Tag Archives: court

Day-5 with an alternate juror, puppies, and ongoing deliberations! #JuryDuty

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Day-5 of my Jury Duty! Bueller? Bueller? Hello?

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Jury Assembly Room

As you can see, almost all the jurors were excused for the week. Many have served and are done with their assigned cases. Some potential jurors didn’t even get called. It’s all random. So there is a strong possibility that you will get sent home if there are no cases to be had.

Aside from the typical 12 jurors needed to serve, judges will normally have two alternate jurors. This is done just in case one of the 12 jurors are unable to fulfill their duty to the courts/case.

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Jury box action shot

This is exactly what happened to us this morning. Juror #3 was out so Alternate juror #1 dropped right in the slot. Alternate jurors listen to the entire case and can easily slide into a main juror slot at anytime assigned by the judge.

Also, I couldn’t pass up a grand view of Tower City Center looking so stately in the sunny Cleveland daylight.

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Tower City Center – 2015

If you get assigned to Jury Duty, bring your camera. Chances are, you’ll see some spectacular views of downtown #CLE.

BTW-Yesterday, the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Courts’ Cleveland APL Mobile Unit Program to bring puppies every other week so that jurors can play with them during their lunch break on Thursdays. Superb idea! Sadly, I had to catch up on a few emails so I didn’t have time to play with the puppies.

For our specific criminal case? Deliberations are still ongoing so it’s not over yet!

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Shhhhh! Trying to deliberate!

Main question in the deliberation rooms are guilty vs not guilty. That’s it. In these courts, the jury does not decide punishment – that’s only grand jury cases.

The judge explained in detail, the laws pertaining to the case. He reviewed all four counts in detail, gave definitions, and reminded us again that for our criminal case, we only decide guilty or not guilty on each of the charges.

So yes, if you can register to vote, you do possess the skills to be a juror!

Gotta get back to deliberating. I’m definitely earning my keep this week doing my civic duty!

Reporting live from the deliberation room…

@rusnivek

Spin the wheel for #JuryDuty!

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On entering the Justice Center from Lakeside Avenue, look to your immediate left.

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Back in the day, this all wood contraption was how the courts choose you for jury duty. Yep – a simple spin of the wheel gets you assigned. C’mon Vanna! Heck, I’m even more impressed that someone hasn’t smashed this thing out of frustration.

In all honesty, it’s really amazing how the judicial system has progressed over the years…esp the random population of the pool. From our initial court briefing, they pull potential jurors from voter registration stats because they feel that those who are responsible to vote truly care about the community.

Since we are stuck indoors all day, the view out from the justice center is quite nice.

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I wish Amtrak made more daytime stops in Cleveland.

For those that work downtown, Cuyahoga County has done a ton of work with increasing green space.

And since I know all of you want to know, our courtroom is relatively quiet.

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Well, it is almost lunch time.

Reporting live on day four in the Jury box!

@rusnivek

Trump and I are doing this in August

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That reminds me…

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…I have jury duty next week. Yes, we both are serving jury duty in August. Concidence? Hmmmm. Well, I definitely won’t be arriving to the court house in a limo.

Thanks to Trump for making a spectacle of every American’s civic duty.

Related note: The picture above is TOTALLY FAKE (My friends at CNN just rolled their eyes).

@rusnivek

Busted because of her Facebook post bragging of her “breatalyse” test results

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That’s right, she got caught because of her Facebook post. colleen

Colleen Cudney was convicted for DUI in 2012. One condition – she is to submit to random breathalyzer tests.

Fast forward to St Patrick’s Day 2014 (March 17th, 2014). Colleen was out carousing and drinking. On Tuesday March 18th, 2014, Colleen gets called in for a random breathalyzer test.

Colleen passes. She’s so amazed, that she takes to Facebook and posts about it: “Buzz killer for me, I had to breatalyze (sic) this morning and I drank yesterday but I passed thank god lol my dumbass.” 

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Well, well, well…..Local law enforcement called Colleen back again for an additional urine test. Colleen had indeed failed the more precise urine test. Colleen

At this time, Colleen is looking at an additional 93 days in jail from the 18th District Court in Michigan for violating her parole. Nice work Colleen.

Shockingly, Colleen has since deleted her Facebook post and her Facebook account. Hmmmmm.

Morale of the story: Know the power of social media because what you post, isn’t really private.

@rusnivek