Jury duty in Houston tomorrow

[LDB415]

Take along a fully charged Kindle with a few selections in it. Good luck.

[Boxerrider]

Last time I went was about five years ago, county court, felony DWI. Show up by 8:00 am. No firearms, no pocket knives, no cell phones. The selection process was frequently interrupted because the lawyers wanted to conference. They didn't select the jury until almost 5:00. Fortunately an old friend was there too and we spent most of the down time visiting.
I just received a notice to appear January 8th. I will be taking an old fashioned book with me this time.

I have served on a jury before; it was also educational, and not quite as boring once things got started. I agree that it is a vital part of our society and should be handled respectively. If I were the defendant I would certainly want everybody to do so.

Enjoy!
Jeff

[stash]

One of the perks of turning 70 - No jury duty if you don't want to go. Over the years I have been called 5-6 times or so in El Paso County. What a mess.

[Dirvin]

Last time I had jury duty I was able to fill out questionnaire info online and skip the "boring day". I reported directly to the court the second day. Worth your while to find out if that's possible.

[JustSomeOldGuy]

my $0.02, based on 4 decades for being summoned for jury selection.....

- wear long sleeves; they're probably too cheap to turn the heat up except in the actual courtroom
- if you ever get called for selection by the feds, at minimum - dress shirt and tie. jacket and tie or suit and tie would be even better
- in state or county court, dressing up seems to decrease your chance of being selected
- if you have a FIJA brochure sticking out of your shirt pocket, you will NOT be selected
- some of the lawyers are actually fun to watch in action. most are not........

[RoyGBiv]

I have done jury duty quite few times, I think because I show up. There are three court systems that use juries: Federal Court, County District Court, Municipal Court (City of Houston). Check your summons. Know where are you to report. If you are in County District Court (Harris), there is a webpage with useful information here: https://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/Common/ ... earch.aspx Note because Hurricane Harvey flooded the Jury Assembly Room, it has been moved to 1001 Preston.

If you are on Federal Court, you will report to the Federal Building at Rusk and Smith. If municipal, you will report to the courthouse off of Memorial across the street from the police station.

In all locations, you will be screen airport style. You can bring a book, laptop, tablet, etc. Most have free wifi. You should eat first, and bring a snack. The Municipal location does not have very many restaurant options. The other two do have options. The Federal building has a greasy spoon for a cafeteria inside of the security zone. The Marshall service take security extremely seriously. Do not tease and expect a long line to pass through security.

There are a number of restaurants near the County District Court buildings.

Good Luck. Remember, you can't decide on a traffic violation unless the death penalty is on the table.

P.S. Don't even tease about carrying. The Marshalls have no sense of humor and the Sheriffs' deputies will likely tase you. At Municipal court, HPD might just shoot first and then ask if you had a firearm.

Thanks, 95% certain that my summons was from the county clerk. I will be 100% certain in about 5 minutes when I walk back out to my car. I plan to park at the garage on Congress and they said that there is a shuttle operated by the Metro that will drop me off at 1001 Preston.

FWIW, in Ftw the shuttle lots have a reputation for car break-ins. Security is known to be lax and the BG's know you are likely to be gone all day.
I parked in the pay lot across from the courthouse. Cost more than a day of jury pay but I felt better locking up my gun in a lot with high traffic and an attendant on duty.

YMMV.

[allisji]

So I arrived early and parked, and made my way to the jury assembly room well before the 8:00 start time. At about 8:30 they took the first juror pool to the civil court, I was not in the pool. After that we waited... at 9:30 the bailiff arrived from the criminal court. They took 65 of us... I was number 39. They lined us all up and marched us through the tunnels and we all hard to go through security, airport style (at 10:00 they let the other 100 or so prospective jurors go home, I know this because they passed by us as we were in line at the security check-point). At 10:30 or so we were in the court room and met the judge and the attorneys. They made their selections probably 12:30. They were to call 13 jurors (12 + 1 alternate). They started and called numbers 1, 4, 5, 9, etc. and ended up calling 36, and then 55 was lucky number 13.

Whew! I thought I was free, but wait... the defense attorney told the judge that he had striked number 36 (who was an HPD officer). Sure enough, the number that was selected was number 39.... yours truly. So I get to go back downtown next week Tuesday thru Thursday to serve on the jury.

