Celebrity Jurors

Here is an article about the jury experience of a well known NASCAR driver, Jamie McMurray. Not surprisingly, his story is very similar to those provided by other jurors. Here are few lines from the article.

"McMurray said being in the jury room trying to reach a verdict “was almost like a movie. I watched the movie ‘The Runaway Jury,’ and as I’m really living this I’m like, ‘This really is like what happened,’ but you’re actually in charge of someone’s future. I wouldn’t trade it, but I don’t want to go back. If I ever get (called again), I’ll tell them I don’t want to do it because I didn’t realize how intense that was going to be. You certainly pay a lot of attention. It was for four days. If it was a civil case, I probably would do it, but being a criminal case, I’ll never do that again.”

McMurray's celebrity status did lead to one issue that the average juror might not face. The victim's father asked McMurray for his autograph, which resulted in the judge asking McMurray whether this would affect his decisionmaking.