Wednesday, December 07, 2005
The wheels of Justice they just keep on turning
Beth doesn't know it yet, but she's got jury duty. Not Grand Jury duty, though, so she is extremely lucky and will more than likely only have to go for one day.
Here is an interesting ethics question for you:
IF Beth gets assigned to a case, would it be unethical for me to go down to the courthouse and watch the trial? I know that jurors are not supposed to discuss the case to which they are assigned, but does that prohibition extend to telling people the name of the case? In theory, I could just go into every courtroom, so her telling me the name is really not that critical. After all, it is a public courthouse, and anybody can walk in there and watch a case if they want to.
Of course we wouldn't discuss the content of the case ... until it was over anyway. I'm assuming that jurors can talk about their jury duty after the fact, since they seem to do it all the time on TV. [Except Grand Jury duty, which is to stay secret.]
Would my presence in the room affect her consideration of the case in any way? Especially knowing that we would talk about it after the fact?
It doesn't seem to me to be unethical, but it is a little fishy. Besides, if I were to do that, I might as well have gotten the jury duty myself ... which I didn't.
I'm not averse to doing some jury duty, so long as it's not Grand Jury. I'm assuming/hoping/praying that since I worked down there and know some of the people that I would be automatically disqualified.
Actually, I think I would make a good juror. Anybody with half a brain would make a good juror, which is why lawyers put dumb people on juries.
That's all -- good night -- be sure to tip your waitress ...
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Here is an interesting ethics question for you:
IF Beth gets assigned to a case, would it be unethical for me to go down to the courthouse and watch the trial? I know that jurors are not supposed to discuss the case to which they are assigned, but does that prohibition extend to telling people the name of the case? In theory, I could just go into every courtroom, so her telling me the name is really not that critical. After all, it is a public courthouse, and anybody can walk in there and watch a case if they want to.
Of course we wouldn't discuss the content of the case ... until it was over anyway. I'm assuming that jurors can talk about their jury duty after the fact, since they seem to do it all the time on TV. [Except Grand Jury duty, which is to stay secret.]
Would my presence in the room affect her consideration of the case in any way? Especially knowing that we would talk about it after the fact?
It doesn't seem to me to be unethical, but it is a little fishy. Besides, if I were to do that, I might as well have gotten the jury duty myself ... which I didn't.
I'm not averse to doing some jury duty, so long as it's not Grand Jury. I'm assuming/hoping/praying that since I worked down there and know some of the people that I would be automatically disqualified.
Actually, I think I would make a good juror. Anybody with half a brain would make a good juror, which is why lawyers put dumb people on juries.
That's all -- good night -- be sure to tip your waitress ...
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