Wanted to let you all know that I did get selected for jury duty and it turned out to be a very boring tax fraud case that was finished in court in 3 days. I had to report to the courthouse for the first time on Mon, in the morning the jury was selected and the trial started that afternoon, continued thru Tues, we heard closing arguements on Wed morning and reached our verdict Wed afternoon. It was a case of the United States vs. an individual that decided several years ago he did not have to pay income tax even though he was receiving a substantial income thru his employment plus other income. This person had done everything you could imagine over the past several years to stall this issue from coming to trial -- including firing his lawyer two weeks before the trial in the hopes that the judge would grant a continuance, which she refused to do. Also he felt that the court had no jurisdiction over him and even though he was doing his own defense at the trial, refused to speak a word in the courtroom as he felt this would be admitting that he fell under the court's jurisdiction. So even though the U.S. presented many witnesses (former employer, bank employees, IRS people) and went over mountains of documentation to prove their case, the defendant never cross-examined, which really sped things up.
Interesting group of people on the jury and that helped to pass the time whenever we were sent on a break. This was my first time actually serving on a jury (I've been called to jury duty before but never actually selected) and it was definitely a learning experience. I hope I never get selected for a lengthy trial..........just sitting there for most of 3 days was enough for me.
Even though we found this guy guilty, he won't get sentenced til Sept...........and of course he's going to file appeals......will probably never end up serving any jail time or paying his fines........kind of made me feel like what's the point, in this particular case, but who knows.