blog 12- Jury Duty

A juror is a member of a group, called a jury. They
are selected to decide the innocence or guilt of a
person accused of crime. The jury hears the people
called to testify at the trial and examines the
evidence. The group must say an opinion based on the
facts said at the trial. The jury’s decision is called
the verdict. If the jury finds the accused guilty, the
judge pronounces the appropriate sentence on a later
date or immediately. If the jury finds the accused not
guilty he or she is acquitted immediately.

To qualify as juror, you have be 18 years or older.
You must be a US citizen and a citizen and resident of
the state the you will serve as a juror in. You must
have a good understanding of English. You have not
been convicted of a felony and have not served on a
jury in the last 12 months.

Not everyone can be a juror. Some people are not
allowed to serve on a jury, like people with a mental
disability or mental illness. You cannot be the friend
of the person accused of a crime or know someone
involved in the trial. If you are 70 years or older
and have a serious heath problem and if you have to
take care of a person in your household and there is
no one else to do it, you can be excused from being a
juror. You can also be excused if you are biased and
have made up your mind before you have heard both
sides. No one may refuse to be a juror unless you have
an acceptable reason. For example, some reasons are
people suffering from a physical or sensorial
handicap.

If you are selected to serve on a jury, after the
trial is over, you usually won’t be called for jury
duty for at least a year and often longer. If you
qulitified to be a juror and you have not been
excused, you must report for jury service. Any person
who fails to respond could be fined up to $1,500 and
in addition you could also go to jail.


When you are on a jury you can’t read any newspaper
articles about your case or watch any television that
talks about your case. You also have to have no
biases, which means you need to be fair and can’t
judge people.  When the trail is over you have to look
back at the notes you took during the trial. You then
have to have jury deliberations. During this
conversation, you and all of the other jurors will
talk and then come up with one vote. If even one juror
decides differently, they will have to meet again
until they can agree on a verdict, guilty or not
guilty.