In my area, people are paid $10 a day when on a jury.
Few employers help with it as they can's afford to, so people can be financially ruined if on a long case.
I worked for a large company that made up the difference.
I commuted 227 miles a day to work, the courthouse is a block from my house, so I actually wanted to be called.
I only was once.
You couldn't pay for the entertainment that case offered.
The prosecutor and cops did a miserable job.I felt there was reasonable doubt and was going to vote to acquit.
Then the idiot defendant was given a chance to talk,and there was NO doubt.
He admitted to his crimes, plus several others the cops and prosecutor didn't know about. The evidence on his kidnapping a guy was poor. He started off with, "I didn't mean to kidnap that guy, but I had to."
And then he went on to describe how they had stolen propane bottle from convenience stores and more.
The other jurors were as astonished as I was.
We went to deliberate.
The captain asked if we all knew how we were going to vote. We did.
Then she called for the vote, but another juror said we should take at least a few minutes to make it look like we had "deliberated".
So we did, chatting about other things.
Then we convicted him.
Good grief. If they prepared the defendant for his time on the stand, he likely didn't absorb it and began blathering.
His attorney probably had his head in his hands, even if he was a court appointed attorney.
What I got from my employer was a pittance, so yeah. That could be a real hardship for some people.