r/nottheonion • u/ArgentineBeauty • 19h ago

Reese Witherspoon Chosen as Jury Foreman After Jurors Thought She Went to Law School Because of Legally Blonde

https://www.fashiontimes.co.uk/reese-witherspoon-jury-duty-mix-1763528
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u/HappycatAF 18h ago

I’ve been told by lawyers there are two types of jurors, ones who want to be there because being a juror is a better use of their time than their time spent in their usual life, and the second are people who are too dumb to avoid getting picked from the jury pool.

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u/Both_Examination9788 18h ago

They also select against people who are more likely to be wise to the lawyers’ tricks (other lawyers, psychologists, etc.)

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u/Hortos 18h ago

You mean ANY professional of above average intelligence?

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u/Both_Examination9788 18h ago edited 18h ago

I mean generally yeah lol. But particularly those who are more logic-driven. People in STEM are often disqualified.

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u/SunshineCat 17h ago

Seems kind of insane to specifically select for people who think in a reactionary/emotional way instead of at least allowing a group that actually represents the overall population.

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u/HappycatAF 17h ago

There is a saying in law, “If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If the law is on your side, pound the law. If neither is on your side, pound the table.”

If the two sides are at the jury stage, they are usually at the table pounding side since if the law or facts were on their side it would have long settled.
So if it is that type of case, they want a jury that can be persuaded by emotion. There is also no shortage of them.

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u/SunshineCat 16h ago

Interesting...appreciate the context.

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u/Prometheus720 17h ago

This makes me angry.

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u/Awkward_Pangolin3254 14h ago

"You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"

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u/c-9 16h ago

I am in STEM and I've been on a few juries. I do it because I take the responsibility seriously. I try to be the person I'd want to be on the jury in case I was on trial. You pretty much have to keep your mouth shut during voir dire.

I was able to convince a jury to acquit a woman. Judging by appearances, she was probably guilty. But our justice system shouldn't operate on prejudice. The burden of proof is on the prosecutor and they didn't make a good case. Innocent until PROVEN guilty, at least beyond a reasonable doubt. Which the prosecution did not meet IMO.

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u/RegulatoryCapture 16h ago

FWIW, I'm a STEMmy person and I've been on a jury where someone from my specific profession actually testified as an expert.

The lawyers hung around to talk to the jury afterwards and I asked about it. The defense wanted me there--to my eye it was a pretty clear emotion vs facts personal injury lawsuit so I can understand why they wanted me. The plaintiffs didn't think I was worth burning a rejection over...figured if their facts were better, I'd side with them--I certainly wasn't some biased juror who would never side with their client and that's who they need to save their challenges for (e.g. someone who doesn't believe in offering pain and suffering damages at all).

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u/HappycatAF 17h ago

If the case involves any science or expertise, they want juries to rely on their experts and not second guess them at all.

Another thing to consider is that if the case was simply based on facts and logic, it would have already settled. If it is going to court with a jury, both sides are basically gambling that they can convince a jury of non-experts that they are right.

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u/Scheissdrauf88 18h ago

I think you can't call yourself a justice system anymore when performance plays a bigger role than facts.

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u/firedmyass 18h ago

I’m semi-retired and would like to do my duty but I have a close relative who is a judge so I’m immediately stricken the second they see my orientation form. I get it though.

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u/Darmok47 15h ago

My law school professor was a nationally recognized Criminal Law expert. He was selected for the jury on a criminal trial. He couldn't believe it, and neither could we. He suspects the prosecution liked him because he used to be a prosecutor, and the defense liked him because of his academic background.

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u/eljefino 11h ago

If the facts are on your side, argue those.

If they aren't, argue about loopholes in the law.

If you don't have that either, pound the table/ appeal to emotion.

If you're on a jury, watch for which of the three behaviors they exhibit. Oh, yeah, and listen to the judge's instructions, not some dude from reddit.

