LIMA, Ohio — A judge who ran out of prospective jurors in a child rape trial sent sheriff's deputies to a Wal-Mart, a supermarket and a mall to issue jury summonses to surprised shoppers.

Three deputies questioned mall walkers and shoppers whether they were Allen County residents and registered voters, and then issued summonses on the spot if answers to both questions were 'yes,' sheriff's Sgt. Brian Winegardner said.

Deputies handed orders to appear to 12 potential jurors on Monday and eight on Tuesday, he said.

"In 20 years on the bench this is only the second time this has occurred," Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Warren said.

Summonses were also given to visitors to the Allen County Courthouse, where the trial is scheduled, including one man who was there finalizing a divorce and another who was visiting the county auditor's office.

Six people served at the courthouse on Monday were dismissed from the jury pool when defense attorney Kenneth Rexford objected.

Eight women and four men were seated Tuesday, and opening arguments took place Wednesday in the trial of Terry Hupp, 51, of Spencerville.

He's charged with six counts of gross sexual imposition and seven counts of rape. Three of the rape counts carry a possible life sentence.

the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth

Jury of your peers.....I wonder what the judge really thinks about Walmart shoppers?

Ugh, I hate jury summonses. I permenantly excused myself from jury duty a few years back. If that was me at that Walmart/supermarket/mall, I would have lied that I don't live there just so I don't get one.

My mom just got a jury summons, she's gonna excuse herself also. To her, it's a "waste of time."

did jury get paid ?

Jury is a waste of time to me. Honestly if you want me to give a fair decision I wouldn't be a good pick. I have a short attention span and wouldn't be able go for long trials due to boredom. If I get bored I lose my ability to judge correctly. Plus I don't want guilt on my conscience for possibly condemning an innocent person.

You get paid I believe 5.00 a day for fuel and lunch...dont spend it all in one place. Which leads me to wonder about all of the cases that run for 5 or 6 months...who in the heck are these people? How can a person afford that? I know that government employees get fully paid jury duty, but most workers do not... How are you supposed to get a jury of your peers amongst a bunch of postal employees?

Gives a new meaning to: "Welcome to Wal-Mart", doesn't it?

So did these deputies just go up to shoppers at random, ask them two questions, and issue a summons, or did they tell them why they were being questioned...(as to jury duty)...Seems like misrepresentation to me if they asked with no explanation.and then gave them the blue light special ..OOPs...Sorry that's K-Mart

Actually jurers do get paid, but its so many cents a mile, from your home to the courthouse and back to your home ( or least thats how it is here ) I dont know how much you get paid for the day but you do get paid just not as much as you would on your normal job... 50 a day maybe?
Thank god I dont have to go to jury trial, I was summoned one time to go, one phone call, it was over with. Only because I'm legally deaf, so I wouldnt be a good candidate for jury, they dismissed me.

i see why no people interesting in jury duty

I know most places of employment will trade your Jury paycheck for your real paycheck.

Well if that's the case then it wouldn't be too bad to serve...I was wondering if companies still paid you while you were on jury duty...Thank you Fins, you read my mind

Ok, I would serve jury duty if I got summoned through normal circumstances. Hold up part of my civic duty and all that good stuff.

If I was at the mall though, I'd be pretty pissed off already considering the only reason I'm there is when my gf drags me along to hold clothes that she buys and give her my opinion on which jeans fit her ass better. (THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!!!) But to get a summons for jury duty on top of that, I'd be one PISSED OFF juror. I could just imagine I'd be a wonderful target for them too;

Deputy 1: So who should we ask? All these people look pretty busy...

Deputy 2: How about that guy, he looks really bored.

Deputy 1: Sir are you a member of this county and a registered voter?

Me: Uhhh, yeeeeeah... Why?

Deputy 2: Well here you go, you're being summoned to appear for jury duty!

Me: Whaaa..

Alanna: Babe!! Come hold these clothes, how do these jeans fit me?

Me: *bangs head on wall*

30 minutes later...

Me: GUILTY!! He's f***in guilty, damnit!

------

Yeeeahh.... No.

That's true in most cases. That's why it's not so bad if you have a crappy job and don't mind a change of scenery for a day or so.

But if you're retired, it's more of a hassle.

I've come close to being seated on a case. But was realeased. I wouldn't actually mind doing it one time on a serious case. Just to see the process and how the court system works.

If you have a boring job, take some time off by serving in jury duty, by doing another boring job in service to your country. You will fit well here!

"Jury duty- Its not a job, its an adventure!"

"Be all that you can be we're in jury duty!"

Er...You gotta do what you gotta do...right?...

LOL. I know that they wouldn't want me on the jury. I am too opinionated and up here we don't have the death penalty, and I wish we did. The defence would be freaking out, wanting me out of there.

