re: Tales from Jury Duty . . .

That is interesting that a jury would decide the issue of child support payments as in a number of places such family law type issues (custody, visitation, etc.) would be decided by a judge. But in my view it is a good thing to at least have the option to have juries decide as many issues as possible. That way you don't have to try your case to a rogue judge unsympathetic to your particular case.

One of my favorite parts in the movie Deliverance was the discussion about the prospect of a jury trial, emphasizing the importance of who might actually sit on the jury:

Lewis: Not now. Well, let's get our heads together. (To vengeful Bobby) Come on now, let's not do anything foolish. Does anybody know anything about the law?

Drew: Look, I-I was on jury duty once. It wasn't a murder trial.

Lewis: A murder trial? Well, I don't know the technical word for it, Drew, but I know this. You take this man down out of the mountains and turn him over to the Sheriff, there's gonna be a trial all right, a trial by jury.

Drew: So what?

Lewis: We killed a man, Drew. Shot him in the back - a mountain man, a cracker. It gives us somethin' to consider.

Drew: All right, consider it, we're listenin'.

Lewis: shite, all these people are related. I'd be god-damned if I'm gonna come back up here and stand trial with this man's aunt and his uncle, maybe his momma and his daddy sittin' in the jury box. What do you think, Bobby? (Bobby rushes at the corpse, but is restrained) How about you, Ed?

Ed: I don't know. I really don't know.