Personal Injury Law

Baltimore Residents Neglect Jury Service

The Maryland Bar Journal just published an article on an interview with retired Howard County Judge Dennis M. Sweeney, who talks about the jury trial system in Maryland.

One amazing fact Judge Sweeney offers is that the no-show juror rate in Baltimore City is approximately 60%. As lawyers, we just get the final version of what comes out of the jury panel, so you do not get a feel for how many people in the jury pool did not show.

If you are a Baltimore City juror who did make it to jury duty, when you learn that 60% of your fellow jurors did not bother to show up, I suspect there are two reactions: (1) get mad, and (2) feel emboldened next time you do not want to show up for jury duty yourself.

Full post as published by Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).