Loaded said:

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Does Brazos county (unnecessarily) call for jury pools more often than other counties? Honest question... just wondering why some folks, including myself, get a jury summons so frequently.

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Has more to do with Brazos County actually catching criminals and prosecuting crimes (relative to other places). Lot of other places let defendants plea their charges way down from felonies to misdemeanors. Saves tax dollars, but increases crime. Other places also don't actually investigate crime. Brazos County is tougher on crime and doesn't usually let people plea their charges way down. So more criminals are willing to risk a jury trial, and more jurors are needed. Brazos County is one of the worst places to commit crimes because it's relatively tough on crime. Price to pay for the increased safety is more jury summons for residents.

agnerd said:

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Loaded said:

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Does Brazos county (unnecessarily) call for jury pools more often than other counties? Honest question... just wondering why some folks, including myself, get a jury summons so frequently.

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Has more to do with Brazos County actually catching criminals and prosecuting crimes (relative to other places). Lot of other places let defendants plea their charges way down from felonies to misdemeanors. Saves tax dollars, but increases crime. Other places also don't actually investigate crime. Brazos County is tougher on crime and doesn't usually let people plea their charges way down. So more criminals are willing to risk a jury trial, and more jurors are needed. Brazos County is one of the worst places to commit crimes because it's relatively tough on crime. Price to pay for the increased safety is more jury summons for residents.

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But given the number of times that I've been called and only once did it ever make it to trial (similar experience to other posts here), doesn't that possibly indicate that a plea is often offered & accepted after the jury has been summoned?

Loaded said:

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But given the number of times that I've been called and only once did it ever make it to trial (similar experience to other posts here), doesn't that possibly indicate that a plea is often offered & accepted after the jury has been summoned?

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Defendants will go through jury selection and see who ends up on the jury. Bunch of old white dudes on the jury and they'll often take no plea down of the charges, but a guarantee not to receive the maximum sentence for the crime. Jury that looks like it has more Democrats on the jury and you're better off risking the trial, but that doesn't usually happen in Brazos County.

Not how it works in the big cities where you pay big bucks to your lawyer who donates big bucks to the local prosecutor's and judge's campaign and coincidentally always gets all of his felony cases reduced to misdemeanors with minor fines, no jail time, and no juries.

That happens a lot in red counties.
Jury selection is a reality check. Only the facts of the case can be brought up at trial. The entire criminal history can be brought up at sentencing.

That's why jury pools are so important. They can quickly end a painful process for victims and families of victims.

I'd love to serve on a jury. For years I got notices all the time. I responded as requested but all they resulted in was a disregard for my time and me not being needed.

Then one day, I stopped checking my mail and I stopped getting them. Oddly, I check my mail diligently now but I never get them anymore.

I think part of it is our unusual population. I think they call WAY more people per jury than other areas do. Students of public secondary school can opt out. Over 70 can opt out. Legal custody of kid under 12 who you provide supervision for can opt out. Not sure about the percentage of people in that last class but the student and over 70 crowd is pretty large around here.

I have a spouse and live on same street as my parents and it is not unusual for 2 or 3 of us to get jury notice in the mail all in same week. A couple of times, all 4 of us get a notice the same day. We each typically at least 2 per year over the last 20 years.

Thanks for the responses, agnerd and Stupe.

Not a problem.
We had the DA of a red county explain that process to us.
Unfortunately, we had to endure it along with other families. We all stood fast that we didn't want that guy getting off light and he was going to be going to multiple trials for his offenses.

Getting a good jury pool on one of the trials put an end to it. He took what the DA offered and we all had closure after two years of dealing with it hanging there.

People that toss their summons or go out of their way to avoid jury duty never think about that side of it.
They never think about or just don't care.

My husband and I both got notices on Monday from the same court.

I just did a round in March…

LOYAL AG said:

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Birddog said:

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I have received 2 so far this year. County court and Bryan municipal. Overall I seem to get at least two a year. Actually been selected 4 times, and not once was I asked a question individually in voir dire.

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Your chances of being selected go up if you don't answer questions. Both sides are given a finite number of strikes so the fact that you speak at all is probably a concern for at least one side. Then what you actually say may also be cause for concern. If you're quiet and both sides exhaust their strikes then you're one of much smaller pool of who's left. IIRC in a civil trial it's 1-x minus the strikes so if you're in the first 20 or so you're getting picked unless you give them reason to strike you.

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You see this with people who know expressing a strong opinion will likely get them struck by one side or the other. Like the proverbial potential juror who says right at the outset, "I am for the death penalty!" And the defense attorney says "Sir, this trial is for a misdemeanor."

techno-ag said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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Birddog said:

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I have received 2 so far this year. County court and Bryan municipal. Overall I seem to get at least two a year. Actually been selected 4 times, and not once was I asked a question individually in voir dire.

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Your chances of being selected go up if you don't answer questions. Both sides are given a finite number of strikes so the fact that you speak at all is probably a concern for at least one side. Then what you actually say may also be cause for concern. If you're quiet and both sides exhaust their strikes then you're one of much smaller pool of who's left. IIRC in a civil trial it's 1-x minus the strikes so if you're in the first 20 or so you're getting picked unless you give them reason to strike you.

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You see this with people who know expressing a strong opinion will likely get them struck by one side or the other. Like the proverbial potential juror who says right at the outset, "I am for the death penalty!" And the defense attorney says "Sir, this trial is for a misdemeanor."

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Yeah but those responses are always the best. My first time called the defendant was a school teacher charged with possession of kiddy porn. Defense asked about probation since his client had no priors. Juror #2 was a guard in Huntsville and said, " Oh hell no! I got his cell mate picked out!"

Even counsel laughed. He wasn't selected.

Another aspect of this county's 'unusual population' - 70,000 adults (legally, anyway) who live here 9 months of the year, generate their share of court cases, but who are mostly legal residents of other counties and states, and thus those 70,000 aren't in the county jury pool.

one or twice a year for each different jurisdiction, county, constable, city, federal.

I have served on five different juries, 3 county, 1 constable (TAMU) and 1 city.

They call upwards of 50 people, sit you on uncomfortable benches, allow the attorneys to walk through the pool (in the hall) and exam you, like a judge at a county fair and finally sit you down for questioning.

Jury selection is where an attorney is well worth the extra expense.

So got the jury duty notice and signed up. I travel a lot for my job and have to make plans weeks in advance. Had to decline or move work meetings weeks in advance to honor a three day window if I got selected for a jury. Was supposed to report Monday and got an email today saying it's canceled... don't show up.

From my perspective, I've already served with the significant disruption this has caused. Don't call me again anytime soon.

This happened to my wife. Last year the neighbors across the street went on long vacation to their Colorado home. My wife's summons got delivered to them. They returned and gave some mail mis-delivered to them, including a summons that was more than a month past the deadline. She called and was told to have the neighbor verify by email. She fairly promptly got another summons.

For some reason she gets more than me. Four in the 5 years since we retired here. On the other hand, I have second in a couple of weeks. She only got to voir dire once. All the rest between us were cancelled when we called in Sunday night. This is a much higher summons rate than anywhere we have lived previously.

Got my first one in 2010. I've had 5 I've had to show up for, got on the grand jury for one and a misdemeanor one a few months ago. I know I've had several that have been cancelled. So all in all, maybe 1 every 1.5 years.