t stave off amputation."
"She tried suing the urgent care for not giving her more explicit instructions, not telling her how severe an infection could be, and not forcing her to go the ER that night."- bondsman333
emergency room hospital GIF by South Park Giphy
Weird Isn't The Most Obvious Word Here...
"Some weird dude drove 50 miles with a loaded gun, texting his ex a hundred times that he was gonna kill her and her new boyfriend."
"Dumba** drives to the wrong house on the right street and cops wrapped him up right away."
"Suddenly he 'wasn't gonna do nothing'."
"It was pathetic, to be honest."
"Nobody wanted to be there."
"His ex didn't even want him to get in trouble. They all just wanted to move on."
"Weirdest part of all, I kinda enjoyed jury duty."- am_with_stupid
Learning Through Experience
"I sat on a jury about 15 years ago."
"The ADA was trying her first ever case (solo)."
"The defendant was pro se."
"During deliberations, we as the jury were in complete admiration of the judge and how well he handled what could have been a sh*tshow of a trial: rephrasing questions to witnesses, handling and explaining objections, and keeping the trial free of meandering or grandstanding."- amnycya
At The End Of The Day, It's Someone's Life In Your Hands
"Was a case in Compton, CA."
"3 men were on trial for armed robbery."
"Multiple counts for each."
"Not fun."
"Several jury members were convinced that the cops were corrupt, and they weren't going to send kids from the neighborhood to prison."
"After a week of deliberation and multiple reviews of the videotapes of the liquor store, we ended up convicting on several counts, but not all."
"Its not easy taking away someone's liberty, even if they deserve it."
"We all had some pretty intense discussion and debates."- dyslexiasyoda
Relying on Peripheral Vision
"Girl on girl drunken assault, new years eve in a shuttle bus."
"The only sober person on the scene was the driver, so we relied pretty heavily on his testimony and convicted."
"We took it very seriously, feeling like we could be ruining someone's life."
"Turns out it wasn't her first rodeo, and she only had to serve a weekend in jail."- Iystrian
After All That...
"Sat on a jury in December."
"Murder trial."
"Guy was guilty but evidence was all circumstantial."
"Not everyone agreed he was guilty."
"I was the jury spokesperson, so I was the one who had to write everything to the judge."
"We deliberated for like 8 or 9 hours."
"I had to tell the judge we couldn’t decide."
"Judge came in and said he granted the hung jury, and while he was talking to us, a court person pulled him out of our jury room."
"Judge came back in and said the defendant decided to plead guilty and asked us if we wanted to watch sentencing."
"The whole process was kind of wild."- Eggmins
Episode 7 Judge GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy
A Potentially Swift Solution
"Not me but my mom many years ago was on a jury for a burglary trial."
"At the very beginning, during the Voir Dire process (choosing the jury), a potential juror was being questioned by one of the attorneys:"
"Atty: What is your occupation?"
"PJ: I'm a housewife."
"Atty: Are you married?"
"PJ: Yes, I am."
"Atty: What does your husband do?"
"PJ: He's an expediter."
"Atty: What's an expediter?"
"PJ: One who expedites."
"Atty: Okay."- JetScreamerBaby
At Least Someone Showed Up
"I got selected for jury duty once."
"After watching a half hour video about being a juror, and waiting in a cramped room for about an hour, we got called into the courtroom."
"The judge came out and explained that the defendant had failed to show up for her hearing, then he thanked us all and sent us home."- hey_pendecko
Episode 2 Judge GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy
Time Served
"Criminal trial, prosecutor never should have brought it to trial."
"We felt the police lied and the only reliable witness was the drug dealer they brought in from prison to testify on behalf of the defendant."
"So came back with not guilty."
"We asked the judge afterwards why it was even brought to trial, she said she had no idea and that she wasn't part of of the pretrial where some evidence may have been excluded."
"Basically the prosecutor tried to pin drug possession charges on someone who happened to be in the apartment of a known drug dealer when the police raid happened."
"Drug dealer ran to the bathroom, where the defendant was in to flush drugs."
"Drug dealer slammed the bathroom door and locked it."
"Police kicked open the bathroom door, grabbed drug dealer and in the scuffle the bathroom door shuts again, leaving the defendant alone in the bathroom - confused and afraid to leave bathroom - until the police open the door again and pull them out."
"So the prosecutor tries to say that this is worth saying the defendant was in 'control' of the drugs and 'was trying to destroy' evidence during those brief moments of the door being shut."
"Drug dealer testifies that he pushed his way into the bathroom, interrupting the defendant as they were using it, startling them and scaring them."
"Police were inconsistent with their testimony, couldn't testify that defendant had any prior convictions for drug dealing etc."
"But the prosecutor didn't charge them with that."
"In fact most felt empathy as we could see the defendant was struggling as during the trial they had a difficult time staying engaged and you could see that they had lived some hardships."- MNConcerto
Jury duty is a civic duty everyone must go through, and is an undeniable burden when it's sprung upon you.
But every now and then, you might get an unforgettable story out of it.