How about we lower Congress's salary to pay for it?

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Omegaman?

Really? Perhaps we should close all the courts and fire the cops. Sure, the traffic cops are for generating revenue since most of the cases rarely make it to anything more than a court appearance and a fine. OTOH, would you like to have a couple guys rape your butt and you have no recourse? What about someone torching your possessions and your insurance company tells you "Tough. We aren't paying. Don't like it? Take it to court. Oh wait, scratch that. There is no court."? Without court, how do you plan to enforce your contracts?

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

BTW, in spite of all his bravado, he had to go back to court.

The document, of course, did not sit well with court officials and led a judge to threaten to jail Slye. But after being summoned to court, Slye apologized for the affidavit and avoided being cited on a criminal failure to appear rap.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Am I getting this right...

You guys have a system where your authorities can order you, at any time, to work without compensation for an unspecified period of time? This without taking consideration of your work, family or other personal issues? If you refuse to do this you get fines or jail time?

Sounds like good olde Soviet Union to me!

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Tomas, Sweden
1966 Mercedes Benz 230S with OM617.912, automatic. Disk brakes from W108
1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD grey, OM617.912 and 5-speed manual
1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD blue 7-seater, OM617.912 and 5-speed manual

You are compensated in US Dollars but not nearly enough to cover your lost living expenses. However, exercising the right to a jury of your peers requires being part of a jury of peers.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Yep. With citizenship come responsibilities - it's just like paying taxes, only the payment is your time instead of your money. I have yet to hear about a government, democratic or despotic, that does not extract some sort of payment from its citizen/subjects.

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1984 300TD

There are considerations for work, family and personal issues. In fact, it is quite easy to be excused from jury duty. However, as Kuan points out, having a jury of your peers requires that your peers perform their civic duty by showing up.

How does Sweden seat juries for freedom of expression/libel cases?

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

https://media.giphy.com/media/X3nnss8PAj5aU/giphy.gif

I understand that, but..
Taxes you can plan for, you know how much you have to pay and when so it's rather easy to adjust your economy to this.
Even other "citizenship responsibilities" like compulsory military service or national guard training is something you can plan for months or years in advance..

But this Jury Duty, what, they can call you ANYTIME and demand your presence at court?

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Tomas, Sweden
1966 Mercedes Benz 230S with OM617.912, automatic. Disk brakes from W108
1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD grey, OM617.912 and 5-speed manual
1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD blue 7-seater, OM617.912 and 5-speed manual

If you get called, you can't be called again for a year. I served a half-day in February.

Okay, I got the impression that jury duty was more or less unavoidable. Thanks for clarifying.
The way it works here is that city and county councils appoints jurors by voting, for a period of four years. Service is voluntary and everyone can apply. You get paid for your participation and get your income losses, if any, covered.

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Tomas, Sweden
1966 Mercedes Benz 230S with OM617.912, automatic. Disk brakes from W108
1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD grey, OM617.912 and 5-speed manual
1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD blue 7-seater, OM617.912 and 5-speed manual

Yes, it's part of being an American. And we don't, (some of us don't) get almost everything free from our government. It's an awful system.......

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

As others have said, it is a minimal compensation. The time is usually limited to (1) day, or (1) trial, whichever takes longer. Of course, some trials do last for days, weeks or even months, but they are rare. Also, it is common that if you appear and there is no trial that day, you are excused for that day, and you will not be asked to serve again for a year or so.

Juries are selected from all citizens, so how often you are asked will also depend on how many people are in your court district, and how many jury trials occur.

Usually you must appear at the courthouse, and then be excused if there are valid personal, or work, issues.

Jury duty has produce some horror stories, but the vast majority are one trial, one day, and that is all. A very small price to pay for a legal system where you are presumed to be innocent until you are proven guilty.

Yes, and if it's a murder case where the death penalty is being sought, it can be for SIX MONTHS!!!!

Tough for those cases, juror questionaires are handed out, and for financial hardship and other reasons, you can be excused, AT THE DISCRETION OF THE JUDGE, for such cases.


In California Superior Court, most counties have telephone standby for your week of jury duty, and they try to limit you to one day in court as a juror, if possible, with the consolidated Jury Duty program now in place in most jurisdictions


Usually, after 5pm every day, you call a recorded message taped by the Jury Commissioners at the end of the day, and they have you put in a color coded group, and if your group is NOT needed, you are released for the next day and don't have to show up. Just make another phone call for each of the next 6 days of your service.

And they can't summon you more than one time every year or two.



Availability of a jury also works, in a practical way, because the Judge can threaten to call for a jury if a criminal or civil case will not settle, one side is being stubborn or unreasonable.


Much of the actual administration of justice revolves around actually SETTLING cases and clearing them off the court's dockets, which are unbelievably crowded with cases needing to be heard.


There are only so many courtrooms, Judges, clerks, Spanish interpreters, probation officers, court reporters, bailiffs and other staff available at any one time, don't forget that.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Served on two juries and I was the foreman on both. Would do it again in a heart beat. Actually liked the experience.

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Sent from an agnostic abacus

2014 C250 21,XXX my new DD ** 2013 GLK 350 18,000 Wife's new DD**

- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.