A question about the voir dire process

I would ask for pre-emptive forgiveness, so to speak - "Your honor, I would like to be able to answer this question - but I am afraid my honest answer might be considered 'inappropriate' for a courtroom."

Go from there, with guidance, if you're not comfortable, then I'd just say "I cannot honestly answer this question without possibly exposing myself to contempt charges."

If the judge exempts you, go for it.

When in doubt, be honest with the judge - you can't commit perjury, and you don't have luxury of your own counsel in that case.

99.9% of the time though you can phrase it in such a way it's not contempt.

"I do not accept the validity of this jury trial system" isn't contempt.    

    

I find oddly-timed maniacal laughter effective.

I remember a classmate that wasn't quite right and prone to laughing outbursts.  He'd hold his knuckles up to his eyes like he was making a crying gesture, and laugh and giggle uncontrollably.  

LIke that? 

😂

i don't have much experience with jury duty. i was called for local duty twice. the first time i didn't read instructions, just showed up in my normal summer attire, short pants, polo and gym shoes. i was sent home to change with a warning. i returned and during my interview i told them i was not against hearing the case and deciding guilt but i didn't like assigning punishment, i felt that was the judge's job. i was dismissed.

the 2nd time, i repeated the statement, was dismissed and have not been recalled.

i was called for federal jury but we never met. i complained to them that i was 2 hours away from that court but 45 minutes from another, why couldn't i be reassigned... they didn't like that much ;-) i haven't been recalled.

what type of things said would get me in trouble?

If you’re speaking honestly and respectfully I don’t think it would be an issue.

I would also black out every other front tooth.

It enhances either approach.

Speaking for the process here, it would be almost impossible to get charged with contempt as a potential juror. More likely than not they would just send you on your way.

As someone who has been bored out of his mind while selecting a jury, I would welcome it lol.

This.  I legitimately felt sorry for the lawyers during voir dire when I was selected to report last summer.  Holy hell asking the same questions over and over, I had a hard time staying awake.  

I was never in the pool....they struck about 8 people but I got lucky with the subsequent additions.  I didn't want to be on the jury but would not have deliberately tried to get let go. Based on an interaction with a police officer back in my early 20's, the prosecution would probably not have wanted me.  Probably not enough to strike for cause, but I could easily see them using one of their freebees to get rid of me. 

I've been on a jury, took it seriously, and found it interesting. However, if you wanted to get off, you could just ask them to explain "jury nullification ".

Just as with employment and other areas of public life, out public personal social profile becomes an issue depending on how free we are with our opinions.