Most juries are not sequestered. Sequestering means you can't go home at the end of a day of trial or when the trial is over and you are deliberating - they provide sleeping accommodations for you. That happens rarely. You may mean "How did you feel when you were chose as a juror for a trial?"
I hate, hate, hate it.. I was chosen once... I wriggled out of it.. Not exactly proud of that..and someone's got to do it.. but I cannot bear the thought of judging someone.. of deciding if they are guilty or not.. Who am I do judge, what if I am wrong..
I was very young then...
If I got another one.. I'd try to weasel out of it again.. but I don't feel good about it and I really don't have any excuse now.. so I would probably end up doing it..
I find being a jury is a civic duty in America. Our right to a fair and speedy trial, and right to be judged by our peers dictates this. I will never wiggle my way out of jury duty. I have only been summoned three times for jury duty. Once the defendent changed to a guilty plea at the last minute. Another time I never made it to the questioning process. Then last time I was questioned. Once the defense lawyer found out I’m a corrections Officer he requested I be dismissed. The judge granted his request. I’m not sure why. I stated how I agree with everyone is innocent until proven guilty, we are all constitutionally guaranteed a fair trial, and it’s every juror’s responsibility to be impartial.
I agree that we should all be willing to do our civic duty, but I also know that there are very valid reasons for wanting not to serve and the court does take that into consideration. I've been called four times, chosen twice - once for an attempted murder, which we convicted on, and the second time for a host of charges, not the least of which was statutory rape. We convicted on four charges, not guilty on three and the jury was hung on the rest. The DA said she would try him again on the charges on which we couldn't agree. It was an interesting, if not frustrating experience on the rape trial.
We all have the impression that a trial in real life will be like the trials we see on Perry Mason or Law & Order and it's nothing like that. :) We had ten days of trial and deliberation in the rape case. We had one holdout on the statutory rape charge. We couldn't seem to make him understand that if the girl is under 15 and the guy is over 21, it's a slam dunk statutory rape and you must convict. Ultimately, he agreed to change his vote to guilty if we all agreed not to vote guilty on another charge. I had to tell him this was not Let's Make a Deal and he gave in. I thought the guys would lynch him at one point they were so frustrated with him.
I can only imagine you were dismissed because it would be very awkward if you were on a jury that convicted and then you were to encounter the person you helped convict, within your job role? They may unfairly blame you..
It's a necessary thing.. we all agree on that.. but as you have shown there are times and circumstances which make one unsuitable, such as when I was called when I was very young.. It wouldn't have been possible for me to do it at that particular time
Pearl 