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u/magnus150 18h ago

I genuinely want to participate in the civil process at least once in my life and see how it works. Yet despite being called for jury duty 3 times, I was never picked.

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u/DMAW1990 18h ago

You're closer than me. I've never even been summoned. I want to sit on a jury once in my life so badly, I feel like it's an important part of being in our society. Meanwhile, I have a parent that has been summoned several times (always gets themself dismissed) and a grandparent who sat on a jury for a murder trial. They saved the newspaper clipping that announced the verdict and we found it after they passed.

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u/ShinyPatina 16h ago

I've been summoned 15 times in my life (in my city you get summoned pretty much every year) and I have been selected and served on 7 criminal jury trials (two murders, two attempted murders, one possession of a firearm, one rape, one arson) . It's not as fun as you may think it is although it is a very interesting experience the first time or two.

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u/mainman879 16h ago

What the heck how are they summoning you that often? Is there no cooldown for that? In my state you are exempt from jury duty for 4 to 8 years if you sit through a case.

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u/ShinyPatina 16h ago

No such luck, here in my city you can be called once a year for jury service if you served on a trial for fewer than five days, OR once every three years if you served on a longer trial. Womp womp.

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u/JyveAFK 14h ago

Yeah, I'm curious too. My mum gets the letter... about once a year. Tries to wiggle out of it, either does with health issues or doesn't get picked once she's psyched herself up to be there "Can I start with an easy one?" "no...". I've never once been summoned. A mate got summoned only recently for the first time, and it was a full on doozy murder trial that was in the news.

I get you'd not want to influence the trial itself, but feels like there should be some method to start jurors in easy, or go by their education level on the TYPE of cases.

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u/Awkward_Pangolin3254 14h ago

I've never been summoned for petit jury but I was on a grand jury once a couple years ago. That was honestly fun. Every Wednesday for three months I got to miss work and 90% of the days we were done by noon.

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u/lIllIlIIIlIIIIlIlIll 14h ago

I think my fellow juror had the best description of it: "It's like watching paint dry with explosions."

It's mostly boring. But the interesting parts are really interesting. But it's mostly boring.

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u/GoldenPigeonParty 17h ago

I'm 0 for 2 myself. Feels like they weed out anyone that can suspend emotions for logic.

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u/TjW0569 18h ago

My attitude is: "I'm willing to do what I can, as best I can, because that's what I'd want other people to do for me."
But I've never been selected. Pretty much as soon as I admit to being an engineer, I'm out the door.

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u/greenzetsa 17h ago

I have a theory (one that has been disproven multiple times, but I still believe it) that jurors are selected based on alphabetical order. My last name is in the second half of the alphabet. Literally everyone in my family has gotten jury summons multiple times and none of us have even made it to selection. We've called in the morning we're supposed to and were told the jury is full, no need to come in. My ex, whose last name was in the first half of the alphabet, was a jury twice. Most of the people I know in my area who did jury did had last names in the first half of the alphabet. I think they call people up in alphabetical order, and by the time it gets to like K, they're full.

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u/friareriner 16h ago

I'm in the back half of the alphabet, and I was in the back half of the jury pool line the last time I want in.

2 points is a line, theory confirmed.

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u/greenzetsa 16h ago

Plus the 3 other people in my family, and my husband, who also has a late in the alphabet name, so I say that's a decent sample size.

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u/SicilianEggplant 15h ago

I love jury duty because we get regular paid time for it as a state employee, and the one time I was on a jury we rarely stayed a full day.

I think more people wouldn’t mind serving if it didn’t mean they’d lose money or risk losing their job.

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u/rgraham888 16h ago

I'm an attorney, I do my jury duty when called without trying to get out of it because I feel I have an obligation to the legal system. Between TX and NY, I've gotten 4 jury summonses, and only had to show up once, and that one time I was selected for a jury.

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u/Initial_E 15h ago

So, nobody is there out of personal sacrifice