"Off with thier heads!" Miss Queen of Hearts lol

lol...I'd probably be in the jury box yelling "Objection Your Honor".......I love that law stuff

I have NEVER been summond for Jury duty, My wife has been called 4times, she made it on one jury, It was a nice juicy murder case. took about two/three weeks. I'd like to try it once.

Wow, that must have been interesting for her...I'd be afraid that I'd be asked to serve on a case that had to do with a child..I couldn't handle that....I was called once, when my kids were little, so wrote back that my kids were so mis-behaved that noone would watch them while I served my town, put a little smiley face at the end ..... it worked, or maybe they thought I was just a wacko....

Hahahahaha!! OH me and my vivid imagination are having fun thinking about that one......

That's one way to get out of jury duty that i hadn't thought about! But i agree about certain cases being too hard to handel! Some of the things you have to see and hear about would be just to graphic, and make me sick! And in some cases where they arn't allowed to enter things into evidence, for some reason or other i would be affraid of being responsible for convicting someone who's really innocent, or letting off someone who's really guilty! And in a serious case i'd probably be that one lone juror who's still undecided, and asking questions while everyone else is pulling their hair out in frustration, and concidering if they shouldn't just kill me so they could go home already!

I did jury duty just last month, and I've always wanted to. Unfortunately, it was for a child molestation case with 15 counts to decide on. It ran for 5 days, which was shorter than anticipated. I had trouble dealing with it for a week or so afterwards, but that sorted itself out and I didn't opt for the counselling they offer. Iirc, I made a couple of hundred dollars for it. I wasn't working those days, but if I had, work would have been required to make up the difference. It would have been a hell of a lot more if we'd been there just a couple of days longer, the amount here doubles after 6 days. It's not about money though, it's about rendering a service to the community, and I liked that aspect.

I can't imagine being put on the spot when shopping though.

I read about this....I'm just glad I wasn't out shopping that day!

Thats screwed up.

Here in my little town, jurors get paid $25 a day and free lunch. Although if it is a long trial, jurors are to stay in one of the local motels(appointed by court, guarded by police) but they have to pay for room themselves. In other words in this lil town, when your on jury duty, your broke, hungry and pee'd off!!! I'm sure THAT makes for "good" decision making!

"Smote" activated.

I have been to countries .. with no democracy ... I can garantee you ,that they ( by they i mean the regular people who suffer from lack of democracy ) would love to see this system installed . Legal systems are sometimes fictionary in some parts of the world .

Cops : EVeRybody freeze!!!!

Cops : except you! Your coming with us.

hehehehe

Sure I'd love to do a job for my country but not when Im doing my shopping.

did jury get protection ? (just in case the guilty guy is yakuza family member and decides to takes revenge to the jury)

Bummer, I really hate it when I have to come off as a conservative, in a post, but I think we need to realize how it is for most parts of the world, where villagers decide you're a witch and go and beat you up or kill you, or the days of the posse even here in this country's past. People take the law into their own hands or opt for excessive punishment in the heat of the moment, and used to often get innocent people tangled up in it before we did have the laws in place.

The system we have is not perfect, and it is not always convenient. But, it is better than many options. For a month or two I served over the jury pool every week and it shocked me to find out that many don't bother to come and count on the Court to just not bother to arrest them for failing to report in. I have been appalled by some of the excuses used to get out of it. This is a duty in democracy that maybe comes along once or twice in a lifetime if you live in the same county or parish for a long time.

Details of a crime may be gruesome, but the point is usually not if the crime occurred, but if the evidence proves to you the accused person did it. That person is depending on you to decide that. If guilty, he/she is later depending on you to recommend life in prison or death row if it is a capital offense. Or to say no, not guilty, if the evidence does not persuade you he/she did it.

I think this is a crying shame that to seat a jury they had to resort to this, but it isn't rare, actually. We had to resort to similar on rare occasions back in Florida, too.

You have to try them in a certain timeframe. I think we'd see it differently if this person molested or killed our own child and got off because he invoked his right to a jury trial and there was no jury available, because they wanted to shop instead.

It is a small group summonsed in a given week. Some are excused up front for valid reasons. Many do not bother to show. But the last thing a guy or gal sitting in the accused seat needs is for us to start hiring professional (bribeable) juries. That is the one wild card and hope a person has who is innocent, that a panel of normal folks will hear it all and either say yeppers, this is a solid case and convict, or say nope, this doesn't prove guilt, and cuts them free.

So, please, do try to serve if asked. The victims and the accused and the guilty and innocent all need you.

Really. Even if like many responsibilities, it can be a pain in the backside. I am a cynic, too, but on a jury that is the one place where your vote makes a difference for someone, vastly moreso than in these stupid elections, which are another pain, IMO.

OK, I'm taking off my horrible conservative hat, now. . JMO.

wub you all,
NS

PS, the excuses I heard there is what I refer to, not intending any comments about your feelings and opinions here, just adding my view to the pot.