History Main / JuryDuty

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One part of jury duty that rarely makes it into fiction is that quite often more jury pools are summoned to court on a given day than there are actual jury trials that will be held. It's entirely possible for a person summoned to jury duty to just sit around in a waiting room for several hours (bring a book), at which point a bailiff tells them that they aren't needed and can go home now. Of course, being summoned for jury duty without even getting considered for being on an actual jury makes for a [[ShaggyDogStory very dull and pointless story]].

* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': In "[[Recap/CheersS5E17 Never Love a Goalie, Part 2]]", Diane serves on a jury and is desperate to talk about the case with the folks at the bar even though it's not allowed. In the jury room she irritates the hell out of her fellow jurors.

---> ''Liz:''' I don't think it's fair for me to be on a jury, since I can read minds.

[[folder: {{Comics}}]]

* Obnoxio the Clown, a figure from Marvel's Mad Magazine expy Crazy, gets his own one-issue comic book (''Obnoxio The Clown Vs. The X-Men''). The back-up story has Obnoxio summoned for jury duty. He plans to use the money for it to buy cigars.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''. Clark Kent is on a jury and uses his X-Ray vision as a LivingLieDetector to establish the accused is innocent. It's actually someone else who's the RogueJuror holdout, and Clark has to feed him the EurekaMoment that establishes innocence without giving away how he knew it.

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[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* The children's book ''Literature/TrialByJournal''. Thanks to a new state law, the twelve-year-old protagonist ends up serving on a jury for a murder trial. [[spoiler: It turns out that the supposed murder victim isn't dead, the defendant was framed, and one of the jurors is colluding with the real villain.]]

* In the series about ProfessionalKiller Keller by Creator/LawrenceBlock, he finds himself selected for jury duty at the same time he's given an assignment in Baltimore, forcing him to [[PunchClockVillain do the job on the weekend.]] His handler lampshades the hypocrisy, or at least the irony, of Keller committing a murder on one day and then convicting a man for fencing a VCR on the next. Keller says that [[ItsWhatIDo one's his job]] and the other's his duty. The target is dead and the fence went to jail, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint which just proves the System works]].

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

-->'''Mr. Conklin''': I have been called for jury duty.
-->'''Harriet''': Can't you get out of it, Daddy?
-->'''Mr. Conklin''': Harriet, shirking one's civic duty is totally un-American. Jury duty, like voting, is an honour and a privilege. And a great American heritage. [[HypocriticalHumor I've weaseled out of it twice already.]] I wouldn't have to be there at all today if it wasn't for a stubborn female who insisted on a jury trial for a traffic violation. She'll get a jury trial alright!
* In ''Series/{{Bull}}'' has the titular character getting jury duty. He rants as it's a waste of time since he owns a law counsulting firm, he gets excused quickly. Turns out, this time he had to stay.

* The ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr. Monk Gets Jury Duty."
-->'''Monk:''' Don't get me wrong, I think it's the greatest legal system in the world. I just don't want to be a part of it.
-->'''Natalie:''' Now, Mr. Monk, what if everybody felt that way?
-->'''Monk:''' Everybody ''does''.

* On one episode of ''Series/CrossingJordan'', Jordan ends up in jury duty. [[RogueJuror She is the only juror who believes that the accused is innocent]] (due to her forensic experience) and ends up convincing the rest of the jury.

* Ben was called up for this on one episode of ''Series/MyFamily''. It somehow manages to be ''worse'' than his naturally cynical outlook led him to predict it would be, due to a LawfulStupid fellow juror named Joanna Elton Johns.
* Mac gets called up for jury duty on a murder case in the ''Series/MacGyver1985'' episode "Rush to Judgement" and, naturally, can't resist investigating the case on his own - which is illegal. Which the episode {{Lampshade}}s.
* Liz Lemon of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' gets called for jury duty in Chicago and has to fly back to participate (she wanted to keep voting in a swing state, instead of New York). But she has an ironclad method of getting excused: an old Princess Leia costume.
--> '''Liz:''' I don't think it's fair for me to be on a jury, since I can read minds.

* Lois does jury duty in an episode of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' and ends up driving her fellow jurors nuts. [[spoiler: She also projects the behavior of Francis onto the defendant and only realizes she's been botching deliberations at the end. ]] Hal assumes she's involved in a recent murder case, and starts arguing the facts of the case with Abe, which leads to them physically acting out a hypothetical "murder".