There was a part of me that wanted to serve on a trial jury. But I didn't want to spend 4 valuable days of my life doing it...

[RoyGBiv]

There was a part of me that wanted to serve on a trial jury. But I didn't want to spend 4 valuable days of my life doing it...

Double edged sword...
-- Civic duty.... The person on trial deserves a jury of peers.
-- Some trials can be very unpleasant.... Murder, etc. I served on a case I'd rather forget about.

[Syntyr]

There was a part of me that wanted to serve on a trial jury. But I didn't want to spend 4 valuable days of my life doing it...

Double edged sword...
-- Civic duty.... The person on trial deserves a jury of peers.
-- Some trials can be very unpleasant.... Murder, etc. I served on a case I'd rather forget about.

I once sat on a jury for an assault with a deadly weapon trial for a guy named Courvoisier, his dads favorite Cognac. The guy was 42, been in and out of jail most of his life. He didnt have a job. He was living with his girlfriend in a house that was paid for by her mom. Driving a car purchased by his girlfriend working two jobs to make the payments on. He didn't have a drivers license or insurance. He was messing around with his girlfriends co-worker at night when his girlfriend was at her second job. During the day he hung out with his buddies to drink and pkaying poker.

One night the girlfriend came home to find him in flagrante delecto with said coworker so she tried to throw him out. So he got a knife and stabbed her. She was as the trial acting as a character witness. He was also in jail for check fraud awaiting trial.

I sat there the whole time thinking people cant be this stupid. I was wrong they are. Took us 30 minutes to find him guilty. Judge sentenced him to 1 year in jail time served. Then took him back to jail to continue to await trial for check fraud.

There truly are stupid people in this world.

[chamberc]

So I arrived early and parked, and made my way to the jury assembly room well before the 8:00 start time. At about 8:30 they took the first juror pool to the civil court, I was not in the pool. After that we waited... at 9:30 the bailiff arrived from the criminal court. They took 65 of us... I was number 39. They lined us all up and marched us through the tunnels and we all hard to go through security, airport style (at 10:00 they let the other 100 or so prospective jurors go home, I know this because they passed by us as we were in line at the security check-point). At 10:30 or so we were in the court room and met the judge and the attorneys. They made their selections probably 12:30. They were to call 13 jurors (12 + 1 alternate). They started and called numbers 1, 4, 5, 9, etc. and ended up calling 36, and then 55 was lucky number 13.

Whew! I thought I was free, but wait... the defense attorney told the judge that he had striked number 36 (who was an HPD officer). Sure enough, the number that was selected was number 39.... yours truly. So I get to go back downtown next week Tuesday thru Thursday to serve on the jury.

There was a part of me that wanted to serve on a trial jury. But I didn't want to spend 4 valuable days of my life doing it...

Dallas is One Day/One Trial. Most finish in one day, but otherwise start on the same day or the next and run consecutive days until finished.

[montgomery]

I agree that it is a vital part of our society and should be handled respectively. If I were the defendant I would certainly want everybody to do so.

[TreyHouston]

Congratulations being picked!

[texas yankee]

If given an opportunity, let them know that you are a huge proponent of Jury Nullification because you believe that the legal system has been perverted by the lawyers and judges - they should send you on your way pretty quickly.

[Liberty]

They never pick me for anything other than traffic court. They don't trust me for my strong Libertarian beliefs.

[threoh8]

I have served on a jury before; it was also educational, and not quite as boring once things got started. I agree that it is a vital part of our society and should be handled respectively. If I were the defendant I would certainly want everybody to do so.

Enjoy!
Jeff

Ditto. And this: The defendants, victims of crime, and society at large should want jurors who take it seriously.

I've been notified several times, and I've served on a couple of juries. Yes, the selection process has a lot of dead time. Your daily paper won't be enough reading material. The line to get excused from the pool is usually long.

Voir dire - when potential jurors are questioned - is interesting, sometimes funny, and often depressing. I just answer the questions honestly without volunteering information or reading into anything.

The cases had enough detail to keep me awake and involved.

The last couple of times I've been notified, I "reported" online (Lubbock County) and was notified by text that I was released. I'm not volunteering to serve, but being ready to is part of Citizenship.