What about Texas?

murphey

murphey

Touchdown! Greaser!
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murphey
Many years ago I was called for jury duty in Denver, CO (caveat - mom's family is in Texas, I graduated from UT, will be buried in the family plot but I live in Colorado).

During void dire the defendant's attorney polled the potential jurors with the question "My client is from Texas. Do you have any anomosity toward Texans?"

My response..."well, Dan Reeves is from Texas, we don't hate him".

I was not selected for the jury. But the judge loved it.
 
Just got selected for jury duty this week. Gonna try the EMS pilot excuse to get out of it. :D
 
It is now my choice if I want to serve or not do to my age.
 
I haven't got a Jury Duty notice in probably 15 years or more now. Seems like they used come every couple years or so. I've been thanked and excused 3 times. Wonder if they keep a record of that and just don't bother with chronic excusees any more.
 
At my previous location I only had to go in once in 25 years; was not selected. I've lived in my new location for 5 years. Got called in twice; selected twice. But it was interesting, and gave me some insight.

Neither location in Texas...
 
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My parents live there now. They very much enjoy having one or two months of winter instead of six or seven!

I've got called for jury duty twice, I think. One time I got excused since I was still in high school, and the next year, I got summoned again, but never got selected, and just spent all summer calling in every night. Mostly, I remember being terrified of forgetting to call one night and not knowing I was selected. :p
 
I was called for jury duty several times. Managed not to get excluded once. Great experience in direct participation in an important societal function.
 
Define "Texan."

Someone who was born there? Someone who currently lives there? Someone who takes the blood oath that Texas is the greatest place on Earth and should be its own country?

I was born there. I'm not a Texan.

I would've answered yes.
 
SkyChaser said:
One time I got excused since I was still in high school, and the next year, I got summoned again, but never got selected, and just spent all summer calling in every night.
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All summer? My obligation was only 1 week. Plus, I only had to check the website rather than calling in.
 
asicer said:
All summer? My obligation was only 1 week. Plus, I only had to check the website rather than calling in.
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Only one week?! I had to call in for eight or nine weeks. Maybe it depends on which court you're summoned for?
 
SkyChaser said:
Only one week?! I had to call in for eight or nine weeks. Maybe it depends on which court you're summoned for?
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I got selected for the Grand Jury last summer. Didn't realize what it meant until we were in the room getting an overview from the ADA. He said something about "It will seem tedious at first, but by the 6th month you'll be a well oiled machine." I chuckled at his 'joke', but I was wrong - in our district, it really is a 6-month duty. 1 day (4-6 hours) per month for 6 months. I think the most cases we heard in one session was near 70. This was on the heels of the first round of COVID lockdowns, so the courts were still playing catchup. DA said that the GJ group before us ended up having to do two days per month to chew through the case backlog.

It was painful, but was very interesting to hear about things going on in the background on these cases. We also have a very good DA office that presented well formed cases with lots of info, so the decisions were easy - just tedious to deal with.
 
Wow! I only got summoned from my county court, not the Grand Jury, thankfully. Six months is a long time!
 
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When I was a kid, my Dad was driving us across the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. There were a lot of people walking across, and one of them turned around as my Dad got close and yelled everyone look out, it’s a Texan… he thinks he owns the road! Funny the memories you keep for over 40 years!
 
Lowflynjack said:
When I was a kid, my Dad was driving us across the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. There were a lot of people walking across, and one of them turned around as my Dad got close and yelled everyone look out, it’s a Texan… he thinks he owns the road! Funny the memories you keep for over 40 years!
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Pretty bold to be making comments about someone DRIVING as you are WALKING on a BRIDGE...
 
I haven't been called for jury duty in over 20 years. Our local deputies usually shoot the perps so there's little need for juries.
 
When living in a small town we take turns for jury duty.

Here in NM when a car is off the road and in the ditch, the license plate says either California or Colorado...
 
CJones said:
Pretty bold to be making comments about someone DRIVING as you are WALKING on a BRIDGE...
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Need to understand about the RG bridge. It’s a tourist icon, not really a road for travel.
 
I've been called for both criminal and civil jury duty numerous times. Been on a couple of juries, some went to trial and others didn't. Only asked to be dismissed from a pool once, due to possible conflict of interest. Had a coworker end up on a Federal Grand Jury that was extended twice. Back to work a week and got tapped for a state murder trial. He was out 11 more weeks on that one.
 
murphey said:
Need to understand about the RG bridge. It’s a tourist icon, not really a road for travel.
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I don't even know if they allow you to drive across anymore and I'm not sure why we did. Seems like my Dad wanted to do it, so we walked across and back, then drove across and back!
 
asicer said:
Are they finally on the Internet? Or do you still have to call in?
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...running back to edit my post because I realized I worded that badly... :oops:

I haven't lived in that county for about a year and a half now, but one of the girls I knew in college that I talk to every now and then got summoned not too long ago, and she still had to call in every night, so apparently not. I guess change comes slowly to some places. :)
 
I've only been on call for jury duty a couple of times. Never got inside a courtroom.
 
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