* ''Series/DesigningWomen'' Julia Sugarbaker's extended, sequestered jury duty causes her to miss dining with Jimmy Carter.
* On ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', Phoebe served on a jury and had a premonition telling her that the defendant was innocent. The episode consists of her trying to keep the jury from convicting while her sisters hunted down the real killer [[FridgeLogic (the fact that she could keep deliberations going indefinitely by just refusing to vote to convict apparently doesn't occur to her)]]. However the jury were on the verge of declaring a hung jury when Phoebe indicated she wouldn't vote to convict, then when she starts talking about magic the other jurors threatened to simply tell the judge she was insane so they could call in an alternate juror rather than declare a hung jury.
* On ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'', Toby mentions having served on the jury for the Scranton Strangler (later admitting that they may have convicted the wrong guy), and in a later episode Jim returns from a two-week jury duty break (which he later admits to milking for a break from work after being sent home on the first day).
* {{Subverted}} on ''Series/ThatGirl'', Marlo Thomas is on a jury and turns everyone around and gets the defendant acquitted. Her proof was the guy was right handed, but accused of hitting his wife on the right side of her face. A right handed man, she said, would hit someone on the left side of her face. After the acquittal the defendant and his wife get into a screaming match and he picks up an ashtray and hits her backhanded to the right side of her face, showing he really did do it.

-->"I don't know if I could be impartial, Mr. Conden, given that the defendant is a Negro." [cue {{Death Glare}}s]
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' Brennan serves on a jury and convinces her fellow jurors to acquit the defendant. Meanwhile the gang at the lab investigate a separate murder which essentially proves that the defendant is guilty, but can't tell Brennan because rules of jurisprudence forbid anyone from talking about the trial with her until after it's over.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "Guilty", Harold Finch finds himself called up for jury duty under his SecretIdentity name. He tries to get out of it by saying he has a problem with the government as a whole: it's not really 'for the people' when [[CassandraGambit there's an intelligent supercomputer trying to take over the world]]. Unfortunately, The Machine needs Harold on that jury to protect the life of another juror and ensure that an innocent man isn't convicted, so it arranges for the man placed ahead of him on the list to be disqualified by making his phone ring during selection, after changing his ringtone to Music/MCHammer's "U Can't Touch This".

* On ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' Rosalee is on a jury and discovers that the attorney is a wesen whose power is to produce pheromones to manipulate people's emotions. She of course can't tell the judge--he'd think she was crazy and declare a mistrial--so she and the guys come up with a ZanyScheme to slip him a potion that will neutralize his power.

* On ''Series/{{Reba}}'', [[CloudCuckooLander Barbara Jean]] got called to jury duty and felt it was an honor and privilege to serve. She treats her role with all the seriousness she can muster (which, admittedly, isn't much), until she's thrown off the jury for annoying the judge too much.

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[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

** Homer in "The Boy Who Knew Too Much." He stalls the verdict in order to keep staying in the hotel where the jurors are sequestered, unknowingly giving Bart time to agonize over whether or not he should admit he skipped school and saw the alleged "crime".
-->'''Lisa''': I'm sure he'll be found innocent by an impartial jury.\\

'''Homer''': [[DescriptionCut Jury duty? I'll see that Quimby kid hanged for this!]]\\

** When Apu becomes an American citizen, one thing in his mail is a jury duty summons. He says that now he is truly an American, and tosses it in the trash (ironically, he was on the jury with Homer in the earlier episode).
** Homer gave tips to Bart on how to avoid jury duty. "Just say you're prejudiced against all races."

** Peter in "April in Quahog" during the first plot. He was excited at being selected for the first time thinking he was special before realizing that everyone does jury duty at some point. He attempts to get kicked out of jury.
** In a season 4 episode, Peter had jury duty in a cutaway gag pretending to be racist by stating (to the all white jury) "Awful lot of Honkies in here."
** "12 and a Half Angry Men" is a straightforward ''12 Angry Men'' parody, with Brian taking the Henry Fonda role and making the jury [[ItMakesSenseInContext reenact an orgy]].

* The ''Keeper of the Reaper'' episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' was about a trial to decide who got to keep Grim due to Billy's family moving, but a lot of time was given to one of the jurors, an [[CloudCuckoolander eccentric demon]] named Fred Fredburger.

