Barack Obama shows up in Chicago for jury duty; not chosen

[Sunlei]

Source: AP

CHICAGO (AP) — Former President Barack Obama, free of a job that forced him to move to Washington for eight years, showed up to a downtown Chicago courthouse for jury duty on Wednesday morning. Then he heard the words most prospective jurors pray for: You’re dismissed.


Thomas Pearson, who took the video and called the experience of shaking hands with Obama “the best thing I experienced in my entire life,” said he wasn’t going to show up for jury duty until his mother texted him that Obama would be there.

Read more: https://apnews.com/490e6b93bedf442cbb5929fc9f1fbc4f/Ex-President-Barack-Obama-shows-up-in-Chicago-for-jury-duty

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video there

[Thor_MN]

1. Would any attorney (prosecution or defense) want a former President on a jury?

The distraction level would be over the top.

[secondwind]

2. Lawyers dont want jurors who are lawyers....

or even if you work in a law firm. That has been my experience.

[Thor_MN]

3. One of me college profs asserted that just saying you had been to college was enough.

Lawyers much prefer jurors they can sway, according to him.

[TomSlick]

4. Well, THIS lawyer prefers jurors with college degrees.

I generally represent people who are being sued. I want jurors who aren't easily swayed by emotional appeals but make decisions based on the evidence and reason.

The exception is that I do NOT want lawyers on the jury. I worry they will not accept the judge's instructions on the law and follow (and argue to the rest of the jury) their own ideas about the law.