I recently served as a juror on a month-long criminal trial in Sacramento County. The defendant was charged with committing 3 home-invasion robberies in the Sacramento suburbs. Being a juror is fascinating. A wise co-worker once said that “a month at work will be easily forgotten, but a month in jury duty is something you’ll always remember.” There are a few lessons I took away from jury duty worth sharing (in no particular order):
- 3 out of 12 jurors are complete morons.
- Robbing a house full of people at gunpoint for $40 isn’t worth it.
- Make sure your accomplices aren’t going to accept a plea bargain for 13 years in prison to testify against you in court. You’ll probably get 50 years in prison.
- Getting paid salary to serve on a jury is rad! I highly recommend it over work if you can finagle it.
We found the defendant guilty for 13 out of 20 counts, and mis-trialed on the other 7 (see first bullet point above).