[[folder:RealLife]]

* ''[[Film/{{Twelve}} 12]]'' is a 2007 Russian remake of ''12 Angry Men'' that doubles as a meditation on all the problems facing 20th century Russia.

* Finch gets jury duty on one episode of ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. He tries to get out by saying he has a problem with the government as a whole: it's not really 'for the people' when [[CassandraTruth there's an intelligent supercomputer trying to take over the world]]. Unfortunately, The Machine decides it needs Harold on that jury to protect the life of another juror and ensure that an innocent man isn't convicted, so it arranges for the man placed ahead of him on the list to be disqualified, by making his phone ring during selection. After changing his ringtone to Music/MCHammer's "U Can't Touch This".

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "Guilty", Harold Finch finds himself called up for jury duty under his SecretIdentity name. He tries to get out of it during selection by [[CassandraGambit claiming that an evil supercomputer is trying to take over the world]], but when he gets selected anyway he realises [[BenevolentAI The Machine]] is behind all this.

* In the series about ProfessionalKiller Keller by Creator/LawrenceBlock, he finds himself selected for jury duty at the same time he's given an assignment in Baltimore, forcing him to [[PunchClockVillain do the job on the weekend.]] His handler lampshades the hypocrisy, or at least the irony, of Keller committing a murder on one day and then convicting a man for fencing a VCR on the next. Keller just says that [[ItsWhatIDo one's his job]] and the other's his duty. The target is dead and the fence went to jail, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint which just proves the System works]].

* In the series about ProfessionalKiller Keller by Creator/LawrenceBlock, he finds himself selected for jury duty at the same time he's given an assignment in Baltimore, forcing him to [[PunchClockVillain do the job on the weekend.]] His handler lampshades the hypocrisy, or at least the irony, of Keller committing a murder on one day and then convicting a man for fencing a VCR on the next. Keller just says that [[ItsWhatIDo one's his job]] and the other's his duty. Which just proves the System works.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' Stan Smith[[note]]who, of course, lives with his family in Langley Falls, Virginia[[/note]] is seen phoning the local Jury Commissioner about whether they received his letters requesting him to perform jury duty. (Which actually means, as said below in the Real Life folder, that he will never be on jury duty - and, indeed, he hasn't.)

* The most obvious example, ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'', about the deliberations of a jury given a murder case. Later examples have a suspicious tendency to become a WholePlotReference, especially if one person decides to be a RogueJuror. (On the other hand, there's not very much you can do with a Jury Duty plot that wasn't already done extremely well here, so some resemblance is probably unavoidable.)

* Jeremy Clarkson relates an anecdote about serving on a jury where he remembers two notable characters: The first was a snobbish StepfordSuburbia type who said "He's clearly guilty - he has a beard and everything." The second was a black woman who said she couldn't find a fellow black person guilty of anything (she was the only one to vote "not guilty"). These instances have given him a notable hatred of the jury system, saying that if he ever commits a crime, he doesn't want to be judged by "a bunch of idiots from [=McDonald's=] and Kwik-Fit."

* A flashback episode of ''Series/TheOddCouple1970'' featured fHarruture roommates Oscar and Felix meeting as fellow jurors in a parody of ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'' with Felix in the Fonda role. Interestingly Jack Klugman (Oscar) played one of Fonda's fellow "Angry Men" in the original movie (Jack Lemmon, who played Felix in the 1967 film version, went on to play the rogue in the 1997 Film/TwelveAngryMen remake, in a further weird bit of synchronicity).

* ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'': In "[[Recap/TheDickVanDykeShowS1E12OneAngryMan One Angry Man]]", Rob receives a notice calling him for jury duty at the beginning of the episode. Laura initially suspects he wants to do it more as an escape from work and a desire to be a lawyer than out of duty. However, she doesn't mind until she finds out that the defendant is an attractive woman. She tells Rob that he's biased and should quit.

* Rob has do do this in ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow''.

* {{Subverted}} on ''Series/ThatGirl'', Marlo Thomas is on a jury and turns everyone around and gets the defendant acquited. Her proof was the guy was right handed, but accused of hitting his wife on the right side of her face. A right handed man, she said, would hit someone on the left side of her face. After the acquittal the defendant and his wife get into a screaming match and he picks up an ashtray and hits her backhanded to the right side of her face, showing he really did do it.