[SML] Genie AWP-25S

[Richard Niederberg]

Dear Dale,
I have served on four Grand Juries, each meeting every work day for a
year. I found the work to be exhilarating, and I was very satisfied
with the results. $65 per day plus 55 cents a mile to and from home
and to sites being studied.
/s/ Richard

On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 5:37 PM, Dale Farmer via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> On 9/26/2014 9:27 AM, Bill Conner via Stagecraft wrote:
>>
>> While I think the jury system is a fantastic concept, having been
>> called regularly over the past 25 years in Cook County, I have seen
>> that many people I would want on a jury, often myself included, ask to
>> be excused and are because of the time off from job.  Last one was
>> predicted to be a three week case - and it was a very interesting
>> product liability issue - but hoe can a person who works 50-60 hours a
>> week in an above hourly wage earner job possibly take off three weeks
>> for the royal sum of $15 some dollars a day?  The result is that many
>> jurors are retired or unemployed.  The one time I did serve, I was
>> elected foreman, and spent most of my time explaining what "50%
>> meant".  Just the concept of more or less than half was difficulty for
>> many in that room.
>>
>> To suggest that the jury isn't led like sheep by the best lawyer in
>> the courtroom is simply disingenuous.
>>
>> And I'm sure there are folks in the top 10% of earners who are very
>> adept at not appearing greedy - but how did they get there otherwise?
>> That is the group we are discussing, not the median earner.
>>
>> I wonder if I can import Tallescopes from the UK where tort law has
>> not become such a profit center.
>>
> Years ago, juries were full of students, unemployed, retirees, housewives,
> and postal and phone company employees.  Because the postal workers union
> and bell system unions had negotiated full base pay for workers on jury
> duty.
>
>   Here in the people's commonwealth of Massachusetts.  People called for
> jury duty have to be paid by their employer full base pay for the first
> three days.  After that, it was optional, but the state paid 50 bucks per
> day if your employer didn't pay.   I've been called a few times, but never
> actually served on a live case.   Got partway through the empanelment
> process once, but the lawyers made a deal before we actually got to hear
> anything about the case.  ALmost ended up on a grand jury once, which would
> have been a three month commitment, but they got everyone they needed about
> five persons ahead of me in the line.
>
>     Friend of mine who was on the grand jury in Maryland, I think it was.
> He said they had five grand juries at any given time empaneled.  Each one
> met on a different day of the week, and only had to come back before the
> next week if they had to continue hearing a complex case on a second day.
> Every fifth week, they had to come in and serve on saturdays also.  That way
> they were only losing one day per week from their day job.  Cut way down on
> job related excuses.  I thought that was a particularly elegant way of doing
> it.
>
>    --Dale
>
>
>
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-- 
/s/ Richard
_________