slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (09/30/85)
>>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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your god may be dead, but mine aren't. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~